Manowar

Manowar ar a hivy metal/pouer metal baund frae Auburn, New York in the Unitit States. They ar weil kent in the metal wurld fer scrievin leerics wi an emphasis on fantasy, meethologie an the metal sub-cultur, as weil as fer being ane o the maist influential baunds on the pouer metal scene. They are cryed efter the "Man o' War", a kynd o warship uist in the 17t century.

Historie

Joey DeMaio wis warkin as a bass tech/ pyrotech fer Black Sabbath whan he met up wi a guitarist wha cryed himsel "Ross the Boss" (he wis in a baund kent as Shakin Street, wha wer supportin Sabbath at the tyme). They jammed thegithir an decidit tae form a baund, fer whilk they recruitit Eric Adams as singer an Donny Hamzik on the drums forbye. They warked tae mak an epic metal soond, a soond whilk foond its wie ontae their first album, Battle Hymns (1980) an haes bydit in their muisic evir syne. The debut album wisnae as "metal" as thet later wark, wi sum sangs on it haen a mair "haird rock" feel tae thaim, bot the baisic framewark wis in place, an the endin sang Battle Hymn is muisically an leerically teepical o the baund's ootpit in monie wies. On this album, Manowar became the ainlie baund tae record muisic wi Orson Welles, wha narratit the sang Dark Avenger (Welles wad cum bak tae Manowar fer tae record narratin on the Into Glory Ride album in 1982 an anithir sang cryed Defender whilk wis rewarked fer the Fighting the World album in 1987). The baund wis jyned bi drummer Scott Columbus fer their seicond album, Into Glory Ride (1982). Their offeecial biography thrieps that his style o playin wis sae "viscous" that it wad cowp normal drum kits an sae special anes haed tae be made oot o steel fer him tae uise. This is teepical o monie o Manowar's thriepins (ithirs include that they signed their recorddin contrack in their ain bluid, that fowk hae dee'd at their shaws frae the volume etc. Naebodie kens whithir or no thir stories is true, bot they hae helped tae big the image o Manowar). Ane o Manowar's thriepins whilk can be supportit is the title o Wurld's Loodest Baund, a raicord they hauld an hae broken thrie tymes. The Guinness Book of World Records haulds that they ance played at 160 decibels, whilk is as lood as a jet engyne! Custom soond graith wis bigged fer the baund bi John "Dawk" Stillwell, whilk helpit thaim tae achieve their gey muckle soond. Ower the years, Manowar's soon haesna chynged a wheen, tho it haes been notit bi monie fans an critics that on recent albums the elements o clessical muisic (orchestras, quiers, symphonic interludes etc.) are becummin mair important at the expense o the strauchtforrit metal sangs whilk made the baund their name.

Image

Manowar wer weil kent in the 1980s fer their leither an furs image whilk they teuk on tae match the epic, battle relatit themes o their leerics. This lead tae album kivers sic as this ane Archived 2007-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, whilk hae fer obvious reisons become a tairget o fun amang metal fans the day, espeecialy on internet forums an sic like. Nou the baund ar aulder an dinnae wear sic claes as in the auchties, bot still keep tae leither, motorcycles an lang hair in a mair teepical (an less obviously camp) metal style.

Influences

Accordin tae the baund's offeecial wabstaid, Manowar foond a wheen o tift frae the wark o famous clessical componer Richard Wagner, wha bassist DeMaio thrieps wis "The faither o heavy metal". Forbye the baund also tak muisical tift frae clessic metal baunds sic as Black Sabbath (Manowar wad sumtymes thriep in eirlie interviews that forbye thaimsels, Sabbath war the ainlie "true metal" baund aroond). Leericaly they tak tift frae fantasy novels an buiks, sic as Conan the Barbarian an sic like.

Magic Circle Music

Fer tae tak mair control o their muisic, recordin, distribuitin, merchandise etc. DeMaio foondit a raicord label cryed Magic Circle Music in 2002. The main reison fer this, accordin tae singer Eric Adams, wis acause o unfair treatment o the baund bi raicord labels in the past, and tae prevent ithir baunds frae dreein the same; as weil as tae ensure the maist hie quality o production. Ithir acks on the label include Rhapsody of Fire, Holy Hell an the solo wark o Rhapsody of Fire guitarist Luca Turilli.

Line-up

Current members

Eric Adams - Vocals
Joey DeMaio - Bass Guitars / Guitars/ Keybuirds
Karl Logan - Guitars / Keybuirds
Scott Columbus - Drums an Percussion

Umwhile members

Ross the Boss - Guitar
David Shankle - Guitar
Carl Canedy - Drums
Donny Hamzik - Drums
Rhino (real name Kenny Earl Edwards) - Drums

Discography

Albums

Battle Hymns (1982)
Into Glory Ride (1983)
Hail to England (1984)
Sign of the Hammer (1984)
Fighting the World (1987)
Kings of Metal' (1988)
The Triumph of Steel (1992)
Louder Than Hell (1996)
Warriors of the World (2002)
Gods of War (2007)
Battle Hymns MMXI (2010)
The Lord of Steel (2012)
Kings of Metal MMXIV (2014)
Into Glory Ride Imperial Edition MMXIX (2019)
Hail To England Imperial Edition MMXIX (2019)

Live

Hell on Wheels (1997)
Hell on Stage (1999)
Gods of War Live (2007)

Compilations

Manowar Kills (1992)
The Hell of Steel: Best of Manowar (1994)
Anthology (1997)
The Kingdom of Stee' (1998)
Steel Warriors (1998)

Singles/EPs

"Defender" (1983)
"All Men Play On Ten" (1984)
"Blow Your Speakers" (1987)
"Herz Aus Stahl" (1988)
"Metal Warriors" (1992)
"Defender" (1994)
"Return of the Warlord" (1996)
"Courage" (1996)
"Courage Live" (1996)
"Number 1" (1996)
"Live in Spain" (1998)
"Live in Portugal" (1998)
"Live in France" (1998)
"Live in Germany" (1998)
"Warriors of the World United" (2002)
"Warriors of the World United Part 2" (2002)
"An American Trilogy/The Fight for Freedom" (2002)
"Dawn of Battle" (2002)
"King of Kings (included in "Hell on Earth Part IV") (2005)
"The Sons of Odin" (EP) (2006)
"Thunder in the Sky" (EP) (2009)
"The Lord of Steel Live" (EP) (2013)
"The Final Battle I" (EP) (2019)

VHS/DVDs

Secrets of Steel (VHS) (1993)
Hell on Earth Part I (DVD) (2001)
Fire and Blood (DVD) (2002)
Warriors of the World United (Mini DVD/CD) (2002)
Hell on Earth Part III (DVD) (2003)
Hell on Earth Part IV (DVD) (2005)
The Day the Earth Shook - The Absolute Power (DVD) (2006)
Magic Cicle Fesival (DVD) (2007)
Live in Kavarna (DVD) (2007) (TBA)
Magic Circle Festival Volume 1 (DVD) (2007)
Magic Circle Festival Volume 2 (DVD) (2008)
Hell on Earth Part V (DVD) (2009)

External links

Offeecial Wabstaid
Offeecial Mobile Blog o Manowar Archived 2007-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
The loudest band in the world Archived 2007-08-26 at the Wayback Machine