Vim Fuego heavy metal n. 1. heavy guns. 2. metal of high density. 3 (often attrib.) colloq. A type of highly amplified harsh–sounding rock music with a strong beat and frequent theatrical performance. 4. Manowar.

Manowar probably say it best themselves — death to false metal, forever fighting the world. No band has stayed truer to the cause of heavy metal than Manowar. Bowing to no trend, this band has peddled straightforward metal in the face of opposition from all sides. No compromise, no bullshit, just metal. For some reason, this attitude has seen Manowar become the object of derision and mirth among many a so–called metal fan.

Y'see, Manowar have this homoerotic thing going on. They dress like rejected extras from a Village People video. A lot of people can't seem to see past the codpieces, rippling muscles and the dodgy leather pants. It's a shame, because behind the codpieces you will find… heavy fucking metal, of the highest order! (If you thought anything else, you have a dirty mind.)

Second best is not good enough for Joey De Maio, self–styled macho man, bass virtuoso and visionary driving force behind Manowar. Here you will find only the best in production values, the best available musicians, and some of the best sounding metal you will ever hear. The definition on this album is crystal clear. It is one of those recordings where you feel the urge to keep turning the volume louder and louder because it sounds so damn good. And anyway, it's Manowar, so "turn it up louder 'til we all get fried"!

Vocalist Eric Adams has a dramatic, theatrical voice, able to hit those oh so metal falsetto screams with ease. The drum sound here is absolutely booming- the so-called Drums of Death. "It is the ultimate drum system in the universe. Everything else is junk", according to the liner notes. De Maio's bass work needs to be heard to be believed. He consistently outplays guitarist Ross the Boss, who is no slouch himself.

The proof, they say, is in the pudding. Manowar lay on a veritable banquet of goodies. The trio of opening tracks, "Fighting The World", "Blow Your Speakers" and "Carry On" all espouse the virtues of furthering the metal cause. "Holy War" and the almost thrash metal track "Black wind, Fire and Steel" are pure Dungeons and Dragons fare. The legendary voice behind the War Of The Worlds radio hoax of the 1930s, Orson Welles, lends his vocal talents to the epic "Defender". All the more remarkable is that it originally appeared on the demo version of the song, but was not released properly until two years after his death. Only Manowar could have secured such a legend of the screen to appear on their album.

Unfortunately, Manowar generally turn out one ultra cheesy track per album. This time round, it was "Violence and Bloodshed". Musically, it's fine but the lyrics? "My brother's still in Da-Nang/Puttin' an ad in the back of Kerrang!/I'm looking for people who just wanna kill/We'll go back to 'Nam, cause no one else will". Who ordered the double cheeseburger with extra cheese?

There is an absolute treasure trove of "true metal" quotes to be found in the lyrics and the liner notes here. In the words of Joey De Maio: "The battle rages - Choose your side". I'm with Manowar. It would be too damn scary to be against them.

Kingcrimsonprog World Manowar released their fifth full-length studio album, Fighting The World, in 1987 on Attco records. It was the first album of theirs to be self-produced by the band. It can definitely be seen as something as a transitional or experimental record, sitting interestingly between the excellent albums which would follow it and the classic run of the rawer first four albums.

In many ways, not least the artwork, the album feels a bit like Kiss’ Destroyer. After the rawer early stuff, the band start throwing in samples of speeding cars, adding lighter sing-along anthems and in many ways taking a bigger, more commercial sound designed to elevate them to new heights.

At least, that’s how it initially feels. The title-track feels like Manowar only watered down a tiny bit…. “Blow Your Speakers” feels like Manowar lyrically but the sound sounds a bit, dare I say, almost glam? …then “Cary On” seems like an even bigger step too far. Was this the same band who wrote “All Men Play On Ten” and sang about priding themselves on never selling out or having a thin sound? – In reality its just an anthem in the Judas Priest sense, ala “Defenders Of The Faith,” “United” or “Take On The World” but on first impressions it might throw people for a loop.

Even though this first half feels like the mighty Manowar might’ve been considering selling out (and luckily history tells us this didn’t happen, judging by the excellent albums that followed) the second half of the record puts to rest such notions. There’s the epic, grandiose “Defender” and the speedy crushing “Violence & Blood Shed” “Holy War” and especially “Black Wind, Fire And Steel.” These exciting, vital sounding, furiously catchy Heavy Metal tunes are everything that’s great about Manowar… the guitar solos, the double kicks and unusual drum fills, the varied and impressive vocals… the sheer triumphant attitude and entertaining energy. Yes… this is top quality stuff indeed.

