Ashes to Ashes

Sorry guys and girls – I was never a big Manowar fan, and so the name David Shankle was pretty unknown to me, until I got this promo one day. It looks like the one time guitarist of Manowar has gone solo. Sure, four other guys play and sing with him, but it is the guitarwork of master Shankle that is in the foreground. And righteously so: the man knows how to handle the axe, and on Ashes to Ashes he gives us thirteen songs of the “80’s-will-never-die” kind of metal. And sometimes one’s head begins to move, because this is all pretty well done. Sadly there are some fillers among these thirteen songs, which come across rather anonymously. Perhaps these could have been left out to shorten the playing time. Don’t get me wrong: There are enough grenades here, i.e. the title song, the half-ballad “Calling All Heroes” and the groovy “Curse Of The Pharaoh” (despite the clichéd title). Singer Trace Edward Zaber does a good job, and sometimes even shines. It’s also great that the keyboards have been given such great space, and that they actually manage to lift the music as a whole forward. The cool closing track (an instrumental) sees a totally flipped out Shankle speeding away on the fastest form of fretboard masturbation known to man. You really have to hear this! Fans of Manowar, as well as fans of Hard n True can enjoy this equally. For myself, I’d wished for more falsetto vocals and double bass…

Originally written for http://www.nocturnalhall.com