REVIEW: Warriors of the World

Manowar
Warriors of the World
© 2002 Nuclear Blast.
http://www.manowar.com/

Warriors of the World is, in many ways a quintessential Manowar albums. It’s strengths and weakness are the same ones that have plagued the loudest band in the world, for decades. Largely this is due to the fact that, over those decades, Manowar has deliberately clung to a formula that, while dated for the mainstream, has ensured a rabid, worldwide fanbase.


While huge in Europe, in their home-country, the American metal act’s fanbase is particularly niche, so here’s a little primer on what to expect from Manowar:
1987:

2007:

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but Manowar begs for it. The band is known for their bombastic, unabashed, 80s-throwback style of Heavy Metal, loud and lengthy shows, and “lyrics with an emphasis on the heavy metal genre itself, fantasy, themselves and mythological topics.”^[source].

And, in the start, Warriors of the World delivers precisely the sound one would expect, with the majestic “Call to Arms.” And then things go a bit off, like they do on many Manowar albums. Instead of hitting us with more grandiloquent, triumphant metal, we are given a succession of five power ballads. There is nothing inherently wrong with power ballads, but they do not play to Manowar’s strengths. The glorious cheese of their heavier works becomes here utterly forgettable shmaltz. The particularly odious “Nessun Dorma” (sung in Italian) is enough to send listeners reaching for the Stop button. Eventually, we reach “The March,” and instrumental that starts off pastoral, but builds in intensity, heralding the return of the good stuff.

The album returns to form, appropriately, with the title track, “Warriors of the World,” which sounds like a war-march for rotoscoped legions of Einherjar, whose glittering swords transform into laser-spitting Gibson Flying Vs, laying waste to their foes through the sheer power of METAL. This is followed by three blistering tracks of the purest Heavy Metal. They are almost enough to cause one to completely forget what came before.

Almost.

The unfortunate truth is that nearly half of this album is not devoted to worthwhile content. Even considering the excellence of some of the songs, there is not enough here to make this album a good value. Even more unfortunately, this problem is hardly unique to Warriors of the World; though some albums may be better all-around, Manowar often falls prey to excessive dabbling in mediocre power ballads and bland instrumentals.

RECCOMENDED IF… you are a Manowar fan. To general Heavy Metal fans, I would recommend grabbing the best tracks (1, 8, 9, 11) individually and seeing Manowar live, which is where they truly excel.

MP3: CD: