MANOWAR — Hail to England (review)

MANOWAR — Hail to England album cover Album · 1984 · US Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
TerryDactyl
So False Metal still hasn't died, but it's not like Manowar weren't trying their dangdest to kill it. Death! they say, Death to False Metal! Pretty grandiose statement from a band who still had cowbell and blues licks all over the place just two short albums ago, but hey that's all forgivable for a few reasons, the first of which is that this album is a full on example of early 80's True/Power Metal asskickery and silver gauntlets.

This is the least listened to of the first six Manowar albums, followed closely on the heels by their next offering, "Sign of the Hammer." Still, I've listened to it an awful lot.

There's a certain goofiness missing from this record that make it different from all other Manowar albums. "Hail to England" is for the most part a grim affair, a call to arms and a long war against a very black enemy. There's not much room for banter and whatnot.

I find the seriousness of the album to be a little bit of a flaw, but not much of one. See I like my silly Manowar and there's just very little room for silly to come in through these deadly serious grooves. The music is wonderful, however, probably the best they made up to this point, and honestly in many ways they never topped it (though I love the next three albums every bit as much if not more than the first three...) I also find myself missing Orson Welles or at least some long winded narration of some great battle or other, or how a one handed wizard put a curse on a village and poisoned the well...Please Manowar, I understand that battle is your bread and butter but maybe pull away from the war the tiniest bit and you would have had a perfect record on your hands. As you didn't you might never, ever wind up with one. But hey, when you have songs like the excellent title track, "Kill with Power" and superlong epic "Bridge of Death" it really doesn't matter if the album isn't perfect. It's good enough to hack a few limbs off with.
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