Gods Of War - Manowar

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Lacking inspiration
Lyrics	Dire
Quality and consistency of tracks	One hit and lots of B-sides
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Weak
Value for Money	Very Poor

Advantages:	Good instrumentally
Disadvantages:	Silly

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Manowar - Gods of War

Another band that my son has asked me to listen to.

~~A bit of background~~
Apparently they are officially the Worlds loudest band and have played the worlds longest heavy metal concert....I got this info from Wikipedia before having a listen.....I was already thinking that they may not be for me.

They are heavy metal in the old style, and concentrate on the fantasy and war type songs, well look at the track listing and you will see what I mean.

The album was released in 2007 and has added to their 10 million plus sales worldwide (and I had never heard of them). I laughed somewhat trying to read the CD booklet which is in Norse type writing, and there is a Norse translation at the end of the booklet, pretentious mothers!!

~~~The Tracks~~~

1. Overture to the Hymn of the Immortal Warriors
Think Wagner, Mahler, played on electric guitars, organ and drums with a bit of dramatic film opening music.....some choir backing, you got it, actually quite pleasant. 8/10.

2. The Ascension
I cannot see much difference from the opening track, maybe a bit of 'bells and cymbals' thrown in, then we get a deep voiced narrative "He was baptised by Earth, air, water and fire......from darkness he rose up", oh my, by this stage I was laughing my socks off. 2/10.

3. King of Kings
Then we get a vocal that sounds like it comes from Joseph's Technicolor dreamcoat, followed by racing heavy metal, not sure where the last track ends and this one starts, oh no, not for me unless it is for a laugh. 2/10.

4. Army of the Dead, Part I
Short track...Benedictine Monks?, Odins Choir....please, enough, oh dear, I need to take my son for some therapy, really, apparently this lot have a big folowing in South America, what can I say? 1/10.

5. Sleipnir
Horse hoofs galloping to start, with another deep voiced narrative, oh come on, this is getting embarrasing. The music that follows is good old heavy metal but still telling this mad story. 3/10.

6. Loki God of Fire
Really great guitar riff start with manic drumming, reminds me a bit of Motorhead or Hawkwind, a song I actually like, 6/10.

7. Blood Brothers
More Andrew Llyod Webber type start, oh no more, please. 1/10.

8. Overture to Odin
By the time I listened to this I was getting tired, so the pleasant, almost classical start was refreshing, bit of violins, nice keyboards....ahh....trumpets? Oh I do like this, it is an overture, with hints of Tchaikovsky, 8/10.

9. The Blood of Odin
More narrative 'He wears a golden helmet, a golden ring, by his side sits two wolves', no, no, no. 0/10.

10. Sons of Odin
Boring, heavy metal opera, 1/10.

11. Glory Majesty Unity
Oooo, thunder and lightening sound effects and more narrative, really, I am falling off my chair in laughter at this point, are these grandparents of tenacious D? 1/10.

12. Gods of War
The title track, over 7 minutes of it, and it is good honest heavy metal again, fair enough, some really pretty special guitar playing, gets a bit silly toward the end again with more narrative, but a drun solo that is pretty special, for that reason it gets 7/10.

13. Army of the Dead, Part II
Lol, Hammond organ start, choir backing, stop it now, I cannot contain myself, then a bit of what sounds like a Welsh choir. 2/10 (for amusement).

14. Odin
Lots of guitars and drums, these are very accomplished musicians I must say, just a bit bonkers with it. Okay as a HM song. 5/10.

15. Hymn of the Immortal Warriors
Pleasant beginning, very classical again, then a bizarre narrative followed by triumphant anthem like metal, getting a bit formulaic now. 2/10.

16. Die for Metal (Bonus Track)
I actually like this, it is a bit of a metal send up, half decent if clichéd lyrics and great guitar and drums. 6/10.

~~~~Finally~~~~
Well, it is interesting and no doubt appeals to a lot of folk, hence their popularity and sales. Not really for me, too pretentious and much to funny in a 'They take themselves far too seriously' kind of way. I have had to tell my son that I like a lot of his stuff, but this is absolute dross absolute from tracks 1 and 8.

There is no doubting their musical ability and some of the playing is superb, it is just that I cannot take them seriously. I feel like I should have written 666 words, lol.

Also posted on Dooyoo, same member name.