Originally Posted by Trollheart

You know, what the hell? As in the case of The Number of the Beast, I'll always love Battle Hymns more, as it was the first Manowar album I ever got (and their debut) but I readily admit this is far superior. BH gives you the idea of a lot of disjointed songs, without any real common thread until right at the end, which kind of makes the ending of that album almost a prequel to this.

By Into Glory Ride though, Manowar have their shtick well and truly together. On Battle Hymns, there's little real reference to swords, sorcery or kind of even sex, with a lot of mixed metaphors, and you look at the sleeve and wonder is this some sort of neo-Nazi band? But the cover of IGR leaves no room for doubt. Sure, it's cheesy as all hell, but that's Manowar for you. They're not meant to be taken seriously.

This album reeks of quality cheese though, and while I agree "Warlord" is almost more a song that belongs on the previous album, and "Hatred" is pretty OTT even for Manowar (and little more than an excuse for Ross to wank off on the guitar in a similar way to how Joey showed us how badass on the bass he is on "William's Tale") the epic power and depth of the rest of the songs more than make up for these slight low points, and lead into the third in their "golden age", if you will, period, with Hail to England waiting to unleash a powerful salvo in support of its dark brother here.

Perfect? No, but very damn close. God tier indeed.

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.

Originally Posted by Oriphiel

Pretty entertaining Metal. Not my favorite thing ever, but I'm not gonna be a bitch like Frownland and pretend that Manowar aren't fun.

7/10

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I'm not even mad. Seriously I'm not. You're a good dude, and I think and hope you'll become something good

Originally Posted by Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

piggy backing this

i don't really have anything else to add to be honest, so instead let's reminisce over the dubtrack session that saw batty and i listen to nothing but hours on end of manowar.

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.

Originally Posted by Oriphiel

Pretty entertaining Metal. Not my favorite thing ever, but I'm not gonna be a bitch like Frownland and pretend that Manowar aren't fun.

7/10

Originally Posted by Frownland

I wish I was pretending.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

That was the Gods of War album and my **** is that an abortion of a record. Was fun.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I'm not even mad. Seriously I'm not. You're a good dude, and I think and hope you'll become something good

Originally Posted by Mondo Bungle

one of my favorite heavy metal albums. It gallops triumphantly at an awesomely slowish to mid pace, the song structure is extraordinary and expansive, and the almost lo fi production is amazing.

I'd have no idea personally but Mercyful Fate have a sound that I feel could have drawn from this one heavily

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.