Sitting down to listen to Manowar for perhaps the first time in earnest, I’m surprised to hear a beginning that’s very little like what I would imagine the band would sound. Rather than the lean, adventurous power metal, I find a retro rock n’ rolla kinda 80s metal pulling up sounds from the 60s through intermediaries like Motorhead and Judas Priest. The biggest giveaway in the music is perhaps the rolling double kicks in the bass drum(s). That really is too much to have happened earlier than 1982 when Battle Hymns came out. The rest, as we have said, still walks handheld by Judas Priest.
The first song, however, serves the function of helping the listener to transition into what the 80s will be all about. The second track already treats us to that Judas Priest / Rainbow danceable type of swing that glam will capitalize so heavily on in thousands of bands. There is a curious breakdown that Manowar uses here that throws one off a bit, cutting as it does through what one expects from straightforward heavy metal.
It’s with the fifth track, the eponymous ‘Manowar’, that we start to get a taste of power metal if still tinged with Judas Priest’s party-mode rock n’ roll metal. Call me crazy but I’d say there is some Rush in this song. If anyone else can ‘catch’ that, comment on it here. It’s probably heresy to mention Manowar and Rush in the same breath, but here we are.
‘Dark Avenger’ finally carries us into more serious territory. A slow track with epic overtones, a sure and majestic pace apt to picture a muscular hero, sword in hand, dungeon lurking for plunder, slicing through the undead. In other words, we’re finally in definitive Conan territory. Midway through the track, an older man’s voice, worthy of professional radio shows and British theater, describes a dark epic fantasy scene. And then the song goes full speed!
The final track of the album comes after an irrelevant and disconnected interlude. ‘Battle Hymn’ sounds exactly like what its title describes. A battle hymn that showcases the galloping rhythms and singable vocal lines that we will later hear in a more accomplished form not only in Manowar but also in the great Atlantean Kodex.
The interesting thing about this debut album by Manowar is the evolution we can observe happening. An evolution that we can of course project onto it only with the benefit of hindsight. More important as a footnote to the genre and their discography, Battle Hymns is barely memorable and only musically worthy of mention for ‘Dark Avenger’. Nevertheless, for those who love all things ‘eighties’, you are welcome to enjoy everything this record has to offer.
