Now, we all know that Manowar can be a little... I hate to use the word... corny, but I can actually listen to this album without feeling guilty afterwards. It's not really all that bad, it's just a hit and miss album.
So I'll just give it a little track by track review.
1. WHEELS OF FIRE - This is one of the stronger tracks of the album, a good mix of thrash and power metal. I also like his voice in this album. The chorus to this song is very catchy. There's nothing wrong with this song except the stupid engine revving in the beginning that takes up almost thirty seconds of the song.
2. KINGS OF METAL - Yes, stupid title, stupid lyrics. But I love some of the guitarwork on this track and the melody to the singing is fun to sing, especially since the chanting in the chorus adds to the feeling. The solo is pretty well done, too.
3. HEART OF STEEL - A nice little piano intro in the beginning, and then Eric Adams comes in with some pretty good vocal work. Again, the lyrics are painfully stupid, but the music itself is excellent.
4. STING OF THE BUMBLEBEE - WOW! This song is incredible! This is an instrumental song with the bass guitar going at spine-tingling speeds sounding exactly like a bee flying around. This is an incredible piece of music and I hope to God he was picking his bass or else his fingers were probably destroyed in the process of recording. This is definately one reason to listen to this album.
5. THE CROWN AND THE RING (LAMENT OF THE KINGS) - A cool church organ intro with chanting, it actually sounds like you're sitting in a medieval chruch. Then Adams' voice tears through and he sounds great. The rest of the song is just back and forth verses and chanting choruses. It's not that bad of a song, though.
6. KINGDOM COME - I like this song a lot. It might be the most commercial Manowar will get on this album, if at all. I love the songing on this track and the guitars. The screaming by Adams towards the end is awesome. Definately a track you won't skip.
7. PLEASURE SLAVE - Well, this song is quite interesting. Make sure no one is around you when you hear this song because it fades into the ograsms of enslaved women, and the lyrics are what Eric Adams does to his said women. Nice job, Manowar -_- Despite all of that, surprisingly, this song is awesome! I love listening to this song because it's so catchy and I can easily headbang to it.
8. HAIL AND KILL - This is another great song. The guitars in the beginning are great, and then we slow down to a soft guitar with Adams singing to us nicely. There's an interesting lyric here that says "Let your sword be wet like a young girl in her prime." I laugh everytime I hear it, though. After the slow part, we immediately speed up to a nice catchy guitar riff and sweet vocal work. The chorus is awesome, with chanting men saying: "HAIL! KILL! HAIL AND KILL!"
9. THE WARRIOR PRAYER - Now here's why I gave the album a 3. This is the worst excuse for a filler track EVER. All this is is a little boy asking his father to tell him a story about a war he was in, and eventually he tells his grandson the 'Metal Kings' helped save the day. This would wouldn't be as bad if it wasn't FOUR MINUTES LONG! What a waste of a good four minutes of my life!
10. BLOOD OF THE KINGS - At least after that mess, we're rewarded with a song that might be the best song on the ablum aside from 'Sting of the Bumblebee'. Everything in this song is executed well. The singing, guitars, bass, drums, vereses, chorus... I aboslutely love this song.
PROS:
-Good vocal work
-Sting of the Bumblebee
-Catchy songs
CONS:
-Orgasms in 'Pleasure Slave'
-The absolutely terrible filler track 'The Warrior Prayer'
