New Manowar CD

[Bruno]

Yesterday I finally bought the latest Manowar CD. I am a longtime fan and have every non-live album they ever made (I don't care about concert compilations).

They anounced that they would start a major project, singing about all parts of Norse Mythology. This first album is called 'gods of war' and is about Odin, the AllFather.

The first time I listened it I was underwhelmed, thinking 'I just spent 17 euros on THIS?!'
But there were a couple of catchy tracks so I started it again an hour or 2 later.
Afterwards I thought 'Hm actually it is not that bad'
Now I have put it on again, thinking 'Hey this is really good'.

The style is fundamentally different from their previous songs where each song was independent of the other ones, yet all being prime examples of power metal with excellent guitar play and brilliant singing.
This newest record has a lot of variation in the songs, and the tracks have an order to them.

That is probably why it takes some getting used to.
Any other Manowar fans here?
I am into any heavy metal as long as it has melody to it, and the lyrics are understandable. I also like Rock opera type stuff (ayreon) and gothic (theatre of tragedy, tristania)

Btw a nice bit of trivia: All manowar albums are mixed and mastered by Galaxy studios in Belgium, just 20 minutes from where I live. The studio itself is not much to look at from the outside, and it is located in the middle of nowhere. Still, a lot of big metal bands go halfway around the world to let Galaxy work on their stuff, so they are probably pretty good.