C/D Manowar

Yep, a major loss.

RIP

Into Glory Ride is classic.

Re-reading this made my side hurt a little from suppressing laughs at the old 150 buck ingot of chocolate promotion. Went out to the Manowar site, wow, almost persuaded to get the anniversary remake of the Battle Hymns. Only almost.

I downloaded it a while ago. It's pretty good. I used to laugh at these guys a lot, but once I heard their most recent live album, Gods of War Live, I was converted and now I have all their stuff.

I d'ld it today. I agree, it is good. I immediately A/B'd it with the original. The original has a much more open sound, the vocals sound a lot younger, the rhythm section is not recorded as crushing. The original Battle Hymns was a good to great hard rock/metal record with a lot of melodic rock 'n' roll in it. It was not as groundbreaking or as unique as the originals billed it. But it also hit an old audience -- the aggrieved biker, MIA flag, Vietnam thing, which none of the band members had anything to do with first hand. C'mon, Ross was always a great guitar player who was an upper middle class dude faking the lower class stuff. Nothing wrong with that.

I still think it's the best album they did. More attached to reality than the big dive into Teutonic/Visigoth/Iron Age hokum they're mostly known for. They were all the right age for the Vietnam vet thing, much like Sylvester Stallone, who worked out his guilt trip through the First Blood movies and Rambo character. The second edition to Battle Hymns could have easily included a
"soliloquy" from First Blood. No one believes in that shit now but it's embedded in the American consciousness forever. Sarah Palin's constituency over Memorial Day, when she did the old biker rally thing, was totally in line with it. So big props for Manowar doing it, a subtraction for abandoning it. You could easily play Battle Hymn or Manowar over the campaign of the Michele Bachmann or any of so many GOP extremist candidates now, no matter how square they look.

I love Battle Hymns, the title track used to be in my "all time top 10 metal songs" list I made in high school. The viking nonsense records made me disown them completely (Metallica-style) for years (see comment above) but over the last ten years I've mellowed quite a bit.

"Re-reading this made my side hurt a little from suppressing laughs at the old 150 buck ingot of chocolate promotion."

I'm not so sure the chocolate should just be kept as an artifact, but be eaten by the fans as sacrament to the power of Manowar Metal.

re-reading this makes me miss george smith

The first record is SO goddamn good. I get "Fast Taker" and "Shell Shock" in my head all the time. Undeniable.

http://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/q77/s720x720/1779852_10152158329413818_667361520_n.jpg

Manowar in Atlanta. Only $75. For advance tickets. $82.80 with Ticketmaster fees.

Zoinks.

$100 on day of show

Worth it IMHO.

WIMPS AND POSERS

first time hearing "Achilles, the Agony and the Ecstacy". normally this is the type of shit I'd balk at (26 fuckin' minutes....if you ain't a Canadian prog trio, gtfo), but....I really like this in its sheer ridiculous pretentiousness. not as much suites as ideas that kinda just give way to other ideas. sloppily stitched together but well-played and fun. we've already hit a drum solo ten minutes in.

it honestly feels like five imaginary countries' national anthems with instrumental solos thrown in. I feel like Luca Turilli probably formed Rhapsody the moment he heard this.

that either sounds awesome to you or the worst shit imaginable. but I like my metal ridiculous.

also no Ross the Boss, which is good cos he was a toolbag (still is actually - MAGA fuck).

some bands PLAY...

if you shop in their US store they have like 3 shitty t-shirts, but the European store has like amazing ones.

...for 40 Euros each plus shipping.

yeah which....nope.

I knew that Neanderthal bumped this thread, haha!

KILL WITH POWER

DIE! DIE!

And now I'm listening to "Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts". I am currently up to whatever part the drum solo is.