Manowar

Manowar is a heavy metal band from Auburn, New York, United States of America, formed in 1980. They are known for writing lyrics with an emphasis on the heavy metal genre itself, fantasy (particularly sword and sorcery) and mythological topics (particularly Norse mythology). Manowar's sound is loud and bombastic; in an interview for MTV in February 2007, bassist Joey DeMaio lamented that "these days, there's a real lack of big, epic metal that is drenched with crushing guitars and choirs and orchestras... so it's nice to be one of the few bands that's actually doing that." In 1984 the band was included in the Guinness Book of World Records for delivering the loudest performance, a record which they have since broken on 2 occasions. They also hold the world record for the longest heavy metal concert after playing for 5 hours and 1 minute in Bulgaria in 2008.

Although the band has never been a mainstream commercial success in the United States, they maintain a strong cult following there. In contrast, they are extremely popular in the heavy metal scene in Europe, Japan, Australia and South America. Dedicated fans are known and referred to by the band as "Manowarriors" or "Immortals", and collectively their fans are known as the "Army of Immortals".

The band has sold over 9 million albums.

Biography

Eric Adams of Manowar, 2002 Bercy Paris live

The origins (1980-1981)

Manowar's history begun in 1980 in Auburn. The future bassist of the band Joey DeMaio, who worked as a bass tecnic and fireworks manager for Black Sabbath in the Heaven and Hell, tour, met guitarist Ross the Boss, who played in Black Sabbath's support band, ''Shakin' Street, but he was also a former member of the hard rock band The Dictators

. Talking together, they understood to have the same ideas about music and shortly, united by a deep friendship, they decided to form the band.

Thus ended the tour of Black Sabbath, the two, after being fired from their jobs, met to establish a group. To complete the training they decided to hire as singer former classmate and friend of Joey DeMaio Eric Adams and the drums were manned by The Rods' drummer, Carl Canedy. Canedy would also go on to produce many albums, including OverKill's 1985 full length debut, "Feel The Fire."

The newly founded band began to earn some money playing in small gigs and proposing cover of famous artists in various clubs. After a few months after its foundation, the first Manowar began to compose songs and make initial contacts with record companies, which allowed the group to publish in 1981 a demo, known as "Demo 1981".
After this publication Canedy, worn out by the stress of continuous performances, left the band, being quickly replaced by the talented Donnie Hamzik.

The first album (1981-1982)

In 1981 the early Manowar managed to secure, thanks to the excellent quality of the previous demo, a recording contract with label Liberty Records. Understanding the great potential of the group, the record company put pressure on the band to produce in a short time a good number of songs so that the band could start recording for an album. And so, in 1982, was released on the group's first album, entitled "Battle Hymns". The album was well received by audience and critics, who remained mostly affected by the extremely powerful and aggressive sound of the group, as well as for the lyrics and the considerable vocal range of singer Eric Adams. Also, for some tracks on the album and especially the song "Dark Avenger," Manowar availed themselves of the collaboration of the famous actor and director Orson Welles in the role of narrator.

Soon after the album's release, Manowar engaged in their first tour. In this group were the shoulder of the musician Ted Nugent but this collaboration lasted a few months since the quartet of Auburn separated from Nugent because, according to the interpretation of Adams and his companions, the musician had the impression that Manowar was "stealing the scene with their powerful live performances and engaging for the audience."

Manowar then decided to organize themselves a little tour that was organised in a few weeks from their manager. Again there are also problems, which saw the group challenged by the host cities for concerts because of the loud instruments which the group liked to use during live performances. Through this short tour, the band gained still a good fame in the United States and also began to engage the first fan European, particularly in the United Kingdom and in Germany. At the end of the series of performances, Donnie Hamzik, stressed the continuing performances, decided to leave the band and was thus replaced by the young and upcoming Scott Columbus.

Into Glory Ride(1982-1988)

In 1982, the band decided to change record label leaving Liberty Records because it had not been able to publicize the previous disk with an adequate number of copies in Europe. The band signed on to the better known and internationally organised Music for Nations.

By the time Manowar returned home, they immediately went into a recording studio to produce what, in the intentions of the group, would have been a simple EP (published in 1983 with the title "Defender"and containing as
Just to make apologies for the failure to tour, Manowar decided to dedicate the United Kingdom on their next album which was released in early 1984 with the title''Hail to England''( ''''Hail to England) and was recorded and mixed in just six days. The album again received great success, thanks to the pace once again renewed in particular in the execution speed and in most of the songs sound power. Manowar went for a new promotional tour, titled''Spectacle of Might''( "show of power"), which had a large number of stages in England. The tour saw initially as a band Manowar support for Mercyful Fate, but the enthusiasm shown by the public to the band, but we did the tour had been thinking along the way, with the group of DeMaio as''headline''.

