Manowar Into Glory Ride 1983 (Megaforce Records)
Heavy Metal
Grab your sword and kneel before your true god!
The Beast
Manowar’s debut album
Battle Hymns was a strong if clichéd metal album, that had a heavy rock ‘n’ roll tinge a la Kiss to it but it also contained the band’s first two epic meandering metal tracks in “Dark Avenger” and the title track “Battle Hymns” two songs that clocked just under 7 minutes each and displayed the type of metal that the band wore closest to their hearts, and that was metal of the loudest and most epic proportions. The former had used the the voice of Orson Welles and showed some strong touches of doom metal, despite containing a number of flaws for a lengthy track and the latter track was the stronger of the two demonstrating the true direction of the band for their next album.
So it was hardly a surprise that their second album
Into Glory Ride, would feature six tracks between 5 and 8 minutes of running time and these tracks would also be epic showcases of the band’s sound at this time. The only oddity on the album is the opener “Warlord” which really belongs on the debut and not here, it kind of reminds me of “Invaders” on Iron Maiden’s
The Number of the Beast album, as a song that just didn’t really fit on that album either. It was also around this time that Manowar could be described as a genuine celebration of true heavy metal with established clichés and all, but the band though put their metal credentials on the line from the word go, by posing for the album cover in their warrior loin-clothes and swords. They also managed to sign a new record deal as well with Megaforce Records, by opening up their own veins with ceremonial daggers and using their own blood to sign the deal wow! Resident expert here The Batlord describes Manowar as being like Conan the Barbarian to the more sophisticated Tolkien works, a good analogy indeed.
Into Glory Ride is an album mostly penned by bassist Joey DeMaio and it’s steeped in Norse mythology making it a true Viking metal classic, before the sub-genre became a centrepiece of the Nordic metal scene still several years down the line. Despite the album’s somewhat weak production, Eric Adams’ five-and-a-half octave range voice makes the turntable creak as he wades through the six bombastic tracks on the album, but possibly the showstopper here is that of new drummer the big pounding Scott Columbus, who came into replace Donnie Hamzik on the drum stool and this man mountain supposedly hit the drums so hard that conventional drum kits would break beneath his strength, forcing him to use a custom built set. All this kind of reminds me of when Keith Moon first auditioned for the Who all those years ago!
The six album epics start with the “Secret of Steel” which starts with a drum intro and it’s a sluggish ultra-heavy track and Eric Adam’s vocals perfectly match the tempo of the song, and the whole process is spiced up by Joey DeMaio. Its fellow 5 minute track “Gloves of Metal” has a distinctly Iron Maiden feel, as Eric Adam’s seems to be singing about clichéd metal attire in a nod to Rob Halford & Co. and the song’s galloping style makes it one of the most melodic on show here. Now things get truly epic with “Gates of Valhalla” a song designed to show the bombastic side of the band in all their glory. The same can’t be said though for “Hatred” which is an extended effort that really doesn’t go anywhere and sounds similar to an Ozzy sung Black Sabbath track in certain sections. “Revelation (Death’s Angel)” is probably the most complete track on the album, as it seems to pull all the glorious aspects of the band’s sound together and could in many ways be described as the perfect Manowar track. “March for Revenge (By the Soldiers of Death)” isn’t for me as good as the closing “Battle Hymns” on the previous album and despite being the most ambitious track on the album, shows that the band were entering slightly deeper water here.
Overall
Into Glory Ride would be the band at their most creative and they were totally dedicated here in what they were doing, before they entered into their best known period that would start on their next album
Hail to England. The band also continued being the prime motivators behind not just the power metal genre at this time, but also a number of other metal genres that liked the taste of epic sounding metal as well, making them pretty groundbreaking in what they were doing around this time. Like the Manilla Road album above it of which it shares some kind of spiritual brotherhood, this album is also ranked in Rock Hard magazine's list of ‘The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time’ which certainly shows the taste of those that did that list.