Manowar
Warriors Of The World

THE REVIEW

I know, I know, the site is relatively full of reviews of Manowar (although for now Queen are unreachable) and this album alone already has three (even though "two and a half" would be more correct :D), however, not having seen yet an exhaustive one and this being one of the first albums that introduced me to metal, I decided to attempt an analysis, well aware that Manowar, except for some die-hard fans, the great Defenders of Steel, are not well regarded by the rest of the world due to accusations against them of fascism, self-celebration, and such.

That doesn't change the fact that the album, released 6 years after the already good "Louder Than Hell," opens in the best way with the in my opinion splendid and highly underrated "Call To Arms", a true summation of the Manowar-thought, with the homecoming of the Kings Of Metal who call all their followers to gather, who approve noisily with the usual, masterful choirs while DeMaio's bass hammering is relentless.

The next track, "Fight For Freedom", is the rightful continuation of the one preceding it, but without the same emotional involvement, while "Nessun Dorma" is a fun and ultimately due experiment by Manowar with a decent vocal performance in Italian by the great Eric Adams. After the decent "An American Trilogy", another tribute, this time to the godfather of rock Elvis Presley, which proves to be "only" enjoyable, two absolute masterpieces follow in succession even if antithetical in form: "Swords In The Wind", I dare say, even beats its source of inspiration, the much-celebrated "Master of the wind" from "Triumph of steel", and is one of the best war-themed ballads ever produced by the New York group.

The title track is instead monumental, one of the best Manowar songs ever with sacred monsters like "Hail and Kill" or "Brothers of Metal", with an incredible performance by Adams, DeMaio, and the choir, with an intro marked by the bass and drums that's nothing short of epic, and a part towards the end almost whispered where the singer begs his companions to tell his family how he was killed in battle and swears that as long as he has strength, he will fight to the end, and then he strikes again with the incredible chorus. Obviously, phrases like these can be seen as clowns or mere bravado at first glance, but if one manages to place them in today's everyday life, one discovers that they have a certain relevance; there are still people who, having read two random lyrics, will forever brand Manowar as failures or at best, inflated. The album still concludes with a high-level trio, "Hand of Doom", "House of Death", and the other masterpiece of the CD "Fight Until We Die", all three characterized by a bulldozer bass and the incendiary guitar of Karl Logan that pays little attention to technicalities and very much to substance.

Concluding the review which indeed is a bit long after rereading it, I would like to simply recommend this album, perhaps not the whole thing but just a few songs, to those people who do not know Manowar or have always dismissed them negatively due to prejudice (their fans obviously will know it by heart and will have differing opinions on it); if there is a slightly more easy-listening yet simultaneously high overall quality album, it is this one. 4.5 would be the score, I don't go to 5 because it represents perfection, and this is a great album, not a perfect album.