Hail to England (1984)
Lineup
Vocals: Eric Adams
Bass: Joey DeMaio
Guitars: Ross the Boss
Drums: Scott Columbus
Label: Music for Nations
Side A
1. Blood of My Enemies - 4:13
2. Each Dawn I Die - 4:16
3. Kill with Power - 3:55
4. Hail to England - 4:24
Side B
5. Army of the Immortals - 4:24
6. Black Arrows - 3:03 (instrumental)
7. Bridge of Death - 8:58
Continuing from where
Into Glory Ride left off, while also adding a diversity that Manowar had never really shown before. Things kick off slow and heavy, with the relentless, vicious power of "Blood of My Enemies" and "Each Dawn I Die", before taking a left turn into speed metal for "Kill with Power", and then the title track is sort of a halfway point between the epic metal of
Into Glory Ride, and the straight ahead trad metal of
Battle Hymns.
"Army of the Immortals" starts Side B similarly to the previous song, before introducing one of the few bass solo tracks that doesn't actually suck, and then back to slow, grinding heaviness on "Bridge of Death"
Depending on your point of view, this diversity might be seen as an improvement over the the monotony of
Into Glory Ride, but personally, it makes the album a less purely atmospheric experience. Regardless, this is a fantastic album, and probably their most consistent -- consistency being almost unheard of for Manowar. The band more or less nail every song, exploring and sometimes even improving on all aspects of their sound in a cohesive way that is almost unique in their notoriously spotty discography.
For any true Manowarrior,
Hail to England is an artifact of worship, and simply one of the best heavy/power metal albums of the decade. If you don't live in America (where the band sadly does not have a distribution deal, making their records almost impossible to track down in a physical record store) and you consider yourself a True Metalhead, then you owe it to yourself to buy this album and wear it the **** out.