Manowar - the self-proclaimed Kings of Metal. Yet another band that plays a significant role in the history of heavy metal.
In 1980 Joey DeMaio worked as a bass technician for Black Sabbath and Ross Friedman aka Ross the Boss played guitar in Black Sabbath's support band on the Heaven & Hell tour. By suggestion of Ronnie James Dio they formed a band together with drummer Donnie Hamzik and vocalist Eric Adams who was a friend of DeMaio. They called themselves Manowar. Eric Adams and Joey DeMaio have been members of Manowar from 1980 till today while founding member Ross the Boss was asked to leave the band in 1989. Many consider the albums released with Ross the Boss to be among the classics of heavy metal and I started my research into Manowar with those six albums.
Altogether Manowar has released 11 studio albums until today, selling more than 20 million copies worldwide. Six of those 11 albums have been released in their first 9 years together with Ross Friedman. Their sixth album Kings of Metal has been their best-selling album until today. And I guess the eponymous song Kings of Metal is a good way to start listening to Manowar as it contains all the essentials and pretty much everything you need to know about this band in a nutshell.
"Manowar Manowar living on the road
When we're in town speakers explode
We don't attract wimps 'cause we're too loud
Just true metal people that's Manowar's crowd
They want to keep us down
But they can't last
When we get up we're gonna kick your ass
Gonna keep on burnin'
We always will
Other bands play, Manowar kill"
Manowar are all about "true metal" and metal as a lifestyle and they take it quite seriously although I was hoping more than once their attitude was meant to be taken ironically...
When Manowar formed in 1980 they wanted to be different from the other bands around them. Musically, they drew from the NWOBHM and original heavy metal. What made them different right from the start was their way to dress. They were the first metal band not only to inlcude the classic leather and denim and studs outfits but loin-cloths and fur and swords. I mean look at that picture. If this isn't epic then I don't know what is...
Apart from their warrior looks Manowar strove to create loud, big, emphatic and epic metal full of pathos. Right from the beginning they focused their lyrics around riding into battle, brotherhood, fantasy, Nordic mythology, "real" heavy metal and living the metal way. Manowar fathered Viking Metal and their first album Battle Hymns (1982) is sometimes said to be the first power metal album.
The eponymous song Battle Hymn is a true epic masterpiece and it shows Manowar at its early and still raw form. It is simple but not as cheesy and over-the-top as many other songs. Joey DeMaio shines with his bass playing and Eric Adams shows off his vocal range of four octaves. Definitely one of the best Manowar songs. I've added it to my playlist together with Metal Daze.
I've listened to all six albums from the "Ross the Boss"-era (Battle Hymns (1982), Into Glory Ride (1983), Hail to England (1984), Sign of the Hammer (1984), Fighting the World (1987) and Kings of Metal (1988)) and I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. It is mostly only one or two songs on each album that I find even listenable. The rest is - for me - pretty dull, repetitive and mind-numbing metal, sometimes not even sounding like metal. Why they are so secure in calling themselves Kings of Metal and True Metal (as opposed to those who play false metal) when there are so many other metal bands that play so much better, faster, more intricate or creative than them - beats me.
Apart from Battle Hymn and Metal Daze there are just two more songs I've added to my playlist and they are not even from the first six albums. Of course there is Warriors of the World. Their most popular song. It is musically simple. Simple riffing, slow and simple drumming, in parts it is only Eric Adams singing accompanied by keyboards. It lives from the sheer pomp and pathos of audience participation. But it works very well. And it gives me goosebumps every single time. If you like Manowar or not: listening to this song makes you wanna "raise your hands into the air". It is a perfect song to start the day and give you all the energy you need.
And then there is The Gods Made Heavy Metal from the album Louder than Hell (1996). This song sounds more hard rock than metal to me (just like so many songs from Def Leppard) but it is good fun and it puts me in a good mood.
Suprisingly - this has been it from Manowar for me. Like I said, the rest of the songs mostly bore me and often the lyrics kill the song for me. There is just too much mention of raping women in battle and slick swords like young maidens in their prime. I guess I am too much of a feminist to be able to overlook the machoism and the fact that Manowar promote a pretty specific image of women.