Lord of Steel

Frustrating on many levels, but look, I love this band. Always have, even with the sort of dopeyness at times that served as my introduction to them during the Atlantic years on Fighting The World. This one was both more expensive than any other disc in my full collection of their stuff, including some DVDs and also harder to get. It's easy to see why reaction to this is so mixed. When a band this established bothers with writing lyrics about how much beer they've partook with their fans (yes, I know that heavy drinking has figured into their motif for the career of the band), at this stage, it doesn't even induce head-shaking. Instead, it causes me to reach for the FFWD button. Production on this is also a mess. Instead of discs sounding better, they had the progressively great-sounding Warriors Of The World and everything since is a dropoff. Maybe all those years of standing in front of monitors has finally done the esteemed Mr. Demaio's ears in. Or maybe he's decided to give up pretense and treat the band as basically his solo vehicle, even when he's playing fairly standard bass lines. Oddly, the production is uneven, with some songs sounding very solid in the mix and the others so off that there's little choice but to skip tracks. Track by track, this doesn't really gel until Born In A Grave, the 3rd track, which fits sort of in with their other songs, despite the literal mechanics of the title track being somewhat questionable. Childbirth in a hole in the ground hardly seems sanitary or even a reasonable choice for delivering newborns, but we'll let that pass, as the song itself, imagery aside, is where the album picks up a bit of momentum. The rest of the songs still are hit and miss. Black List is solid, as is El Gringo (though it's also odd lyrically) and the album closes well with Kingdom Of Steel. Despite trying to stuff as many album and song titles into a song by way of lyrics, as they did with Hail, Kill and Die, it's overall not a bad song, but that's mostly because so much of their other stuff is weaker comparatively. The final note to this is that, more than anything, this album is really missing Scott Columbus. Hamzik is a fine drummer, but is definitely no Columbus. Is this ultimately worth the fight and expense to get? If you're a Manowar fan, definitely. Everyone not in that category...mileage will vary.

Wow! This album blows my mind. The perfect head bangers delight. And yea yea we know that joeys bass is too distorted but that doesn't mean that the album sucks. There's not one track that I don't get bored. 1.the lord of steel- damn! Starts of with a wicked guitar intro and then crazy drum quadruplets. The lyrics say it all "stand and face THE LORD OF STEEL!" 2.manowarriors- has of a really cheesy but amazing flow! Again with an awesome drum intro. 3.Born in a grave- the best song of the album! By this time, you realize that is album is worth it. I WILL NEVER BE HOLY I WILL NEVER SANE,THIS WAS MY GIFT OF THE DAY I WAS BORN IN A GRAVE! Super catchy song. 4.righteous glory- this is more like a ballad, the bass intro its just spectacular it reminds me of hail and kill. 5.touch the sky- this is a really good song and I love the lyrics here. I actually like the distorted bass here it fits perfect."I was born with a hero's soul if you got one, then you know! Hahahaha awesome line. 6.black list- the drums just come in so feeling great and then the guitar and bass make the perfect melody. Awesome some. 7.expendable- not my favorite song and I think that the album greatness stars going down from here but it's not a bad song. 8.el gringo- hahaha super catchy song! Not my favorite but I love the lyrics they are awesome. 9.annihilation- I suggest you to take a really close look to this song. The song has an awesome solo and the verse after the solo has the most heavy metal lines. I really like this song. Hail kill and die- this might be the hail and kill part 2 but damn I freaking love this song! It has everything manowar has ever put out and put it in a song. I love manowars song that talk about the albums before like the blood of the kings or like army of the immortals. I give this album 5 out of 5. Amazing album If you don't like manowar and if your expecting manowar to do something else the don't even dare to listen to them. Manowar is manowar ! Hail and kill!

Pros-#1. Phenomenal album artwork perfectly encapsulates the feel of the album.#2. Thundering bass, drums, guitar.#3. Powerful vocals by Eric Adams.#4. Features the same, great sense of barbaric energy, songwriting and passion that helped define Manowar.Cons-#1. Some songs are more thunderous and powerful than others.#2. The track called ' The kingdom of Steel.' is one of my least favorite Manowar songs.#3. Some longer songs would have been nice.

I really love Manowar but they turned the bass up way too much in this recording.I get ear fatigue while listening in the car.(I usually have to turn the subwoofer preamp down to -10 decibels.)

In an attempt to lay down a severely HEAVY sound, Joey DeMaio's production sabotages this album and renders it curiously soft and padded in every department. Not to mention that the man's songwriting has plummeted severely over the past 15 years. We've heard all of this before, and done so much better (Kings of Metal, Triumph of Steel…and those glorious first four albums). Ninety-percent of Eric Adams' delivery is that talk-singing thing he's been doing more and more each album. Overall, this is a self-neutered Manowar. The only song that impressed this longtime Manofan is "Black List." So it sits on my CD shelf forever next to the band's formidable catalog, but will be listened to never…or rarely.

