Gods of War

Back in October of 2006, I reviewed Manowar's The Sons of Odin EP. This release was just a small sampling to hold fans over until the full length release of Gods of War. Now that I've finally had a chance to listen to Gods of War in its entirety, I feel that the EP was a pretty fair representation of what Manowar fans could expect from the full length release. The line up of vocalist Eric Adams, bassist Joey DeMaio, guitarist Karl Logan and drummer Scott Columbus return in what might be Manowar's most ambitious effort yet. Almost five years since the Warriors of the World release, Gods of War is the first in a series of conceptual albums that pays tribute to a different war god. This album honors Odin; the almighty father of the Norse gods whose power and wisdom was unmatched among the gods. Once again, legendary fantasy artist Ken Kelly provides what is probably his best Manowar cover artwork to date. It depicts the Metal Kings with swords held high (forming an "M"), surrounded by some naked pleasure slaves and serpents with flames spewing at base. There are also some winged demons flying in the background. With Gods of War, it seems Manowar have taken some of the "Hollywood Metal" style influences of Rhapsody (now Rhapsody of Fire), with the epic writing style and melodic touches of Virgin Steele. Gods of War could easily be a soundtrack to a movie, with the grandiose score arrangements, voice narration and various musical mood swings. The production is very bombastic and full because of the symphonic overtones. The bass guitar has a punchy attack that sounds alot fatter and cleaner with almost no effects like the sound used on past albums, which was a slightly distorted, metallic chorus sound. The rhythm guitars also seem to be straight forward with no multi layered overdubs. I do wish the drums were deeper sounding as far as the bass drums and I wish the snare drum was a little more gated. The vocals are still strong despite some straining but they are performed with great control. Gods of War is rather long; a total of sixteen tracks that clock in around seventy four minutes. Gods of War would probably be better appreciated and comprehensible if the listener plays the album from start to finish because of its conceptual nature. However, there are some symphonic instrumental/spoken word tracks that you would probably want to skip over. In fact, the first eight minutes and forty-nine seconds of the album are nothing but, and you get the vision that you should be reading movie credits or something while the first two tracks are playing. They eventually lead into the speedy up tempo King of Kings, which should be a quick wake up call if you've already started to fall asleep. Aside from a few of the faster tracks like King Of Kings, Sleipnir and Loki God Of Fire, the majority of the album is slow in tempo. Not since Into Glory Ride has a Manowar album been this slow paced. Maybe the reason for this could be to set the mood for the characteristics of Odin; an older but wiser god yet powerful and ominous in presence. I just think that some of the transitional pieces that bridge the songs together are a bit long and make the album inconsistent. Some of these include Overture to the Hymn of the Immortal Warriors and Overture to Odin, which are two of the symphonic score pieces. The Ascension, The Blood of Odin and Glory Majesty Unity contain narrative parts. Army of the Dead (Part I) and Army of the Dead (Part II) are choir hymns that are predominantly male layered vocals, with Part II accompanied by some pipe organs. Blood Brothers and Hymn of the Immortal Warriors are slower, heavy ballads. Personally, I like all types of Manowar songs but prefer the up tempo ones more so than anything else. I'm not sure at this point but if the next concept album is about Thor, than I would hope the faster, more up tempo tracks far exceed any slower ones. Die For Metal is a bonus track which has nothing to do with the conceptual storyline. It is more of a "get the audience involved" metal anthem which should work great at live shows. With Gods of War, Manowar prove that they can still offer something different without fully compromising their overall sound and style. I'm not sure if this album is going to fly with everyone on the first few listens. Heck, some people might not accept it for what it's worth at all. But now that Manowar have given us what seems to be the outline of what we can expect for the next few albums to come, fans can either grow with the band's vision or write Manowar off all together.