So, originality was top of the priority list then?

I think the problem with their new material is that Joey, their bassist has too much control and on one is really challenging him. If you notice, the whole new album was written by him. I believe without the other band members putting in some of their input and challenging Joey's creativity a little more (and without the genius of Ross or David Shankle), then of course were gonna get repetitive uninspired garbage like "Lord of Steel". Another thing is that they need a real drummer. The entire albums drum lines all sound exactly the same and not that good. Tragedy that Scott died. Apperantly Donny is back in the band, then why is he drumming like a 6 year old? See what I mean about Joey getting in the way of things? The other band members need to speak up.

HAha I just listening to some songs on Youtube, holy fuck what a shitty guitar tone! How the fuck is that possible?! However, Joey DeMaio going back to distorted bass is welcomed by me, I thought he lost some character with his recent clean bass. The problem is, it just doesn't sound as good as it used to sound in the 80s.

However, from what I heard there's a lot more energy to this album than I expected. I will probably go through all tracks on Youtube...
From what I heard, it's not THAT bad. Manowarriors was defintely a fun song, of course. A Manowar song with that title just CANNOT go wrong!

However, all bashing on the drums is totally wrong... I'm not sure, but I think it's real drums. Of course after all those programmed drums it's hard to know, but it definitely sounds more convincing than the drums on Shadowmaker.

Eric Adams sucks a lot tho.

haha... real drums. Funny. Shadowmaker's are programmed too, but sound MUCH better than this garbage. At least Shadowmaker has a great guitar and bass tone.

This sums this things up pretty well I'd say. After all, Joey also wrote the entirety of Gods Of War except for Die For Metal and Karl Logan has co-written a grand total of 7 songs since he joined the band. This will probably never change but I'd like to see a little more of a band effort this time around. Or at least someone else writing the lyrics...

Yeah, Joey needs to quit having so much control over everything. Erics voice, Karls playing, and Donnies drumming. Because of him, Eric wasn't really able to sing and use his full potential (accept for righteous glory), Karl was being uncreative as usual, and Donnie was told what to do and didn't write anything. Either the rest of the band is really uncreative or their bassist is a control freak. Karl's prolly only in it for the shits and giggles.

Sure, guys, because back in the good old days it sure was nothing like "all songs by Joey DeMaio, except for a seemingly randomly picked couple of tracks co-credited to Ross Friedman"... Oh wait.

I have a theory that in sometime around 1989 - probably right about the time that Demaio fired Ross the Boss and replaced him with the terrible, David Shankle - that Demaio's brain was replaced with that of a seagull. Call me crazy, but I honestly think that's what happened.

I ordered the Hammer Edition and they gave me mp3 downloads in the meantime. They're also promoting HolyHell's EP, seeing as how they're apparently the only band left on Magic Circle Music. It's hard to take that seriously as a label.

Anyway, it's not a terrible album but not a lot about it grabbed me on the first listen, song wise. The production is strange. I don't think I've ever heard a record with the bass so high up in the mix, and it has an odd buzzing tone to it.

I'll see what I think on further listens.

The album on its own, is quite listenable, but if you keep in mind that it is a Manowar album ... The song writing is very primitive and seems uninspired. Production is weird. It has sufficient dynamic range, but the way the instruments are recorded makes me wonder, if they were in a hurry. The vocals are tolerable, yet nothing spectacular. I am not sure if Eric Adams can do any better now.
[Edit] The bass sound reminds me of clipping, rather than proper distortion. Guitar sound like it was recording using some cheap stompbox. I have a suspicion that the drums are programmed.

DeathFog, this is a horrible album by any standard, not just because it's a Manowar album (same ridiculous argument has been used before to defend abominations such Illud Divinum Insanus and Lulu, and I just can't stand it). Even if you stuck the name "Limp Bizkit" in big bold letters on it, it would blow (although it would be a considerable improvement for them, yeah). And the production isn't weird; it's weak, rushed, and just plain bad. I'm not trying to attack you, but I just believe those two points of yours make no damn sense.

Well it is not a disaster of an album, like their previous effort. Just another weak and generic heavy metal album with a certain Manowar touch to it. The material indeed sounds rushed and underdeveloped. Despite being weak it is also weird. How many rock / metal albums in the last 15 or so years have you heard with a mastering like that ?

Well, phrasing yourself that way I guess I can agree a bit more with what you said. I don't see what's so strange about the mastering though; it just sounds like a regularly bad production job to me.

And now compare it to a more typical mastering : . Marduk (2012) - Souls For Belial - Messianic Pestilence.

Okay, I'll go grab a fork so I can eat my words......

Bah, whatever, I'll just quote myself on this one; "if you're gonna do weird stuff, at least be good at it".

