Kingcrimsonprog In 1984, two years after their debut album Battle Hymns was released, and in the same year as their fourth full-length Sign Of The Hammer, the legendary American Heavy Metal band Manowar released their third studio album Hail To England… a record that pays tribute to the country in which they formed the band and found an early fanbase, as well as introduced to the public the affectionate nickname for their fans “The Immortals.” Manowar’s debut had a bit of a ‘70s Hard Rock flavour to it in places, and their sophomore record Into Glory Ride was mostly a bit slower, doomier and more progressively inclined. By the time of Hail To England, Manowar had decided how to balance all of their various influences into one cohesive and uniquely Manowar whole. It contains all the sword and sorcery imagery, self-referentialism, vocal virtuosity, loud bass and OTT extravagance that make the band who they are. Just like all the early Manowar records it has complex awkward drum patterns and a unique sense of rhythm that makes for really interesting listening.

Opening with the now-classic ‘Blood Of My Enemies,’ ‘Each Dawn I Die’ and ‘Kill With Power’ (as covered-by Arch Enemy), the band make a really solid Side-A with no weak links, any song from which could fit well in a concert or hits collection. Try any of these tracks if you wonder if the album (or indeed the band) is right for you.

The three-minute bass solo “Black Arrows” sets the trend for future Manowar releases with their multiple solos (be it bass, guitar or drum solos). It also ends with the lengthier, slower, more progressively inclined ‘Bridge Of Death’ which is ambitious, bombastic and reminiscent of their direction on their previous record.

Overall; Hail To England is a strong record the band, and contains some of their best material from the early days. This is quite a popular album for the fanbase. (Personally; I enjoy it a lot, although I feel the best was still to come from the band and enjoy the band’s later efforts like Kings Of Metal, Triumph Of Steel and Louder Than Hell. This for me is the band finding themselves, and those are the band perfecting it.) If you take it too seriously or use the word ‘cheesy’ a lot when describing music you dislike then maybe avoid, but if you’re in the mood for fun sweaty macho ’80s Heavy Metal then jump in with both feet.

Warthur Between Manowar's two 1984 releases, Hail to England and Sign of the Hammer, there really isn't that much to choose. Indeed, they came out so hot on the heels of each other that it's hard to believe they weren't recorded back-to-back - but that just shows just how hard-working and prolific Manowar were in their prime. As is typical for Manowar, it's heavy metal with cheesy moments that at points border on power metal, driven by a love of true metal and a hatred of false metal, and there's points where they say "metal" even more frequently than I have in this sentence, but it's enjoyable precisely because of how gloriously silly and over-the-top it is.

AtomicCrimsonRush Let each note I play be a black arrow of death sent straight to the heart of all those who play false metal....

This is undoubtedly a masterpiece for the band featuring some of their most famous songs beginning with the power metal of Blood Of My Enemies, followed by cool riffing Each Dawn I Die, with some naff lyrics powered out by the great Adams, but that’s what Manowar were about. A song about killing and “die die die!” on Kill With Power soon became a fan favourite for concert set lists, along with anthemic glitz on Hail To England, one to raise the horns up to in a concert.

I had this on vinyl and must have played side one hundreds of time but I was always looking forward to the power intensity of Army Of The Immortals and the killer Black Arrows that is basically a lead guitar solo with fret melting spasming arpeggios at light speed by Ross the Boss. It ends with a slower paced Bridge Of Death, that was a low point for me, but overall this is still a glorious victory for the band and one of their most revered. HAIL from Australia!

TerryDactyl So False Metal still hasn't died, but it's not like Manowar weren't trying their dangdest to kill it. Death! they say, Death to False Metal! Pretty grandiose statement from a band who still had cowbell and blues licks all over the place just two short albums ago, but hey that's all forgivable for a few reasons, the first of which is that this album is a full on example of early 80's True/Power Metal asskickery and silver gauntlets.

This is the least listened to of the first six Manowar albums, followed closely on the heels by their next offering, "Sign of the Hammer." Still, I've listened to it an awful lot.

There's a certain goofiness missing from this record that make it different from all other Manowar albums. "Hail to England" is for the most part a grim affair, a call to arms and a long war against a very black enemy. There's not much room for banter and whatnot.

I find the seriousness of the album to be a little bit of a flaw, but not much of one. See I like my silly Manowar and there's just very little room for silly to come in through these deadly serious grooves. The music is wonderful, however, probably the best they made up to this point, and honestly in many ways they never topped it (though I love the next three albums every bit as much if not more than the first three...) I also find myself missing Orson Welles or at least some long winded narration of some great battle or other, or how a one handed wizard put a curse on a village and poisoned the well...Please Manowar, I understand that battle is your bread and butter but maybe pull away from the war the tiniest bit and you would have had a perfect record on your hands. As you didn't you might never, ever wind up with one. But hey, when you have songs like the excellent title track, "Kill with Power" and superlong epic "Bridge of Death" it really doesn't matter if the album isn't perfect. It's good enough to hack a few limbs off with.

1967/ 1976 An album that always excites me, "Hail To England". Proto Power Metal, and in this sense, is a pioneering album. The songs are very technical, for the genre of music played and, in addition, with enormous power. In some circumstances may lead us to see them as Doom Metal songs. What counts, in an album like this, is that the music is very innovative. Noting that I seek the magic (and here is present) and technique (and here is present) in music, what could be the best song in "Hail To England"? Hard to choose. In fact, I would say "Hail To England" for the chorus that really like me, "Bridge Of Death" for the magic, "Each Down I Die" or "Blood Of My Enemies" or also the Piccolo Bass solo "Black Arrows" but it is the set of all the songs that makes magic "Hail To England".

"Hail To England" is an album devoted to European fans. But it is still an album far from certain excesses that characterize the continuation of the career of Manowar. And, for me, one of the metal icons of 80's.

bratus It is really strange to see how Metal Music Archives members underrate Manowar and its album 'Hail to England'.

In my opinion this is not only the best album in the history of Manowar, but absolute classics in terms of Heavy Metal and a must for every Heavy Metal fan.

'Hail to England' is devoted to British fans and in principle the music is rather European (I would even say German) than American.

Even after dozens of times listening to this album I can hardly find any drawback. Every song is breathing energy and the whole work is filled with the spirit of victory, glory and immortal Heavy Metal.