When I decided to review an early Manowar record, I was torn between Into Glory Ride and Hail To England. Both capture what I believe to be Manowar at their finest. Despite the latter being a far greater commercial success, I decided to review the former – their second release – which for me encapsulates Manowar at their un-self-conscious best.
To be perfectly clear, Manowar are a polarising band. In the late ’80s and early ’90s they were considered fascist by many European headbangers, while today plenty of metalheads consider Manowar nothing more than a cringeworthy bunch of self-deluded tools. And yet, there was a brief window, before their hyper-inflated ego’s leaked like a bloody stain into their music, when they produced something wonderful, almost magical. Before, Joey DeMaio decided that he had to inflict his boring piccolo-bass solos everywhere, and before their “warriors of metal” cant became frankly embarassing – like some half-drunk old uncle banging on and on about the “glory days”.
Looking at the cover, you’d be forgiven for thinking that these guys were taking the piss. Looking like a bunch of steroidal Conan wannabes that have just raided a Hollywood costume department – complete with faux swords, furry nappies and obligatory menacing poses – you would be rightfully tempted to just slide that one back in the record store rack and walk away laughing. If you did that however, you’d be missing out on one of the most powerful albums to be released in 1983.
“Ride, ride, ride. I’m the warlord of the road. Riding, riding, riding. Ain’t never growing old.”
Despite the corny fade-in of (presumably) one of the band members having sex with a teenager and then getting caught by her father (who, judging by the sound of his voice, one can safely assume is a total retard), the album is kickstarted by the opener - Warlord - a rollicking, biker-lifestyle track, in the same heavy-rock style as the songs from their first album, Battle Hymns.
As the opening track fades out, we are left unprepared for the doom-laden, mythic blast of bombast that is Secret of Steel. With pounding drums, Scott Columbus proved his worth as the newest member of the band. This track is one of several on the album that seem specially crafted as vehicles for Eric Adams’ majestic vocal abilities. Here is a singer who can seamlessly transition from softly sung whispers to epic operatics to rock schlock. His voice bristles with effortless power and polished nobility. The song’s sombre pace and mythical lyrics ably supported by guitars that stay out of Eric’s way.
The third track Gloves of Metal, is typical of a lot of later Manowar fare – earnestly praising the metal brotherhood: “we wear leather, we wear spikes – we rule the night!”. Yeah, whatever…although I must truthfully admit that as a young fella (i.e. complete idiot) I was as hooked on the “brotherhood” BS as any other die-hard.
“Death’s chilling wind blows through my hair. I’m now immortal – I am there!”
Fortunately, the album veers back on track – and how! – with Manowar’s greatest song ever, the beautiful Gates of Valhalla. If this track doesn’t make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, then check your pulse because you might be dead. An operatic ode to the mythology of the Norse gods and the warrior’s heaven -Valhalla – this song is an uncontested masterpiece. Eric Adams is at his absolute finest giving us wings and taking us from pure poetry to riding with the Valkyries. Words can’t describe just how good this song is so check out the following clip of the band performing it live:
“Gates of Valhalla” live
Amazingly, this masterpiece is followed by another. Hatred is a superbly crafted song whose every bar, every note, precisely conveys the author’s malevolence. The guitar work by Ross “the Boss” Friedman on this is genius – never has a whammy bar been wielded so mightily, nor amplifier feedback been mastered so completely in the service of evil. The tortured demonic wailing at death-march pace relentlessly flagellates your mind for fully 7 minutes and 42 seconds. This would have to be the favourite track of the Emperor from Star Wars. Not even Yoda (the little smart-arsed muppet) could withstand the withering assault of misanthropy spewed forth in this song. Brilliant.
Revelation (Death’s Angel), is a well delivered, faster paced track based on the biblical Book of Revelations by St.John the Divine (the completely baked more like). It’s hard to judge this song objectively given the superlative tracks it follows, nevertheless it is holds its own and restores the pace as we near the end of the album.
The closer, March for Revenge (by the Soldiers of Death), tells the story of a vengeful band of warriors wreaking a terrible revenge (duh!) on those who killed one of their own. OK, it is cliched, but we’re talking about Manowar after all, and despite the corny subject matter, they manage to produce a highly enjoyable number whose chorus – “Maim and kill them! Take the women and children!” – is sung to a surprisingly jolly riff (replete with tinkling bells).
To those that have never head Manowar before I urge you to listen to this album. You won’t regret the journey you take. And to those that have been totally over them for years, take the time to give this one another shot. The diamonds it contains are well worth the trip down memory lane.
It’s scary I know, but I remember actually buying this one – practically on the day of its release.
1983. I wagged school. Jumped on the number 6 Glen Iris tram and rode it all the way to Flinders Street and bought it from Metal For Melbourne – which stood, pretty much where Federation Square is now.
I played that sucker to death then, I play that sucker to death now.
It’s raw brutality just screams absolute power – and if you can ignore the shenanigans on the cover – you’ll still get mass enjoyment from this slab or pure Metal goodness even today.
I love this band to this day. Sure they can be as corny as hell – but beneath it all – they can cave your skull in before you even realized what’s happened.
Now, if they would only tour these shores…
I actually like this album – a lot, at the time of release I picked up a copy purely on the basis of the favourable reviews which were doing the rounds in the music press. At the time Manowar did not look out of place and musically the album stands up as a formidable Metal record, it is riff-tastic!
I put this baby on today. It had been a while. I remember that Kerrang! were absolutely wetting themselves over Manowar and this album. It was deliberately left with a raw almost unmixed mix – hence the absolute power on this opus. Albeit, very, very raw.
It was around about this time that Manowar were calling themselves the heaviest and fastest band in the world.
Thrash didn’t really exist as yet.
And then, by the end of the year… an album called ‘Kill Em All’ was released by a bunch of spotty faced dweebs known as Metallica…
I think we know what happened next!
Jimmy, I totally agree – riff-tastic indeed. However I remember thinking that the cover was embarrassing even back then – seriously, they look like complete drongos.
JR – I recall that there were plenty of complaints about this album being too slow – “Manowar can’t play fast”. Their response of course was the Hail to England album and the awesome Kill With Power.
It was a great time to be a headbanger.
Mick – Talking about musclebound poseurs; Manowar were outdone and predated by Thor and his 1978 heavy metal release Keep The Dog’s Away!