The other two tracks are essentially just the slow moody intros to the aforementioned “Holy War” and “Black Wind, Fire And Steel” and to be honest you could easily consider them to be part of those songs if they weren’t written down separately. They provide a little bit of variety and are entertaining, and certainly they augment the tracks which they seem paired with, but don’t feel overly worth writing home about in and of themselves.

When you think of the half-hour album in terms of containing three fantastic, powerful and varied classic Heavy Metal tracks, alongside one vastly entertaining epic, then the fact that the first three songs are of an unexpected musical direction isn’t really too much of a problem. That and well, even if they are stylistically not what you’d go and ask for, they are actually pretty damn catchy and enjoyable once you give them a few listens. Eric Adams goes a bit more Paul Stanley than Rob Halford here, but hey… at least the band isn’t just putting the same record out again and again.

Overall; a lot of people are a bit suspicious and put-off by this album. Despite this if you are into Manowar you should still absolutely give it a chance. If not you’d be missing out on some blindingly good Heavy Metal tunes like “Violence & Bloodshed” & “Black Wind, Fire And Steel” and a bit of diversity.

Warthur How's this for some irony: Manowar kicked off their previous album to this, Sign of the Hammer, with the anthem All Men Play On 10, which was basically a declaration that Manowar would never sell out and anyone who pandered to commercialism was a thrall to the evil forces of False Metal... so, naturally, for this followup Manowar signed to a major label and kicked off proceedings with three shamelessly commercial tracks with production values and performances that could have belonged to any generic hair metal band of the era.

Had the banner-bearers of True Metal betrayed us? Well, no, not quite; they might have made a deal with the commercial devil, but from track four (Violence and Bloodshed) onwards the tone of the album shifts rapidly to much more interesting territory, with much of the second side offering up a blend between traditional Manowar bravado and Helloween-ish power metal. It's thanks to this latter part of the album that Fighting the World just about treads water, though I can't help but think that rather than rerecording perfectly good albums like Battle Hymns, Manowar's time these days might be better spent rerecording this one to give us a hair metal-free version of it.

Extra half-star because of the presence of a hilariously bored Orson Welles on narration for Defender - even so, this is only bearable if you skip the first three tracks and kick off with Violence and Bloodshed.

TerryDactyl Where to begin, where to start? This one...well...

Okay so I have one of those nostalgic stories that relate to this album in a way that very few things I listen to resonate, and I must admit this is my favorite of all Manowar albums though in many ways it is (as so many have pointed out, said, written about) the absolute worst thing they had made to this point. Overproduced as hell. Filled with the most idiotic lyrics ever, piece of mega metal shit, just listen to Manilla Road and that's not nearly as bad (oh! Road of Manilla, we shall come to you shortly, visiting like lecherous incubi upon your falling breast!) as this stupid shit, but okay, yes they did write a letter to the MTV! And they did ask why their videos were ignored even though they were on a major label, had a quality vid, and FUCKING ORSON WELLES WAS ON THEIR GODDAMNED RECORD! (sorry if this offends anyone, but I'm thinking this is a metal forum and we are trash mouthed often!)

Seriously, Orson Welles is on this album, and really I don't think one has to be a super film buff expert on anything at all to understand and know to the depths of their souls that Welles being involved with an album makes it have WAY MUCH MORE IN COMMON with Citizen Kane than most metal albums.

But the real of it all is that when I was thirteen I found a copy of "Power Chords" which was an Atlantic/Megaforce sampler from 1987 with a bevy of awesome tracks on it, and the very end of the second side, thereby being the end of the whole mind-blowing experience, was Manowar's "Black Wind Fire and Steel" which is really still probably my favorite song of all time. My conservative Christian sister heard it as I played it in my boombox for the first time on the back driver's side floorboard whilst I huddled on the seat, my head touching the speaker, and Eric Adams going WAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHAHAAAAAA" for however many minutes while I experienced true love for the first time, saying "Is that a cop? Was there a siren" and I replied "No, it's this song," and she says "Why would anyone want to listen to that?" I said naught, but thought easily "That you don't know is your greatest tragedy" and thought about Conan. It's okay if you don't get it. I do.