''Gods of War'' is the tenth album by heavy metal band

Manowar Manowar is an American heavy metal band from Auburn, New York. Formed in 1980, the group is known for lyrics based on fantasy (particularly sword and sorcery) and mythology (particularly Norse mythology and Greco-Roman mythology), as well as ...

, released in 2007. It is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

centered on

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

, King of Gods and primary god of war in the

Norse Mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

. ''Gods of War'' was supposed to be the first of a series of concept albums dedicated to different war gods from various mythologies, but eventually its sequels were not released. All the text on the booklet was written in the

Runic alphabet Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

. The booklet is available for download in the official Manowa
site
Cover art is painted by Ken Kelly. It is the last studio album to feature Manowar drummer

Scott Columbus Scott Columbus (November 10, 1956 – April 5, 2011) was an American drummer, best known for his long period of collaboration with Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Manowar (band), Manowar. Biography Born Walter Scott Columbus, youngest of fou ...

, who died in 2011. Music of the album features

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

influence, such as use of

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

and

symphonic orchestra A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

. Its close relationship with the four-opera cycle of

Der Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the '' Nibe ...

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

is intended by wagnerian DeMaio, as shown by the booklet and recent interviews with

Michael Custodis Michael Custodis (born 1973) is a German musicologist, sociologist and university lecturer at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster. Career Born in Cologne, Custodis studied musicology, sociology, comparative politics, education ...

Track listing

All songs written by

Joey DeMaio Joey DeMaio (born March 6, 1954) is an American musician who is the bass player and main songwriter for the heavy metal band Manowar which he founded in 1980. He is also the founder and CEO of Magic Circle Music. Biography He is a childhoo ...

, except where noted. *"Die for Metal" is a metal anthem present on all copies of the album, but is listed as a bonus track because it is not part of the concept of the album. *"Die for Metal" is featured in the video game

Brütal Legend ''Brütal Legend'' is an action-adventure video game with real-time strategy game elements created by Double Fine and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was released during October 2009 in North America, E ...

Limited edition

Besides the normal Jewel Case version, ''Gods of War'' was also released as a limited edition in an embossed metal slipcase containing a high-grade media book bound in leather. Furthermore, this limited edition features a bonus DVD with unreleased material about the making of the album and some special behind-the-scenes footage. A double-vinyl LP in a gatefold sleeve was also available.

Personnel

Eric Adams Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and retired police captain serving as the 110th mayor of New York City since January 1, 2022. Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York C ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Karl Logan Karl Mojaleski (born April 28, 1965), known by his stage name Karl Logan, is an American musician and convicted sex offender, best known for being the former guitarist of the heavy metal band Manowar from 1994 to 2018. Biography Logan graduated ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

– four-string and eight-string bass,

piccolo bass A piccolo bass is either an electric bass or acoustic double bass which has been tuned to a higher frequency, usually one octave higher than conventional bass tuning. This allows bass players to use higher registers during soloing while retaining ...

, keyboards,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, producer *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Additional personnel

* Joe Rozler –

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

and

arrangement

Charts

End of year charts

Certifications

References

External links

The Gods of War booklet available in pdf format
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gods Of War (Manowar Album) 2007 albums Manowar albums Concept albums Norse mythology in music Albums with cover art by Ken Kelly (artist)