Enhanced by the contribution of the public, Manowar soon returned to work and registration. Abandoned labeled Music for Nations, the quartet joined Ten Records to publish, at only ten months from the previous album, a new album called''"Sign of the Hammer''. The disc has a rhythm once again changed, characterized by slow and very technical tracks like the epic''Mountains''and quick as the eponymous''Sign of the Hammer,''and got a new sales success that allowed the band to go on a world tour, lasting about two years, which recorded a huge number of visitors everywhere. At the end of this continuous journey, the band took in 1986 a year off.

In 1987 Manowar, because of new problems with their label, decided to make another contract change to major Atlantic Records. With this choice, the group was able to bring out the same year a new record, which was called''Fighting the World'', for which the new label did a good job of promotion and distribution around the world. Through this publication, the band made the final leap, gaining a further increase in the number of fans in Europe that made the band one of the largest music of the period. The record, however, the first received criticism because of his lack of originality derived from the mythological themes sometimes too repetitive of American flags.

Kings of Metal (1988-1992)

In 1988 i Manowar released a new album,''Kings of Metal'', that is still widely regarded as the masterpiece of the band. Songs like''Heart of Steel'',''Kings of Metal''and''Hail and Kill''became a veritable anthem for fans of the group and were proposed again regularly in concerts. Kings of Metal''''was the album the group recorded the highest number of copies sold worldwide.

Despite this sales success, this album attracted much criticism on Manowar, particularly with reference to the texts of songs Pleasure Slave (slave of pleasure ") and" Blood of the Kings ( "Blood of Kings"). The first track was attacked by feminists as ways to be my slave woman, "Woman be my slave." The second seemed to some a tribute to the Nazis because of lines like back to the glory of Germany ( "return to the glory of Germany"), stated several times that Manowar be just a tribute to the many German fans. The same eagle iconography of the band was viewed by some as a Nazi symbol, although derived from classical culture (the eagle of Zeus and Rome, and above all easily traceable to the American "Eagles"). Even came to some understanding in malam partem even the well-known admiration for Richard Wagner of the group (the real creator of eavy metal, but also fundamental innovations of modern music in general).

Ignoring these voices, Manowar embarked on a world tour, again a period of approximately three years, with stops in almost all European nations. During that tour, Ross the Boss but announced his retirement from the group because of the life''on the road''and decided to devote himself to a solo project of mold -blues rock. His replacement was found in David Shankle, musician who was chosen by members of the group after a search among some 150 candidates. Scott Columbus later also had to leave to look after this son, ill from years of leukemia. Scott himself chose as his replacement Kenny Earl Edwards (soon nicknamed Rhino).

New albums and first video and live publications (1992-2002)

Found a new musical unit after the recent changes, the Manowar released in 1992 a new album, entitled''The Triumph of Steel''(''The Triumph of steel''). It gained some success and was particularly famous for the presence of a''suite''of no less than 28 minutes entitled''Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts''(''Achilles, agony and ecstasy in eight parts'' ), inspired by the events of 'Iliad and the hero Achilles. After this release, the band went on a world tour for two years. At its end, the group had to sign a contract with a new label as the one with the Atlantic Records was completed for a year. So the band signed with the Geffen Records. In 1993 was also abandoned by the group of David Shankle, which was replaced by Karl Logan, a musician known by DeMaio during a motor meeting, and the unexpected return of Columbus which caused the removal of Rhino.

In 1994 i Manowar released their first collection, called''The Hell of Steel'', containing the major successes of the group, and in 1996, after four years of waiting, produced a new album called''Louder Than Hell''(''The stronger Hell''). Despite the economic success and fame achieved by some tracks such as "Brothers Of Metal", "Courage" and "Number 1", the album was long criticized for its simple style and the arrangements a little inspired. The greatest challenge came from Andre Matos, the former lead singer Angra, who claimed in a magazine industry that''Louder Than Hell''was a metal so bad that they can be called "metal for kids."

Turning its criticisms, Manowar embarked on a new long tour and in 1997 released with the tag Connoisseur Records a new collection, called''Anthology'', and their first album''Live''or''Hell on Wheels'', published by BMG International in the guise of double CD containing all the most popular songs of the group. Not yet have the track to post a new disc because of ongoing promotional tour, the Manowar compiled several books, a second live album,''Hell on Stage'', and the first DVD of the series' 'Hell on Earth''.

Warriors of the World and the future of the band (2002-today)

Karl Logan
In 2002, after six years since the last publication in the studio, released a new album from Manowar, called''Warriors of the World''(''Warriors of the World''). The increasingly long time that intervened between the publications of the disks made by critics to formulate theories about the band. The first announcing a crisis-inspired group, caused by a lack of ideas and almost fanatical accession of group members to the role of "true metalheads", which over time had begun to tire the public. Others explained that the long publication delays were necessary for treating manic that the band had dedicated to the production of the new album.

