Louder Than Hell - Manowar

It was not my intention to write a review of this album which was released in 1996 by Manowar... not today, not ever. Most of my reviews are thought of in advance, save for the odd spare of the moment review... which is what this certainly is. In fact this CD has not been anywhere near any of my music playing devices for years. I guess I just got bored of them? This was not always the case. Being a fan of Heavy and Power Metal, I used to look forward to the release of their latest albums. I also used to feel that they were more tongue-in-cheek, how they used to proclaim to the world that they were the loudest, heaviest band in the world, and death to false ...  Read the complete review

Seemingly learning a lesson from their previous, frankly dull album, Manowar return their focus to average-length heavy metal songs, albeit performed in a more power metal style suited to the 1990s. New guitarist Karl Logan is a vast improvement over his predecessor David Shankle, providing many fast and twiddly guitar solos throughout, but the quality and originality of the songs tends to fall flat, especially compared to the band's early work. Songs such as 'Outlaw' and 'The Power' are extremely fast and energetic, balanced out by anthemic grooves in 'Return of the Warlord' and 'Number 1,' but the album's experimentations elsewhere aren't as successful. ...  Read the complete review