lukretion Hate them or love them, Manowar are one of the most well-known (and talked about) metal bands on the planet. Warriors of the World is the Americans’ 9th full-length album, released in 2002 after a gap of 6 years from their previous LP, Lounder Than Hell. And if that record had already started to show a worrying involution in the band’s sound, Warriors of the World continues the inexorable decline, marking a new low in Manowar’s discography.

The band’s sound has not changed much over the years – forging that epic, loud brand of traditional heavy metal that has served as template for countless bands since the 1980s. While not very different from the rest of their discography, the tracks on Warriors of the World resemble more a faded photograph of Manowar’s sonic prototype than a 2.0 version propelled in the new millennium. The tracks have all the right ingredients – loud, steady drum beats, powerful bass and guitar riffs, epic vocal melodies -, but it is hard to shake the impression that we haven’t heard all this before already, but better. A ballad like “Swords in the Wind” pales in comparison to masterpieces such as “Master of the Wind” or “Heart of Steel”, lacking in pathos and delivery. The more uptempo and aggressive songs (“Hand of Doom”, “House of Death “, “Fight Until We Die”) fare somewhat better, but they too show the signs of time: Eric Adams’ roar, while still respectable, is just a tiny bit less commanding than on previous records; the guitar and bass riffs feel slightly recycled; and the arrangements are somewhat less vivid. In sum, it’s hard to see why one would prefer to listen to this over any of the band’s previous 8 records, if free to choose.

Of course, the fact Manowar might have written better songs and albums before, is no reason to consider Warriors of the World a bad record per se. However, it is hard to ignore some glaring issues it presents. First and foremost, the album contains a lot of fluff. And when I say “a lot”, I mean more than 50% of the material included here. This is mostly concentrated in the album’s first half, where we have two fairly insipid balladish songs (“The Fight for Freedom” and “Swords in the Wind”), two frankly improbable covers (a snippet of Puccini’s aria “Nessun Dorma” and Elvis Presley’s “An American Trilogy”) and two pointless, keyboard-driven instrumentals (“Valhalla” and “The March”). That’s a total of six slow, fairly pompous, slightly lethargic songs in a row! It would be enough to sink even the strongest of albums and, alas, the remaining five tracks of Warriors of the World fare just above average. The concluding lot of songs, from the title-track to “Fight Until We Die”, is by far the best the LP has to offer, although it’s hard to ignore the fact that “Hand of Doom”, “House of Death” and “Fight Until We Die” are essentially cut from the same cloth and have their own issues too (for instance, the ending chorus of “Hand of Doom” drags on way too long and “Fight Until We Die” really feels like a mere appendix to “House of Death”).

Overall, I cannot say I enjoy listening to Warriors of the World much. The first half is highly inconsistent and boring. The second half is better, but seems to have been written on autopilot, recycling familiar riffs and melodies (and lyrics, of course). Maybe Manowar should have tried to condense this material into an EP (with the covers + instrumental a b-sides, possibly). Either way, I cannot see myself playing this one very often, unless someone steals all previous Manowar’s albums from my collection.

Vim Fuego It’s been an epic journey. There have been many times when the battle looked lost, but the Kings of Metal triumphed. The final swansong, Manowar’s Armageddon, the ultimate final confrontation approaches. How will these mighty warriors fare?

To unnecessarily answer a rhetorical question, fuck knows. And at this stage, how many metal warriors still care? Manowar knows not and cares not, and on they soldier in the fight for metal!

OK, enough cliché and war themed metaphor. Let’s get down to plain talking. Manowar are nearing the end of their musical career. There’s one more album coming. There’s a song on it about the Greek hero Odysseus, which promises to be over 30 minutes long. “Highlights from the Revenge of Odysseus” is supposedly a sample from the song.

Achilles was afforded the same treatment in 1992 in “Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts” on the album “The Triumph of Steel”. “Achilles…” is a sprawling but flawed progressive power metal operetta, incorporating both bass and drum solos, and overblown theatrics. How has Odysseus fared?

Not particularly well on first appearances.

First track “Athena’s Theme” is a quasi-operatic, over-dramatic intro”. It follows into the clichéd stormy night and ominous horns of “Telemachus, Pt. 1”. It sounds like a rehashing of “The Warriors Prayer”. Except it’s in fucking Greek. If you don’t speak the language you’re buggered without a translation. It segues into a power ballad duet (“Where Eagles Fly”) so sappy even Meatloaf would have been too ashamed to sing it. Yes, Eric Adams still has a great voice, as does Chiara Tricarico of Italian symphonic power metal band Moonlight Haze, but metal fans want to hear him belting out massive war anthems, not warbling away in limp pseudo-operatic insipidity. And then there’s another Greek interlude called “Odysseus and Calypso - The Island of Ogygia”, which sounds ever so dramatic, but is still meaningless if you don’t speak the language. It’s enough to make frustrated Mano-warriors hang up their rusty battleaxes and dented codpieces.

But then Manowar do what they’ve done for their entire pompous, pretentious, unintentionally self-parodic 40+ year career. These arrogant, self-important bastards make all the bloated theatrical bullshit worth wading through by knocking out an anthemic, monstrous blast of good old fashioned heavy fucking metal with final track “Immortal”.

