I've been a Manowar fan for 18 years, and in all that time there has only been a few songs I haven't loved. The self proclaimed Kings of Metal sing about many things but there is an overwhelming theme of swords, sorcery, war and death running through it all. Their battle cry throughout their long career is 'Death To False Metal' by which they mean and I quote "Manowar wanna rock, not pose, wearing jeans and leather not crackerjack clothes"
The first few albums were interesting and quite low budget with lots of thrash type high pitch screaming and proclamations about their manhood and prowess, not to mention 5 minute long sessions of screaming 'We are heavy metal' at their live gigs. The song 'All Men Play on Ten' is a particular favourite of mine.
Speaking of which they did hold the record for being the loudest band for a long time. It was beaten by someone else, but whether or not they have reclaimed it I don't know.
Getting back to their albums, Manowar really came of age with the album 'Fighting the World' they even had a chart hit with the single 'Blow your Speakers'. Every song on the album is slick, hard and heavy, some of the subject matter could be considered cheesy I suppose, but if you like films like Conan the Barbarian, you'll love every minute of it.
FTW was followed by the monster album 'Kings of Metal', fantastic production coupled with awesome songs made people who laughed at the title think twice after they had heard it. The ballad 'Heart of Steel' is so heartfelt (no pun intended) that the hairs on the back of your neck will be on end from start to finish. I actually heard a live track from Germany called 'Herz Aus Stahl' and features the whole song in German mostly sung by the crowd!
Which leads me nicely into the next fact about Manowar, they are HUGE in Germany, on the last European tour, they had the odd date in each country and 12 dates in Germany! All of which sold out almost immediately, I presume its the whole macho, swords and sorcery stuff that appeals so much.
They have had several albums since Kings of Metal including an anthology album but to my mind they never quite reached the same peak as they did on KoM. Nevertheless there are still tons of cracking tunes on those albums too, 'Brothers of Metal' being a particular favourite of mine.
In conclusion, Manowar are definatley the kings of their own particular brand of metal and long may they reign, as the Orson Wells voiceover at the start of every concert states; 'Ladies and gentleman, from the United States of America, All Hail Manowar!'