  
Manowar are easily comparable to marmite; one
can love them, or one can hate their very existence.
They are forever personified by their macho appearance
and there cheesy lyrical themes, I mean the sheer
amount of clichés that the band has unified
over their illustrious career is nothing short
of impressive. The thing is though their fans
are all incredibly loyal to them, every album
release tour announcement or any other relevant
news and they are all over it like a sore rash.
Enough of the band history let’s see if
album number 12 is up to scratch or if it’s
exhausted.
When diving into anything by Manowar you need
to prepare yourself for simplistic yet powerful
songs filled with chants cheesy lyrics based around
drinking, swords, war, Gods, mythology, all that
kind of jazz. One thing to note about this album
is how overwhelming the bass tones are, they’re
easily the most dominant sound on this album,
“Expendable” and “Touch the
Sky” are ones to spin if you want a clearer
picture, the bass buss just seems to take focus
away from the various other elements that I would
have liked to hear have a more prominent role
in the mix. To be fair though even if they did
have a higher priority in the mix they aren’t
really at the same level of quality that past
albums bring to the table, it’s not drastic
but there is a notable downgrade in performance.
I am by no means saying that this is a bad release
because some of the riffs and tones are really
heavy, punchy and infectious but what I am saying
is that it’s not as good as the Manowar
from the past. After the first few tracks the
album peaks to bring back some of the raw power
and to not let the whole record go to waste, everything
would be even better if each element was evenly
balanced in the mix because the sheer degree that
bass is at just rumbles the brain in all honesty.
2.5/5
Review by James Webb
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