Saturday, January 26, 2019

The 1984 Listening Post - Manowar - Hail to England

Manowar - Hail to England



#42
February
Manowar
Hail to England
3 out of 5


First off, you gotta like screaming shred metal. Secondly, you have to be able to look past lyrics about battle and swords and enemies and Asgard. I love the former, when it’s done well and I have little patience for the latter. Maybe, Gwar. Maybe. This is exactly those two sides of that coin. “Kill Wit Power” is insipid in it’s lyrical content. Screaming “Die! Die!” and squealing with laughter is buoyed by the Megadethian guitar work.
So, like all Manowar albums, I’m right there in the middle. Probably never get higher than a 3.5 from me. Stranger things have happened. But, so far, not for this band. I have no idea what to make of the weirdly engrossing Spinal Tapian entry “Black Arrows” which is a 3 minute hredding piccolo BASS solo and nothing else. I mean, how can you not love that? Or hate it. Sure. It’s fucking weird. 
Oh, don’t be fooled by the cover or the slavish devotion to that Brit Metal sound. These guys are from Albany. 


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