- Apr 5, 2003
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Manowar - The Sons Of Odin
Century Media Records - LC 14792 - October 6th, 2006
By Brandon Strader
The crowd cheers with ecstasy as the first song, "King Of Kings", is announced. The show this bootleg was recorded from was probably more incredible than you could imagine just from hearing it! There is an orchestra playing a subtle arrangement that builds and crescendos with the utmost power, and the vocalist begins to sing his lines. Suddenly the heavy tremolo powerchords enter along with the power metal style percussion. Manowar has always been the essence of heavy metal, from the traditional performances, all the way to their knightly imagery and fantasy artwork. They definitely hold the musical proficiency of a heavy metal band as their percussionist unleashes his fury on the kit, the lead guitarist rips out an array of shreds and sweeps, and the vocalist bellows out a horrific (in a good way) scream. Their keyboard player is also really good, but he mostly provides a backdrop for the music, for example.. he follows along the chord progressions with a church organ tone that really causes a whole new dimension of awesomeness to erupt from within the song.
"Odin" is another symphonic piece that begins fairly suddenly with some shrill violins, and crescendos into an incredibly powerful and intense piece. It's like a war ballad almost, first starting with a lone Knight wandering the field after a battle searching for survivors whilst an enemy lurks in secrecy waiting to attack... And finally they discover each other and clash in battle, and they both kill each other or something to that effect. "Gods Of War" starts out with warrior orchestrations as well, but is soon joined by the percussionist, and soon enough, heavy guitars. The vibes of this song seem like a continuation of the last song, or perhaps a prequel! The percussion drops, and the vocalist sings of war and Valkyries over a subtle bit of keyboard choirs. The song is pretty slow-paced and very melodious, and the shredding solo half way through the song is extremely well done with cleanly plucked notes. The song is pretty wicked, but it drags on quite a bit too long without other hooks making an entrance. The ending is a magnificent heavy metal ending stuffed with drum fills, and fast shreds! Last but not least is the title track, "The Sons Of Odin." It starts up with chuggy powerchords and keyboard choirs which falter yet again to a vocal-fueled mellow part with just bass underneath the vocals, and the occasional sword-strike sound effect! The song has a similar speed to the previous, yet it contains some more double bass, and stronger vocals during the heavy sections. It also contains an awesome tapping solo half way through, and the song itself is pretty enjoyable. The song ends with a grim voiceover that becomes more and more intense until the fellow is practically bellowing. Overall, there may not be too much replay value on this Mini-CD, but it is definitely worth listening to for as long as you can enjoy it, and of course for Manowar fans / heavy metal fans.
There is also a bonus DVD included in this sweet little set, and it contains a behind-the-scenes look at the production behind the big fan convention they held last year. There is footage of the band answering a couple questions, and footage from the "Miss Manowar" contest they held where women get up on stage and do promiscuous things to be named "Miss Manowar". A Japanese contestant went as far as to threaten to kill them if she lost... Not surprisingly, she won. They also had a beer drinking contest which was pretty crazy, especially when a woman gets totally naked after jumping on stage with a beer. They don't have footage of that, but they have a few photos that they put up on screen. But wait, that's not why you would be watching this! They've also got some footage from a rehearsal in the Czech Republic that is really great, but it is shot with a handheld steadycam so the audio is through the camera and different instruments take dominance throughout the song instead of a normal mix. There is a large orchestra playing in this rehearsal too, which is cool to see. Surprisingly, there are a few elderly folks playing the cello, still being true to the metal I suppose! There are also nice clips spliced together from the Earthshaker 2005 Festival, and a slideshow of photos with the music from the CD playing in the background. It would have been cooler to have live footage for the two live songs featured at the beginning but that isn't included in this set. The 30-minute conceptual mini-CD is worth hearing, and the bonus DVD has a bunch of interesting things to check out.
8/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official Manowar Website
Official Magic Circle Music Website
Century Media Records - LC 14792 - October 6th, 2006
By Brandon Strader
The crowd cheers with ecstasy as the first song, "King Of Kings", is announced. The show this bootleg was recorded from was probably more incredible than you could imagine just from hearing it! There is an orchestra playing a subtle arrangement that builds and crescendos with the utmost power, and the vocalist begins to sing his lines. Suddenly the heavy tremolo powerchords enter along with the power metal style percussion. Manowar has always been the essence of heavy metal, from the traditional performances, all the way to their knightly imagery and fantasy artwork. They definitely hold the musical proficiency of a heavy metal band as their percussionist unleashes his fury on the kit, the lead guitarist rips out an array of shreds and sweeps, and the vocalist bellows out a horrific (in a good way) scream. Their keyboard player is also really good, but he mostly provides a backdrop for the music, for example.. he follows along the chord progressions with a church organ tone that really causes a whole new dimension of awesomeness to erupt from within the song.
"Odin" is another symphonic piece that begins fairly suddenly with some shrill violins, and crescendos into an incredibly powerful and intense piece. It's like a war ballad almost, first starting with a lone Knight wandering the field after a battle searching for survivors whilst an enemy lurks in secrecy waiting to attack... And finally they discover each other and clash in battle, and they both kill each other or something to that effect. "Gods Of War" starts out with warrior orchestrations as well, but is soon joined by the percussionist, and soon enough, heavy guitars. The vibes of this song seem like a continuation of the last song, or perhaps a prequel! The percussion drops, and the vocalist sings of war and Valkyries over a subtle bit of keyboard choirs. The song is pretty slow-paced and very melodious, and the shredding solo half way through the song is extremely well done with cleanly plucked notes. The song is pretty wicked, but it drags on quite a bit too long without other hooks making an entrance. The ending is a magnificent heavy metal ending stuffed with drum fills, and fast shreds! Last but not least is the title track, "The Sons Of Odin." It starts up with chuggy powerchords and keyboard choirs which falter yet again to a vocal-fueled mellow part with just bass underneath the vocals, and the occasional sword-strike sound effect! The song has a similar speed to the previous, yet it contains some more double bass, and stronger vocals during the heavy sections. It also contains an awesome tapping solo half way through, and the song itself is pretty enjoyable. The song ends with a grim voiceover that becomes more and more intense until the fellow is practically bellowing. Overall, there may not be too much replay value on this Mini-CD, but it is definitely worth listening to for as long as you can enjoy it, and of course for Manowar fans / heavy metal fans.
There is also a bonus DVD included in this sweet little set, and it contains a behind-the-scenes look at the production behind the big fan convention they held last year. There is footage of the band answering a couple questions, and footage from the "Miss Manowar" contest they held where women get up on stage and do promiscuous things to be named "Miss Manowar". A Japanese contestant went as far as to threaten to kill them if she lost... Not surprisingly, she won. They also had a beer drinking contest which was pretty crazy, especially when a woman gets totally naked after jumping on stage with a beer. They don't have footage of that, but they have a few photos that they put up on screen. But wait, that's not why you would be watching this! They've also got some footage from a rehearsal in the Czech Republic that is really great, but it is shot with a handheld steadycam so the audio is through the camera and different instruments take dominance throughout the song instead of a normal mix. There is a large orchestra playing in this rehearsal too, which is cool to see. Surprisingly, there are a few elderly folks playing the cello, still being true to the metal I suppose! There are also nice clips spliced together from the Earthshaker 2005 Festival, and a slideshow of photos with the music from the CD playing in the background. It would have been cooler to have live footage for the two live songs featured at the beginning but that isn't included in this set. The 30-minute conceptual mini-CD is worth hearing, and the bonus DVD has a bunch of interesting things to check out.
8/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official Manowar Website
Official Magic Circle Music Website
