Great Metal Albums of 1983: Manowar- Into Glory Ride
The more I listen to any album by Manowar, the more perplexed I become at the fact that Kerrang Magazine called them a joke band. Maybe it was because they appeared to have fun when they made their music or possibly it was down to the fact that in the magazine’s view, the world wasn’t quite ready for Viking metal. I’ve never considered Manowar a joke then or now and the funny things is that I can listen and enjoy them after all the these years while in my opinion, Kerrang has basically sucked since the mid 1990s and I no longer read it. Saying that, I shouldn’t slag them off too much because Kerrang Radio did interview me about “Rock and Roll Children” in 2011.
One of Manowar’s albums I still enjoy listening to is their 1983 offering, “Into Glory Ride.” While it’s a small fraction below their debut album, “Battle Hyms” it’s a whale of an album nonetheless. Nearly all of the songs have the melodic high notes sung by Eric Adams accompanied by some very inventive guitar playing by Ross the Boss. Listening to the album today, I can’t help thinking that bands like Hammerfall and Gloryhammer listened to “Into Glory Ride” and thought to themselves, “Hey, these guys have something here.” Because I am convinced that both of those bands were influenced by Manowar and this album particularly.
“Warlord,” the opener is the only more straightforward metal song on here, well as straightforward as Manowar can get but it’s still a good way to start out the album. The rest of the album, all six other songs are well over five minutes and sound more progressive or viking like. The best example of this is on my favourite track, “Gates of Vahalla.” This song is rife with great vocals and Ross the Boss fingering his guitar all the way through, all seven minutes and eleven seconds of it. We can’t take anything away from the rhythm section though because Joey DeMaio and the newly acquired Scott Columbus do a brilliant job here as they do on all the songs. Only “Hatred” is longer by twenty seven seconds and while it’s a cool song, I think Adams screams a bit too much on it. Also I love the intro on “Revelation (Death’s Angel.) This one is power metal at its best.
Track Listing;
- Warlord
- Secrets of Steel
- Gloves of Metal
- Gates of Valhalla
- Hatred
- Revelation (Death’s Angel)
- March for Revenge (By the Soldiers of Death)
Eric Adams- vocals
Ross the Boss- guitar, keyboards
Joey DeMaio- bass
Scott Columbus- drums
Maybe the mainstream world wasn’t ready for viking metal or power metal in 1983. I know I would have been but sadly, it would be nearly three more years before I actually listened to any Manowar. I’ve more than made up for that since, this album and “Battle Hyms” especially.
Next post: Diamond Head- Canterbury
To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html
Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London.
This entry was posted on November 16, 2016 at 9:30 pm and is filed under 1980s, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags Battle Hyms, Classic Rock, Gloryhammer, Hammerfall, hard rock, Heavy Metal, Heavy Rock, Into Glory Ride, Kerrang, Manowar, The 1980s, viking metal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
8 Responses to “Great Metal Albums of 1983: Manowar- Into Glory Ride”
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November 17, 2016 at 7:40 am
Good old Kerrapp! This is one of my favorite albums ever. I love that there is proper Doomy stuff on the early albums. They lost that a bit along the way.
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November 17, 2016 at 9:07 am
I’d say so too. Their earlier albums are the best. I like your nickname for Kerrang by the way.
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November 17, 2016 at 8:45 pm
I used to love reading Kerrang! I stopped reading it in the early 2000s… if even that. The year 2000, maybe. Shortly after Stone Temple Pilots’ No. 4.
Anyhoo, I don’t know enough Manowar stuff, but this sounds great.
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November 18, 2016 at 9:33 pm
My personal favourites are this one and “Battle Hyms” although “Fighting the World” is quite good and “Hail to England” has its moments. I think that Kerrang is no longer relevant.
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November 18, 2016 at 11:14 pm
I hear great things about Battle Hyms. I have Kings Of Metal MMXIV, which I like a lot.
Yeah, Kerrang ran its course.
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November 20, 2016 at 11:26 pm
Yep, I’ve always thought Battle Hyms was their best.
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November 19, 2016 at 11:59 pm
Hi Michael, I’ve nominated you for the inaugural Treasure Trove Award! There are no rules or tasks involved. You can find your award here: https://danicapiche.wordpress.com/2016/11/19/treasure-trove-award/
If you prefer not to be involved with awards, please accept this as a gesture of my appreciation.
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November 20, 2016 at 11:35 pm
As always, it’s an honour to be nominated.
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