The Lord of Steel

The Lord of Steel
Studio album by
Publication (s)	June 16 / October 19, 2012
Label (s)	Magic Circle Entertainment
Genre (s)	True metal
Title (number)	10 (Hammer Edition) 11 (retail version)
running time	47:40 (Hammer Edition) 55:11 (retail version)
occupation	Singing : Eric Adams Guitar : Karl Logan Bass : Joey DeMaio Drums : Donnie Hamzik
production	Joey DeMaio
Studio (s)	Recording: Hell , New York (USA) Engineering and Editing: Haus Wahnfried, New York (USA) Mixing & Mastering: Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum (Netherlands)
chronology Battle Hymns MMXI (2010) The Lord of Steel Kings of Metal MMXIV (2014)

The Lord of Steel (English for: " The Lord of Steel ") is the twelfth studio album by the US true metal band Manowar and was first released on June 16, 2012 as a download. On June 26, 2012, an exclusive CD version of the limited Hammer Edition followed by the British edition of Metal Hammer magazine. The retail version followed on October 8 as a download and on October 19 on CD.

Emergence

In the run-up to the release of the album Gods of War , Joey DeMaio announced four albums, each of which was to thematize a Nordic god as a concept album . Also, The Lord of Steel , then still without a name, should have retained this concept. It would have been the second of the four originally planned releases of this concept and thus the direct successor to the album Gods of War and the EP Thunder in the Sky . On the Internet and in a YouTube video message from Joey DeMaio, this album has meanwhile been referred to as the Hammer of the Gods .

However, shortly after Donnie Hamzik's official return to Manowar, DeMaio reported again in a video message and announced that all previous ideas and recordings had been discarded and the band would start again from scratch. She also decided against a concept album. The recordings have since been postponed because a new edition of the first album Battle Hymns is preferred. This was released in autumn 2010 as the Battle Hymns MMXI .

In the fall of 2011, Joey DeMaio announced in an interview with Eddie Trunk the release of the next album for the summer of 2012. In spring 2012, two excerpts from rough versions of the titles El Gringo and Expendable were shown on Youtube , the former also published a little later as a free MP3 download for ticket pre-orderers for various appearances in autumn 2011. When the album was played to journalists in advance, the German press only invited Metal Hammer .

In July, Joey DeMaio announced that the retail version of the album would contain some surprises. The new version should be imagined as a film with an alternative cut or an alternative ending. In addition to the new title The Kingdom of Steel and an artwork by Ken Kelly, the album should also contain a “more brutal” sound. This version was released as an MP3 download on October 8th. All titles were completely remastered . Depending on the piece of music, the differences in the new version range from marginal changes in the sound to additional effects to the complete replacement of elements such as intros, solos and outros. For example, Touch the Sky and El Gringo received completely new guitar solos. With Righteous Glory and Born in a Grave , an actual ending was composed, while on the Hammer Edition they ended with a fadeout .

Track list

1. The Lord of Steel - 4:07 (4:06)
2. Manowarriors - 4:46 (4:41)
3. Born in a Grave - 5:47 (5:01)
4. Righteous Glory - 6:10 (5:46)
5. Touch the Sky - 3:49 (3:47)
6. Black List - 6:58 (6:43)
7. Expendable - 3:10 (3:10)
8. El Gringo - 4:57 (6:54)
9. Annihilation - 4:00 (3:36)
10. Hail Kill and Die - 3:56 (3:36)
11. The Kingdom of Steel - (7:21) (only in the retail version)

The first time information relates to the Hammer Edition , the second to the retail version . All tracks were written by Joey DeMaio, except for Righteous Glory and Born in a Grave , which Karl Logan was also involved in.

Reviews

According to Götz Kühnemund from Rock Hard , the album features Righteous Glory , Born in a Grave and Touch the Sky “a couple of songs […] that certainly have potential”, and “successful passages” in The Lord of Steel , El Gringo and the “cliché banger 'Manowarriors', even if they are almost always 'borrowed' from the band's older hits”. However, the album sounds “at best like an average copy of the old gods' gifts”, the production is a “digital home studio disaster”, and the lyrics seem as if they “like in 'Manowarriors' meanwhile (consciously) on the dumbest of the stupid aim because only the same ten keywords are somehow strung together ”, which no longer has anything to do with the“ loving handling of the good old metal clichés ”on their early works; instead it is “quite simply pure calculation and flat. The fact that you still have to give six points ('quite okay') is due to Eric Adams, who even leaves many other singers behind with half his strength, and to the old heyday, which in the back of my mind are still quite remote, somehow, somewhere echo. It's a shame, guys, it was really nice with you. ”In a letter to the editor, the“ strange release policy ”was criticized.

Trivia

• The song El Gringo is part of the soundtrack of the film of the same name El Gringo by After Dark Films with Scott Adkins in the leading role. The song was also heard in the film's trailer.
• Expendable was inspired by Sylvester Stallone's feature film The Expendables , according to Joey DeMaios . DeMaio told British Metal Hammer that Stallone started headbanging when the song was played to him.
• The album is the first Manowar studio album since The Triumph Of Steel that does not contain a purely instrumental piece.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Lord Of Steel at My Favorite Magazines ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ ^{a b} The Retail Edition Of The Lord Of Steel Will Now Be Released Worldwide On October 19, 2012 ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Hammer of the Gods (update)
4. ↑ Recording of the interview with Joey DeMaio
5. ↑ Tickets For MANOWAR's Battle Hymns 2011 UK / Ireland Tour Are Now On General Sale! ( Memento of the original from October 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Anzo Sadoni: Manowar . The madness . In: Metal Hammer , August 2012, p. 52.
7. ↑ Götz Kühnemund : Manowar . The Lord Of Steel . In: Rock Hard , No. 303, August 2012, p. 108.
8. ↑ Mathias Rahn: "... additional price of 150 US dollars ..." . In: Rock Hard , No. 306, November 2012, p. 86.
9. ↑ MANOWAR Perform Title Song For The After Dark Action Film El Gringo ( Memento of the original from April 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
10. ↑ MANOWAR Announce Digital Release Of New Album For June 16, 2012 ( Memento of the original from April 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
11. ↑ Joey DeMaio: The Warhorses' Mouth - Joey DeMaio talks us through some of the new Manowar tracks . In: Metal Hammer UK . No. 233 .