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Manowar... the eternally controversial band. Even many metalheads despise Joey DeMaio and co. Yeah, it´s true, their last albums aren´t worth a coin, but there is a past and a legacy of great albums that mustn´t be forgotten. Yeah, it´s true, their interviews and speeches on stage are pukeable or simply ridiculous, they wore fur in a Neanderthal style, etc. The list of bold attitudes from these guys has been rather long, but I think the music of Manowar is one of the most outstanding ones in metal history, without a shadow of doubt. “Battle Hymns” is the first album, and any person with a reasonable common sense is able to realize this is a really bizarre album, more rock than metal, I´d say; very eighties in feeling, straight, light-hearted in some moments, if not simply funny, especially because of the lyrics, something utterly evident in tracks as “Metal Daze” or “Manowar”, lyrics whose sight provokes at least a smile on the face of the reader, certainly. The first song “Death Tone” reminds me some Kiss tunes, and other influences of the band which we can see in “Battle Hymn” are Iron Maiden and some hard rock or NWOBHM acts of that period. But somehow the heavy metal begins to take form in this release, paving the way for future milestones of the genre as “Fighting the World” or “Sign of the Hammer”. Manowar created their brand of metal in this album, and their classic traits can be found in some moments, like in the epic last song “Battle Hymn”, with that bombastic choruses (those synthesized “oooohs”, you know what I mean, sure). “Dark Avenger” -the best song in the album, in my opinion- features one of those traditional tremendous mid-tempos that Manowar delivered to the joy of their fans, and by the way in the middle of the song we can hear Orson Welles´ voice, something that Manowar used again later in other songs as “Defender” from the “Fighting the world” album. “William´s Tale”, a fortunately short bass solo with a very popular melody, is also included. It´s better than other bass “dissertations” that Joey did in further LPs. “Battle Hymns” is a good album, always taking into account that it was recorded in 1982 and the band personality still was in progress. So don´t pay much attention to tracks as “Shell shock”, for your own health!
| Tracklist |
| 1. Death Tone |
| 2. Metal Daze |
| 3. Fast Taker |
| 4. Shell Shock |
| 5. Manowar |
| 6. Dark Avenger |
| 7. William's Tale |
| 8. Battle Hymn |
: 36.11
| Buy other Manowar albums |
