MANOWAR — Battle Hymns (review)

MANOWAR — Battle Hymns album cover Album · 1982 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
TerryDactyl
I love the first six Manowar albums with an undying passion that has possessed my soul since sometime in my mid-teens. I get it. They really are a silly band and are incredibly earnest in a sort of embarrassing way and all, but I find I don't care one jot about that and if a Metal band can't sing about going to war with your darksword and using it to shed the blood of your enemies all over the white sands, that if you can't rape some girls as you burn their villages and kill their men with said darksword, then what is metal for?

Manowar sing about other things too, of course. Like how cool they are and how cool their fans are, how awesome the world would be if others took up the Manowar Mantle and held it high turning their music into a way of life, or whatever. They also sing about motorcycles and Vietnam Vets with PTSD. One of the other things I love about this band is the connection between lead singer Eric Adams and his uncle Orson Welles. I find it great that Welles obviously loved his nephew enough to give the exciting (slightly silly) narrative of "Dark Avenger" and hearing Welles utter the phrase "They brought forth their demon horse Called Black Death, a grim steed..." is one of the greatest things that ever happened.

While "Battle Hymns" is a great introduction to Manowar's musical vision, it is not yet a complete encapsulation of said vision. There are many "not really metal" moments on it, as we aren't TOO far from the seventies- and the hard rock/proto-metal that defined the decade-with this one. Those elements will be gone by the next album, and that's part of what makes "Battle Hymns" special. The boys are playing metal, they know they're metal, but they haven't exactly determined what metal IS so there's still some cowbell and a few bluesy moments that tarnish the polished steel of the rest of the album, but still it is Metal of course. It's Manowar, how could it be anything but?

Actual review: Great starter album for a great band, nice and metallic if not quite metal, great basswork and vocals, great guitar and drumming, clever sword and sorcery and other lyrics that take us to those very special Manowar places. Four and a Half stars. Great record, not their best but close to the top. Listen to it and you'll see.
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UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Yeah I found that some pretty cool info too...
Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Shit! Never realised Eric Adams was Orson Welles' nephew! That explains a bit...
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Great review, and welcome to the MMA! :)
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Nice review, and great to see a new reviewer on MMA. Welcome :-)

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