Although the above picture promises a Medieval L’Oréal commercial, Manowar are one of the loudest, heaviest and most loved bands in the history of heavy metal. They owned the crowd with their heavy riffs and trademarked lyrics, mixing Norse mythology with heavy metal glory and throwing words like “hail”, “louder than hell”, “kick your a**”, “Metal”,” Odin” and “steel” here and there. They kept their promise of playing louder and louder by setting two world records, one for delivering the loudest performance and the other for the longest heavy metal performance after playing for 5 straight hours. Here is my top 10 tracks for the Kings of Metal:
1. The Gods Made Heavy Metal
That was the first song I’ve ever heard for Manowar. It’s from their ninth album Louder Than Hell and it totally blew my mind how dedicated these guys are. They even made a badass heavy metal song about the time when the “Gods” made heavy metal and saw that it was good, so they said to play it louder than hell and Manowar promised that they would.
2. Hail and Kill
From the epic album Kings of Metal. The melodic intro with Eric Adams’ vocals will give you instant goose bumps. Close your eyes while listening to it till “….hold your head up high”, then you’ll suddenly feel like hailing the king and raiding villages!
3. Die For Metal
“They can’t stop us let ‘em try, for heavy metal we will die”
The Metal Anthem is the name a lot of people call this song. Taken from the Gods of War album, a pure heavy metal song with Manowar’s signature. It’s about a man who quits his job because he needs metal in his life like an eagle needs to fly. Well we all wish that we have his devotion…and a bank account for sure!
4. Courage
This is one of their most powerful ballads. A song about courage and how you can win your battles side by side with the ones you love. It was demoed and played live 10 years before its official release in the Louder than Hell album.
5. Heart of Steel
One of the most touching, motivating lyrics I’ve ever listened to. It’s taken from the album Kings of Metal.
“Stand and fight, Live by your heart, always one more try, I’m not afraid to die”
“Stand and fight, say what you feel, born with a heart of steel”
6. Fighting the World
“Fighting the world every single day, fighting the world for the right to play heavy metal”
“Now people keep on asking if we’re going to change I look ‘em in the eye tell ‘em no way”
Maybe because of such heavy riffs, lyrics and attitude, the album was named after this song. It gives a good example of what’s Manowar are all about.
7. Manowar
This one is taken from their first album Battle Hymns, it sums up what Manowar and their fans are all about. Joey Demaio’s galloping bass line and Eric Adams’ singing will assure you that Manowar were born to live forever more with the right to conquer every soul!
8. Swords in the Wind
A classic Viking inspired song from Warriors of the World. It gives a brief and inspiring idea about the warriors’ battle rituals, and their courage in facing their enemies.
9. Defender
The narrative intro and Eric’s powerful voice singing “Father, father, father I look up to you” makes this one of their very special songs on Fighting the World. I’d recommend listening to it with good headphones.
10. Metal Warriors
Another classic – Heavy metal is the best and if you don’t like it, die – Manowar song. This is one of the heaviest songs on The Triumph of Steel, stating the heavy metal fans’ creed and unity against what we call “False metal”.
Written by: Hazem Mahani of I Wanna Rock Online Show
Edited by: NJ Bakr
