Considering how highly rated Hammerfall are I was shocked at how below par they are in general.
Manowar are better by far. If their imagery; lyrically (not the Anthology cover though, I turned it round in the jewel case lol) offends your taste you've picked the wrong sub genre of rock music to listen to.
Crimson Thunder owns you faggots.
Manowar are fun but not particularly good. Some stuff like Sign of the Hammer is good, but for example Kings of Metal is musically so bad it's good; it's like if they made a movie of Conan the Destroyer.
I think Crimson Thunder is a decent album but the only Hammerfall one.
With Manowar they have Sign of the Hammer, Into Glory Ride, Hail to England, Battle Hymns, The Triumph of Steel and their glorious live bootleg 'Ipswich 1984'.
The Triumph of Steel is an atrocity with only one good song (Metal Warriors). I don't have Into Glory Ride, Hail to England, or Battle Hymms, but I have my suspicions about their quality.
Some cool power metal bands.
Manowar
Running Wild- Pirates! (All but the first couple)
LORD- Pirates! (Only on Return of the Tyrant)
Iron Savior- Sci-Fi as opposed to fantasy.