Manowar's Reviews

Sign Of The Hammer

setting the record straight on this straight-up record

First of all, cheaply produced does not mean poorly produced. This album sounds the way it does for a reason. This is a unique recording; it doesn't sound like the garage-band sludge of early Manowar, such as the forgettable "Hail to England" (thank goodness), nor is it the slick, polished "eighties metal" of every record they made afterwards. This is as close as you can get to "Manowar unplugged". It's not really a metal album, but a hard rock album. The sound is dry, clean and tight, to match the songwriting. There are all sorts of brilliant little production touches throughout: the zany discombobulated choir of scattered voices on "Animals' is intentional, as some people don't seem to understand, and adds to the song. Likewise, the album cuts off suddenly after Eric Adams sings "mother, mother, mother" on "Guyana"(which by the way sounds a thousand times better here than on a later version on their second live album). This is a reference to the fact that Jim Jones famously shot himself just after saying those very words, as anyone who knows anything about the People's Temple cult will tell you. These are just two examples among dozens of the thought that went into making this record. Small label, yes, over twenty years old, yes, but high quality.

About the songs: The only problem is that there are only eight of them (really seven, since the bass instrumental really just acts as an intro to "Guyana"). Every song is a world of its own; they're all different. The first is an old-fashioned strutting rocker; the second one of the very few times Manowar has done an "I like girls" song (I guess when you wear leather underwear on stage you have to make sure everybody knows that on occasion); "Thor" is a melodic battle hymn; "Mountains" is the softest thing they have ever done and as good as anything they have ever done; "Sign of the Hammer" and "The Oath" are weird, energetic, scary battle hymns; and "Guyana" is an eerie, long, atmospheric epic.

This album is the place where DeMaio truly found himself as a songwriter, and this album is the place where Adams' vocals are at their absolute peak. His is in great voice, and he shows off both his vocal and emotional range to super effect, and in so doing takes what would otherwise be a very good album and makes it into a real classic.

This is the hardest to find and usually most expensive Manowar cd. It has only seven real songs, and clocks in at around forty minutes. Is it really worth buying? You'd better believe it. In the final analysis, it's just one of those records that has that special "something" that makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts, even though some people just don't seem to "get" it. It is not, as some critics think, their best album, but I can understand why someone could seriously make that case, which is more than I can say for the opinion of anyone who believes early Manowar is the best, or that this album is just thrown together, or that it has anything in common with "Hail to England", etc., etc.

Buy this album on Amazon at $22.49