However, the disc sold a fair number of copies, proving that fans of the group had not forgotten their heroes. Warriors of the World''''presented a sound sometimes renewed in style, but maintained his usual energy and power. The tracks of the album became the most famous "Warriors of the World United", "House of Death" and "Call to Arms", in addition to air Puccini's''Nessun Dorma'', covered on in honor of the Italian fans and exhibited for the first time since their group in a concert in Milan.

Manowar then began a long world tour, called''Warriors of the World United Tour''that kept them away from a long recording studios. Not to be totally inactive in terms of record releases, the band released several DVD. In 2002 will come the videos''Warriors of the World United''and''Fire and Blood'', in 2003''Hell on Earth Part III''and 2005 DVD Hell on Earth Part IV.

In 2003 bassist Joey DeMaio founded a record label, the''Magic Circle Music'', which became the official home of the band and was created to fit the needs of Manowar and other bands of similar genre. In 2005, completed the grueling tour, Manowar released the demo with it''King of Kings - The Ascension''. With the Magic Circle were also released the EP''The Sons of Odin''and a DVD called''The Day The Earth Shock - The Absolute Power'' , taken during the participation in the 'Earthshaker Fest 2005.

Manowar released Gods of War through Magic Circle Music in 2007. After playing numerous shows in Europe, including a concert that spanned the course of two nights, they worked on a new EP, titled Thunder In the Sky, which was released in 2009. The EP consisted of two discs; the first playing the regular track list, the second playing the song "Father" in fifteen different languages.
The band is currently working on an album, tentatively titled Hammer of the Gods, with no current set release date.

Members

Current members

Eric Adams - vocals (1980–present), guitar (1980, for a short while)
Joey DeMaio - bass guitars, guitars, keyboards, classical guitar (1980–present)
Karl Logan - guitars, keyboards, classical guitar (1994–present)
Scott Columbus - drums, percussion (1983–1991, 1995–present)

Scott has been absent from the band since early 2008, it was announced at Magic Circle Festival 2008 that he was missing due to "personal tragedies" he had suffered. Since this Manowar has had both Rhino and Donnie Hamzik play with them during live performances. Donnie also played the drum track on their most recent studio recording, "Thunder in the Sky" EP. Although Scott is still listed on the official website there has been no further information as to when he may return to the band.

Former members

Guitars

Ross "The Boss" Friedman (1980–1988)
David Shankle (1989–1993)

Drums

Carl Canedy (1980)
Donnie Hamzik (1981–1982, 2009 sessional)
Rhino (1992–1995, 2008 sessional)

Roadies

Alan "Bloodaxe" Feller (Crowd Control) (2000–2006)
Jason Craig Wilfred Malone (Tour Accountant) (1998–2000)

Timeline

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Discography

Albums

Battle Hymns (1982)
Into Glory Ride (1983)
Hail to England (1984)
Sign of the Hammer (1984)
Fighting the World (1987)
Kings of Metal (1988)
The Triumph of Steel (1992)
Louder Than Hell (1996)
Warriors of the World (2002)
Gods of War (2007)
TBA (2010)

Live

Hell on Wheels (1997)
Hell on Stage (1999)
Gods of War Live (2007)

Compilations

Manowar Kills (1992)
The Hell of Steel: Best of Manowar (1994)
Anthology (1997)
The Kingdom of Steel (1998)
Steel Warriors (1998)

Singles/EPs

"Defender" (1983)
"All Men Play On Ten" (1984)
"Blow Your Speakers" (1987)
"Herz Aus Stahl" (1988)
"Metal Warriors" (1992)
"Defender" (1994)
"Return of the Warlord" (1996)
"Courage" (1996)
"Courage Live" (1996)
"Number 1" (1996)
"Live in Spain" (1998)
"Live in Portugal" (1998)
"Live in France" (1998)
"Live in Germany" (1998)
"Warriors of the World united" (2002)
"Warriors of the World united Part 2" (2002)
"An American Trilogy/The Fight for Freedom" (2002)
"The Dawn of Battle" (2002)
"King of Kings" (included in "Hell on Earth Part IV") (2005)
"The Sons of Odin" (First EP) (2006)
"Die with Honor" (2008)
"Thunder In The Sky" (2009)

VHS/DVDs

Secrets of Steel (VHS) (1993)
Hell on Earth Part I (DVD) (2001)
Fire and Blood (DVD) (2002)
Warriors of the World united (Mini DVD/CD) (2002)
Hell on Earth Part III (DVD) (2003)
Hell on Earth Part IV (DVD) (2005)
The Day the Earth Shook - The Absolute Power (DVD) (2006)
Magic Circle Festival Volume 1 (DVD) (2007)
Magic Circle Festival Volume 2 (DVD) (2008)
Hell on Earth Part V (DVD) (2009)

Signed Music Artists