The Kings Of Metal are back with the Lord of Steel. The Manowarriors will definitively celebrate once again the loudest and the longest Heavy Metal concert player band in the world. Both performances were included in the Guinness Book of World Records. In 1984 the band delivering the loudest performance, a record which they have since broken on 2 occasions and they also set the record for the longest Heavy Metal concert after playing for 5 hours and 1 minute in Bulgaria in 2008.
Formed in 1980, Manowar maintain a strong cult following and they are probably one of the most loved Heavy Metal band in the world. Back in the 80’s when I had my share of headbanging on their killer album “Sign of the Hammer”, probably I didn’t believed that this band will last over two decades and in 2012 they will release their 12th studio album.
And the 10 tracks of “The Lord Of Steel” sounds almost just as “Sign of the Hammer” sounded 28 years ago. “Righteous Glory” might be the new “Mountains” or “Guyana (Cult of the Damned)”, “Manowarriors” is the twin brother of “All Men Play on 10” or “Animals”. This is a classy, powerful and hammering Heavy Metal album with all the strong characters of the 80’s and and the bombastic, powerful sound of our modern days without any musical deviation to any kind of “post” or “Metalcore” syndrome.
And listening the glowing bass line of “Touch The Sky”, the thundering dark riffs of “Black List”, or the sing-a-long chorus of “Expendable”, everything makes sense – without irony or nostalgia.
The song “El Gringo” was used in the film of the same name, “El Gringo”, directed by Eduardo Rodriguez, produced by After Dark Films and filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Not much left to say: Hail, Kill And Die!
Tracklist:
01 – The Lord Of Steel
02 – Manowarriors
03 – Born In A Grave
04 – Righteous Glory
05 – Touch The Sky
06 – Black List
07 – Expendable
08 – El Gringo
09 – Annihilation
10 – Hail, Kill And Die
Manowar – Official Site
Manowar @ Facebook
Manowar @ Twitter
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9cUpbdoCRQ&w=545&h=409]
I beg to differ: the undisputed kings of heavy metal have always been Iron Maiden. Manowar had their cult audience, but for most metal fans, they’ve always been a joke, like an embarrassing, slightly stupid inbred bastard cousin. Note that I’m not talking about my personal taste (even though I do agree), just rectifying a misconception. At least now they got rid of their ridiculous Conan outfits.
There was always a struggle between the fans of Maiden and Priest, at least back in the 80s, regarding who is the biggest Heavy Metal King. 🙂 Before both of them, there was Black Sabbath, and some obscure bands I really loved like Tygers Of Pan Tang. Their “Wild Cat” and “Spellbound ” albums reached me before Iron Maiden, but simultaneously with Prist’s “British Steel” and Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades”.
I loved Manowar’s “Sign Of the Hammer”. Back then – 1984 – it was a banger. They get rid of that ridiculous Conan outfits? I didn’t noticed, last time I saw pictures of them live, they were looking just the same…. Embarrassing. 😆
Yeah, the Sab and Priest invented heavy metal back in the 70’s, but in the 80’s, Maiden had taken over and were by far the best selling metal band, while Sabbath had become quite tacky and irrelevant. Priest had also become tacky but made a surprisingly good comeback with “Ram It Down” and especially “Painkiller”, which blurred the lines between heavy and thrash metal.
I don’t know about Manowar’s current live outfits but I saw their latest video and they wore the same jackets than in the picture above.
By 1988, Maiden had become so big that they were even widely known outside of the metal community, a bit like Metallica nowadays.