No it is certainly a disaster. I always had a soft spot for Manowar, but this album is truly unbearable. It is funny that you say it has a "certain Manowar touch to it" because one of the first things I thought of while listening to it, for all intents and purposes, was in fact; where is the Manowar touch? I think it is worse then generic. So now Running Wild's and Manowar's albums are neck to neck for the worst album of the year.

Lord Of Steel shares quite a number of similarities with Louder Than Hell which most certainly is a Manowar album. That's "manowar" touch for you. I don't consider the album a disaster, because :
* it is heavy metal unlike the previous album
* it does not have any radical differences that would set it apart from an average album in the genre.

Well I wholly disagree. And now were back at a level playing field..Well it is hardly a heavy metal album, but so what? The 'at least it is this over that' argument is fundementally flawed. The radical difference is the song writing, in that it is so much worse then your average heavy metal album.

Fact is is that you say one thing and I say another thing. We should agree to disagree because this is going nowhere.

As you wish. But don't get me wrong, I am not trying to call this collection of songs a well-done album. I act from the position of logics, as opposed to your more emotional approach. Again I do not try to say that your approach is incorrect.

Well your logic isn't empirical, I just have my own set of deductive reasoning. Heck we could be two sides to same coin, depending on how we define and average heavy metal album.

Can we just all agree the album is fucking rubbish?

I haven't heard it yet, but yes, I think that is reasonable enough.

I agree with everything.

The production is abysmal, it does sound rushed, there are some good ideas here and there, but they have not enough effort into them.

That being said, I'm a fucking hardcore fanboy and I'm still listening to it.

holy fuck that was one really, really bad album. I wasn't expecting greatness, but I did enjoy Warriors a fair bit. To say I'm super bummed is a massive understatement. So many "what where they thinking" aspects of this album. 10% tops.

This album is a travesty.
I'd rather listen to this Polish band spoofing Manowar's antics, including the over-the-top bass sound which actually sounds better than in Manowar lately
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EF-KK1c96A

By now I've heard quite a few bands imitating / spoofing / taking inspiration from Manowar that sound quite a bit better than Manowar do themselves these days. The difference is always going to be Eric Adams. Joey might be a spent force, but Eric, even if he is not the vocalist he used to be, still sets them apart from any band imitating them.

Ross the Boss's solo band sound more like Manowar than Manowar these days.

These e-mails came in:


An entirely different version. What the fuck?
Any thoughts on this?

Also: http://blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode= ... mID=176912
Manowar and Jean-Claude Van Damme; this is something I do not understand.
But hey! At least it means we'll be listening to more new Manowar music sometime soon.

Lol! Thanks for the info. Guess they might have kept an eye on fan reactions (or lack thereof) to the first mix they advertised and, seeing how not impressed the fans were, decided to do it again. And then they cooked up a "this was a rough mix all along" story out of pride. At least, you'll get both versions rather than just the first one.

Edit: Also, yes, signing up to make a JCVD movie soundtrack in 2012 speaks volumes of the band's current relevancy.

Sometimes I just wish they told the truth, but then we wouldn't get funny quotes like these. I'd be dumbstruck if Joey came out and said that the album tanked, it is all his fault, and that he is sorry it sucks. If he wants us to look at them as alternate cuts to a movie, then I'd like to know, from his own mouth, who's alternate cut that was! hahah

WTF is up with the guitar and bass tones on this album?

I think this may win the award for worst guitar/bass production of the year.

so effectively they are releasing the same album twice? What a bunch of money grubbing cunts. ( I used to fuckin love manowar but I hate cash grab's) I used to believe that manowar really cared about their fans but this is pure bullshit.

Wasn't the first one just a give away with a magazine?

It looks like however bought the Metal Hammer version of the album also gets the standard version of the album, that doesn't sound like a cash grab.

Ich hope they ARE grabbing cash and they are releasing the album with a better sound and vocals with a little more passion .. otherwise this is the worst Manowar album EVER. I'm a huge fan and liked each other album very much, even Gods of War .. but this - no! Whatever Manowar did before had at LEAST awesome vocals, whatever else they might have fucked up. But those vocals sound like Eric's best times are over..

I Doubt metal hammer costs 15£ regularly.

I didn't read the thread so this might have been discussed, but how do they get away with such high ticket prices? I mean, for fuck's sake, $75 advance, $100 at the door? Fairly big bands such as Anthrax only cost $30 when playing somewhere like the Palladium (Where Manowar are playing), and even Maiden cost less (I think it was like $55 or so per person for bad but not terrible seats at the major arena nearby).

As a listenable, decent heavy metal album it passes.

As a MANOWAR album, it fails.

It seems that next 28th September they will re-release the album with a different production/mastering. I hope that would sound better, although, I have to say, the songs themselves are not very good.