The Batlord

I don't know why Manowar so often releases singles with material you can hear off the next album. What's the point of buying a single if you can just skip it without missing anything? Both "All Men Play on 10" and "Mountains" are on their next full-length, Sign of the Hammer, making this release unnecessary. Still, those are two of the best songs from that record, so I suppose if you were a desperate Manowar fan in 1984, and you just had to know what the band was up to at all times, then this would have been mana from the heavens.

"All Men Play on 10" is probably more hard rock than anything they'd released since... possibly ever. It's definitely metal, but Manowar had never really released a song quite like this. Lyrically, it's not so different from their Battle Hymns material, but considering how much their lyrics had come to be dominated by fantasy, it's kind of odd for Manowar's first taste of the new album to deviate so much. Still, Manowar are a band who celebrates machismo, so the mentality of a song like "All Men Play on Ten" is hardly out of character, and it kicks some serious ass. I've certainly played this song more than a few million times when on a Manowar binge.

"Mountains" is far more in line with their then current sound. It's not quite as great as earlier epic songs, but it evokes an atmosphere that would have fit right in on Into Glory Ride, and when it gets going it's as thunderous as anything they've ever recorded.

Again, if you already have Sign of the Hammer, then you don't need this at all, but it's still pretty cool all by itself.

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