Manowar - Gods Of War

Published March 09 2007

*=Staff's pick	Overture to The Hymn Of The Immortal Warrriors The Ascension King Of Kings* Army Of The Dead, Part I Sleipnir* Loki God Of Fire Blood Brothers Overture To Odin The Blood Of Odin The Sons Of Odin Glory Majesty Unity Gods Of War Army Of The Dead, Part II Odin Hymn Of The Immortal Warrriors Die For Metal (bonus track)

Genre	Heavy Metal	Eric Adams	Vocals
Tracks	16	Karl Logan	Guitar
Runningtime	74 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Magic Circle Music	Joey DeMaio	Bass
Release	26 Feb. 2007	Scott Columbus	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	Majesty, Virgin Steele

When reading my previous reviews of Manowar, one might get the impression that I don't like the band. Nothing could be more wrong (apart from claiming that I am a member of the 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg or P. Diddy fanclub, that is). The whole Louder Than Hell album is a killer, the albums Kings Of Metal and The Triumph Of Steel are partly quite good, the live album Hell On Wheels is awesome, and a few songs from the Warriors Of The World album (Call To Arms, Hand Of Doom) and the recent single The Dawn Of Battle are all utter masterpieces and do not deserve anything less than a solid 10/10 each.

But releasing a few killer songs on an album and filling the rest with second- and occasionally third class, tired riffs and a few bombastic chords on a synthesizer is just not good enough. Which is the case with the new album Gods Of War.

King Of Kings (uptempo, great chorus), Sleipnir (a chorus to die for) and to some extent Sons Of Odin (classic and pumping Manowar riff and a nice chorus) represent the quality on this album, but the rest of the playing time is an orgy in edgeless and saggy bullshit, mostly narrated and/or instrumental. Seriously, would anyone find any kind of interest in songs like for example Loki God Of Fire, Gods Of War and Odin had they been released by a new and unknown german or italian band, sounding exactly the same? Or by the band Nanowar, for that matter? I have a very hard time believing that. The name Manowar is clearly bigger than the achievements of the actual band. In their finest moments, Manowar is musically one of the better bands. In their less good moments, like during 80% of this album, they are a gargantuan yawn.

Trouble sleeping at nights? Burn a cd with songs from this album, excluding King Of Kings and Sleipnir. Sleep tight. If you on the other hand are a sucker for an hour of orchestrated warrior hymns accompanied by slow and dusty metal chords - you might have a gold mine here.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	6	7	7	2

Summary
3 chalices of 10 - Tommy

Wow. I'm totally blown away. So happy that I'm spontaneously laughing by myself. Doing silly poses. Almost dancing. It only happens every fifth or sixth year or so, but it feels the better when it do. Yes, it is unnecessary to have a seven minute intro in two parts before the first real song and a lot of instrumental or speech parts between the songs - but consider them bonus tracks. Yes, the lyrics are not revolutionary - but not that bad as some will say either. No, neither Scott Columbus nor Karl Logan are impressive as musicians - but they do their job and Eric Adams is still the king of metal voices. And, if you put aside everything that does not really matter you still have nine heavy metal tracks that is totally in another dimension from anything that has been released since Warriors Of The World. Manowar's tremendous songwriting capabilities keeps them above any competition, either we talk about pompous ballads or earthshaking metal. The melodies, the choruses, the hooks… I just can't stop listening to any of the nine main tracks - and it makes me strong and happy inside every time. I can't recall any other band giving me the same feeling. I expected much, I got more! //David (9,5 of 10)