Description

2024 re-issue on blue vinyl with insert.

On their anthemic mission statement ‘Kings of Metal’ Manowar once again proclaim their metal superiority thusly: ‘Other bands play, Manowar kills’. The twin sentiments of the group’s metal mastery and the majesty of medieval heroism in battle are doggedly repeated on their sixth full-length release, Kings of Metal. There aren’t many surprises on the disc, with the possible exception of bassist Joey DeMaio’s blinding 64th-note bass playing on a reworking of Russian classicist Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ entitled ‘Sting of the Bumblebee’. Speedier tracks like ‘Wheels of Fire’ demonstrate the groups talents much better, and are conspicuously low in number on this release. This was Manowar’s second major label album and the band put their increased budget to use. The production is pretty excellent for an album of the eighties, surpassing the other major metal albums of that year, while an authentic choir of old European men provides the chorus for ‘The Crown and the Ring.’ This album effectively marks the end of an era, as it would be the final outing for guitarist Ross “The Boss” and drummer Scott Columbus, though the latter would return some years later, but also set the standard for all albums that came after, focusing heavily on the contrast between extremely loud and fast heavy metal and more calm and reflective pieces, all striving for the label of ‘epic’. On first listening to ‘Kings of Metal,’ the same overarching themes appear to be present: songs of Odin, Viking conquest, and drinking thy last ale, but elsewhere the subject matter returns to the other characteristic Manowar staples with songs about bikes, women and the glory of Manowar itself. You would be hard pressed to find a more arrogant, chauvinistic and nerdy album even in the eighties metal scene, and while it’s arguable whether this is Manowar at their finest, it certainly catches them at their most hilarious. Even if Manowar had taken their image into stupidity and even if the music isn’t Manowar’s finest forty seven minutes its still borders on being a classic metal album, and was doubtless as influential as its predecessors towards the evolution of fantasy metal genres in the past decade.

Track list:
1. Wheels Of Fire
2. Kings Of Metal
3. Heart Of Steel
4. Sting Of The Bumblebee
5. Crown And The Ring
6. Kingdom Come
7. Hail And Kill
8. Warrior’s Prayer
9. Blood Of The Kings