Oriphiel

Those songs weren't meant to be compared to Manowar's whole discography, only "Battle Hymns" and "Dark Avenger". Obviously, they're not going to sound completely similar, since they were made by different bands (and, in Wicked Lady's case, with virtually no budget, as those songs were recorded live in a garage). However, it's hard to listen to a song like "Ship of Ghosts" and then one of Manowar's slow and epic songs without seeing a pretty clear line of succession. I just wanted to give examples of how Manowar weren't the only ones doing it, neither in their time nor the past. But don't take this as an insult against them; just because they weren't the first doesn't mean that they weren't the best, which is still a valid matter of opinion.

And yes, "March of Revenge" does sound like one of the songs I posted. Lucifer's Friend's "In the Time of Job" captures the same epic imagery, the same power vocals, the same riff-based attack. To me, they're much more than "superficially similar" (also, the song kind of reminds me of Dio, especially vocally). However, i'm not completely unreasonable, and I can understand your point of view.

But yeah, I can give more examples, if you like. The drumming and synth work at the beginning of "March for Revenge" remind me of Curved Air's "Young Mother" (Curved Air Live, 1974), and Sonja captures the power vocals pretty well. Of course, Curved Air replaces the thrashy guitar riffing with electric violin hijinks, but other than that, the two songs sound fairly similar. But if you want something more heavy and thrashy, once the song gets going, it reminds me of the band Dust and their heavy song "Suicide" (Hard Attack, 1972. This song came out ten years before Battle Hymns, yet the vocals, guitars, and drums all sound very similar to Manowar).