FOR FANS WHO HAVE BEEN PATIENTLY AWAITING A NEW MANOWAR CD, THE WAIT IS OVER AND THEY DO NOT DISSAPOINT!! JOEY AND THE BOYS TRULY DELIVER THE GOODS WITH THEIR BEST ALBUM IN AT LEAST 15 YRS. RIGHT FROM THE OPENING TRACK, FULL ON POWER METAL, IF YOU ARE A MANOWAR FAN, YOU WILL BE VERY HAPPY WITH THIS ALBUM!

True metal. What else do u need to know?? Put the damn thing in your metal collection.

One of my favorite Manowar CDs. Got to see them in concert last year. AWESOME! They are truly one of the loudest bands in the world.

The bass is turned up to max and guitars are turned down as are the drums. What we're left with when you hit play is a seriously obnoxious and repetitive loud bass. Don't believe me?. Check any of the songs over on YouTube. In fact search the title track The Lord of Steel on there. You'll hear what I mean in the first 60 seconds. This album should be rated a 1 through it's poor mixing. Cradle of Filth muffled the drums on Cruelty & the Beast initially. It's the opposite with these guys. The bass drowns out the rest of the band. Nice one Di'Maio you ruined an album that has otherwise all quality songs throughout.

I was expecting something different from the epic (and awesome!) Gods Of War and the equally amazing EP Thunder In The Sky while I eagerly anticipated the release of The Lord Of Steel. It was a wise decision to not try and top Gods Of War at this moment, but instead make a non-conceptual album with absolute killers on it. I'm sure there will be more like Gods Of War and Thunder In The Sky yet to come, and in the meantime it's feels really good to get something more basic like this album.I must first apologize to those who will take offence of the following comparison, but it makes it easier to explain my point of view to music-lovers: To avoid making the same mistake Pink Floyd did after the giant 'The Wall' album, and release a kind-of-similar-conceptual album that (most likely) will fail to live up to its predecessor, it is -in my point of view- a courageous masterstroke to resist that very temptation.Space between such albums is important. One must admire Manowar for having the balls to do something completely different (though yet familiar), in spite of their previous success.And I must address that a similar concept-album like Gods Of War in fact WAS intended, but the ever-honest Manowar cancelled the project because they didn't think that the material at that time was strong enough for a follow-up of the same calibre. When they say such, it is surely true. They essentially spat in Satan's face and avoided (possible) failure. And successfully, too, because one simply can not compare this album to the previous full-length album, 'cause they are conceptually different. That IS the way of Manowar, and I've always loved them for that.The nearest comparison (in time, new material-wise and line-up) must be the 'Warriors Of The World' album, and between 'Warriors Of The World' and 'The Lord Of Steel' I actually like this one better.Mainly because of three reasons;1st: This one has no malplaced cover-songs of non-metal artists, which makes this one a more even-balanced album, and continuity-wise that's better.2nd: this one is without orchestra-fuelled instrumentals that has nothing to do with a concept or a story present elsewhere on the album ('Valhalla' was an intro to 'Swords In The Wind, I know that, but besides the dedications to Scandinavians on the inner sleeve, there were no need for it to have its own half-a-minute track).3rd: Without the cover-songs and orchestral instrumentals, there were a total of seven actual Manowar-songs on 'Warriors Of The World', and of those seven songs I have four favourites.I have seven favourite songs on 'The Lord Of Steel'-album alone, and the four other songs on this album are a little better than the three left from 'Warriors Of The World' (That was 'The Fight For Freedom', 'Swords In The Wind' and 'Warriors Of the World United').That said, this is indeed a strong album in its own right, and I was so impressed I just had to get the vinyl edition as well. The vinyl was of course the best edition.I have noticed many being dissatisfied with the bass on this album. Know that this can be easily adjusted by turning down the bass on the stereo-system, as-you-do to make the music from whatever album one choose to listen to suit according to one's own needs and ears.The quality in the songs and arrangements are impeccable, and Eric sounds as good as ever though he doesn't scream his ass off as much here as he usually does, but hey, there has been plenty of that in the past and there will be plenty more to come in the future, so there's no need to fear that he has 'lost' his scream or anything like that. He sings, and man, can he still sing!!To my ears, there are nothing but killer-songs on this album (and literally, too!), and my favourites are 'The Lord Of Steel', 'Born In A Grave', 'Righteous Glory', 'Kingdom Of Steel', 'Expendable', 'Touch The Sky' and 'Black List'.

Anybody who knows Manowar knows what they are about.This keeps to the same simple formula.I would walk through brick walls to see Manowar so I will endorse this product 100%.Great riffs , super bass , same cheesy lyrics.All in all everything you would expect from the American metal masters.Lord of Steel sets the pace and it just gets better.If anybody disagrees well thats fine as everybody as an opinion - you "Manowarriors" out there will know the true power of metal and steel.Go on treat yourself - indulge in some good old fashioned escapism.

I appreciate that this album has been universally slated, but I would ask those negative reviewers, honestly, it's Manowar; what were you expecting to hear? It covers their usual bases and has a couple of very strong songs on there, El Gringo being my personal favourite.

a very, very bad album. it's not metal but pop. still very poor sound quality