(Rated this album with 10 out of 10) Reviewed by
A music fan
from NY
Well, I just got my copy of Warriors of the world in the mail today and have spent the last couple of hours listening to it. To get right to the point, I havent enjoyed an album this much in quite awhile. As of this writing, there aren't any reviews posted yet, but I'm reasonably certain this album is going to elicit quite a bit of "what the hell was that??" from confused metalheads. This is one, strange album folks. When you first hold the jewel box in your sweaty, little hand, it looks exactly like every other Manowar cover they've ever done, no suprise there; but what waits for you on the disc itself was one heck of a suprise. Now, I have been a Manowar fan since Battle Hymns, and one thing Manowar doesn't do often is suprise you, which is partially why we love them I suppose, but man oh man I was not ready for this. The Opening track is a great, mid-tempo stomper that immediately sounds familiar to any Manowar fan. It's similar to "All men play on ten" and a great way to open the album, but here's where it gets weird folks...You will barely hear another heavy drum beat or power chord until the last 1/3 of the album. Yes, you didn't misread that. The next six tracks include a poignant ballad tribute to the heroes of the 9/11 tragedy, a mindblowing straight opera performance by Eric Adams of Puccini's aria Nessun Dorma, A sweeping epic "Masters of the wind" style ballad called "Valhalla", Another powerballad called "Swords in the Wind" which sounds exactly like you think it will, and..are you ready for this?..A medley of American folk songs including Dixie and Battle Hymn Of The Republic". This is followed by a synthesized classical fanfare dedicated in the liners to German composer Richard Wagner. Now, at this point, I'm sure alot of you rivetheads are saying to yourself.."heh heh, this sounds stupid Beavis..heh heh", but any true Manowar fan will know after the first few notes, that it all sounds exactly like Manowar. They have done something like this on almost every album, but here there's more of it. Now, here's the good news for those of you who are cringing right now, the last 4 tracks are without a doubt the heaviest thing they have ever done, by a longshot. "Hand Of Doom", "House of Death", and "Fight until We Die", are fast thrashy windsheild crackers of the first order. Similar to the fast tracks on "Triumph Of Steel", but with a heavier, much thicker guitar tone (something they always needed IMO). Now obviously this is all a matter of taste, but I personally loved this album so much, I played 3 times in a row just to make sure I heard what I thought I did. Let me just say this, if you are not scraping your jaw off the carpet after hearing Eric Adams on Nessun Dorma, and running to your friend who thinks that Geoff Tate is the world's greatest metal singer's house, then you have no business owning a stereo. This album was the first time Manowar ever really suprised me, but they did it big. If this ends up being their last album, they went out with a bang.
