Review Summary: Grandfather, tell me a story!
In light of not quite landing the crossover hoped for with Fighting the World, Manowar seemed to take the path of self-affirmation with Kings of Metal. While other groups would use this approach as an excuse to play it safe, the band instead took the opportunity to explore every possible aspect of their sound. It’s an incredibly experimental album despite what the title suggests and sees the band at their best, worst, and downright strange.
For what it’s worth, a couple tracks improve upon the preceding album’s streamlined approach. The title track essentially replicates the upbeat stride and rowdy crowd chants from “Fighting the World” but puts them to better use courtesy of even more engaging hooks and their most quotable lyrics. “Kingdom Come” is also a decidedly better realized answer to “Carry On” as its measured march and more inspired choral layers give it a stadium feel closer to the Queen playbook.
Including a couple bonafide power ballads is also an interesting move. It’s a little silly to see “Heart of Steel” literally follow up the song about how loud and mean they are with twinkling piano, but the earnestly demonstrated lyrics and arena-ready refrain help it stay in character. “The Crown and the Ring” is even more jarring as its choir and symphonic swells drop any sort of metal pretense, but the full atmospheric commitment is commendable.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Manowar album without some questionable decisions. “Sting of the Bumblebee” is yet another wacky bass solo but it’s one of the better ones courtesy of the drum/guitar hits making for a more driving layout. “Pleasure Slave” is peak Mano-misogyny with its ‘wannabe daddy-dom calling you a bitch in your dms’ energy, but that sleazy yet doomy riff set is entertaining.
“The Warrior’s Prayer” is another standout that just might be the band’s most unusual outlier. They’ve certainly had their share of spoken word segments before but devoting four minutes to describing a concert in the most flowery language possible is among the band’s most pompous, patience-testing moves to date. But even if its grandfather storytelling misses the point of what everybody liked about The Princess Bride, it’s amusing enough in the right mood. You just know some weird *** out there has this whole damn thing memorized.
(It’s me, I’m weird ***)
But at the end of the day, the band knows that we came here to see them kill and the most striking songs do exactly that. “Wheels of Fire” and “Blood of the Kings” are perfectly scorching bookends that develop on past concepts; the former mixes furious speeds and a soaring chorus with throwback motorcycle effects while the latter plays like “Army of the Immortals” on steroids with its call-and-response choruses and speedy verses that namedrop every album, song, and country they can muster before drumming up an especially exhausting climax. It’s also easy to see why “Hail and Kill” is hailed (and killed) as their best song ever with its stirring beginning, berserker verses, chanting choruses, and more memetic one-liners.
Kings of Metal’s hodgepodge nature may keep it from reaching true masterpiece status but that also ends up being a big part of its appeal. It lacks the uncertainty usually associated with such experiments as the band express itself with the utmost confidence whether it be through skull-bashing speeds or sweeping balladry. Something like Sign of the Hammer may be a better offering musically but in terms of sheer personality, this is quintessential Manowar warts and all.