Ominous, ethereal choir? Check. Thundering Drums of Doom? Check. Relentless militaristic guitar riffs? Check. Joey De Maio’s unbelievable bass gymnastics? Check. Eric Adams calling brothers to arms? Check. The recipe is all there, all laid out plain and to see. It should sound tired and rehashed because this is a 40-year-old recipe, but it doesn’t. It still feels crisp and vital as it did when “Battle Hymns” first blasted out of speakers worldwide in 1982. It’s comfortingly metal without being over-comfortable. It’s over-blown without being overbearing. It’s just quintessential Man-O-fucking-War.

Whether the rest of the forthcoming album lives up to the standard set by this EP remains to be seen. And that’s exactly what this is supposed to do – pique curiosity and set out expectations. So fuck you Manowar, for who you are, you arrogant grumpy old bastards. But also thank you Manowar, for the music which has been, and possibly for what remains to come. There’s still a bit of wear left in the old codpiece yet.

Tupan I never was a fan of Manowar. In fact, I despised them when I was younger, thought they were overrated. The only album I listened was their debut, which failed to impress me: some good songs, but most average hard'n'heavy rock.

I never cared to listen their other albums, until now...

...let's say I changed my mind a bit!

For example, this Sign of The Hammer, is actually a good album! Excellent songwriting, powerful tracks, and the band seems actually excited to play! This albums irradiates that raw energy who every headbanger loves to hear from an eighties album. Even the cheesiness of some lyrics is an inseparable part of that "thing" that makes this release one of the best from Manowar. There's no filler here, but tracks like Thor (The Powerhead), Mountains and the instrumental Thunderpick are my personal highlights. Check it out!

Kingcrimsonprog Manowar have really become one of my favourite band’s over the past 6 years. I may have been a bit sceptical when I first heard them, but they have grown and grown in my estimation over the years. I keep a vinyl copy of Kings Of Metal framed on my wall, they’re my 8th most-listened to band of the past 12 years according to LastFM, and I’ll defend them to the death whenever anyone makes fun of them or calls them silly.

Some fans say they haven’t made any good albums since the 80s and I’ll disagree with that all day long. That being said, there is one album I don’t really like – their tenth studio album, 2007’s Gods Of War.

My favourite things about Manowar are usually the fast and hard double-kick filled metal songs or stompy mid-paced grooving songs, and my least favourite bits are the intros/outros, spoken word narrations and indulgent solos. I can also be fifty-fifty on the ballads. I guess it stands to reasons that Gods Of War is my least favourite album, as it is a narration filled concept album that has a lot of intros. Its 16 tracks long, and I would classify a full 6 of those as skippable intros. Even tracks which aren’t intros have partial intros or outros. I mean, strangest of all, the first two tracks are in effect intros. Two in a row, before the album really kicks off. There’s also quite a high ratio of ballads to fast tracks. I have Mars Volta albums that get to the point faster than this!

Its all personal preference of course, but this is definitely my least favourite Manowar record stylistically. Of course, that’s not to say it is devoid of quality. ‘King Of Kings,’ ‘Sleipnir,’ ‘Sons Of Odin’ and ‘Loki God Of Fire’ are all exactly the style of Manowar I love the best, and some of the material outside that style, such as choral sounding ‘Army Of The Dead, Part II’ is quite entertaining. Even then however, I feel they did better versions of this type of material on the albums directly before and after this one.

Tellingly; the song I like the most, ‘Die For Metal’ is a semi-bonus track that sits outside the concept. Musically, it’s a stompy mid-tempo track. Lyrically; Its just typical Manowar fun (‘’From a hall I heard thunder and screams/I walked inside so I could hear/And the guy beside me gave me a beer’’). It doesn’t really fit on the album at all, lyrically, or musically, but it makes it into any Manowar playlist I make.

I would caution against anyone who tells you not to try their post ‘80s output, but maybe don’t make this particular outing your first.

martindavey87 Break out the loincloths and battle axes, it's time to delve into the sword and sorcery world of "real metal", as Manowar's debut album, 1982's 'Battle Hymns' shamelessly ups the ante on pure cheesiness and forces us to ask ourselves what it means to truly be a metal fan.

Kind of like America's answer to Judas Priest, Manowar's early albums seems more akin to hard rock than metal. It's got a bluesy, swinging feeling to it, that doesn't quite match up to the imagery of the band. But that's not going to stop them from preaching the gospel of the metal Gods.

But the thing is, while this might have been heavy and cutting edge in 1982... by today's standard, it's tame, light, and... well, it'll always be cheesy no matter when you hear it. Vocalist Eric Adams sings his heart out, and certainly possesses an impressive range. And guitarist Ross the Boss... yeah, that's his "name"... certainly has incredible guitar skills... just not very good songwriting ones.

Still, not all's lost, as there is some stuff here which is, well... alright, to put it bluntly. 'Death Tone', 'Metal Daze' and 'Manowar' (born to live forevermore, and don't you forget it), are all okay, nothing fancy, but certainly a precursor to the cheese that is to follow. Much like the Priest... their earlier material is pretty tame when compared to metal today, but Manowar's sound will adapt with the times and they will certainly improve on later albums, but otherwise, 'Battle Hymns' is a bit of a naff one, to me anyway.