CH 84: Live
Live Switzerland 1984
Stentor STEN 91.007
54:05
Given tracklisting: Correct tracklisting:
1. Manowar 1. Manowar
2. Metal Daze 2. Metal Daze
3. The Decret Of Steel 3. Secret Of Steel
4. Bass Sole ( De Maio ) 4. Bass Solo
5. Sign Of The Hammer 5. Sign Of The Hammer
6. All Men Play On 6. All Men Play On 10
7. Blood Of My Enemies 7. Blood Of My Enemies
8. Thor 8. Thor (The Powerhead)
9. Warlord 9. The Oath
10. Battle Hymn 10. Battle Hymn

No additional recording or date information beyond the title is given. I have nothing else to go on, and as you'll read shortly, there's no stage banter to help identify the gig, so unless I get new information, I'll go with the title and assume this was a gig from Switzerland (CH=Confederatio Helvetica).

Good era for the band, but unfortunately not a great bootleg. The recording is generally ok, but it sounds distant and all the instruments end up flat and powerless. That wouldn't be so bad by itself, but all stage banter and song introductions have been lost in the between-track fade-ins and fade-outs. In some cases, parts of the song itself have been cut out ("Blood of My Enemies," for example, starts during the 3rd line of lyrics!)The end of track 5 also has some skipping noises on my copy. My CD looks like new, so I assume this is the a problem with the recording itself?

There are 3 different color variants for this CD, each having the insert text printed in a different color (yellow, green, and pink). For some reason the green version does not have the cursive "live" text on the front cover next to Eric's elbow, and this appears to be the only other difference between the color variations.

And yes, despite being an '84 show, the bootlegger chose a pic with David Shankle for the cover.

Death To All, Peace At Last
Tracks 1-11 - Stuttgart, Germany, Oct. 15, 1992
Tracks 12-13 - Noorderligt, Tilburg, Holland, May 23, 1987
Label unknown
66:15
Given tracklisting: Correct tracklisting:
1. Manowar 1. Intro (1:44)
2. Fighting The World 2. Manowar (4:18)
3. Drum Solo 3. Fighting The World (4:30)
4. Kill With Power 4. Rhino drum solo (3:37)
5. Kings Of Metal 5. Kill With Power (4:32)
6. Bass Solo 6. Kings Of Metal (3:37)
7. Herz Aus Stahl 7. Bass solo (partial?)/Herz Aus Stahl (6:49)
8. Bass Solo 8. Bass Intro (1:13)
9. Ride The Dragon 9. Ride The Dragon (4:24)
10. Hail And Kill 10. Hail And Kill (4:23)
11. The Glory Of Achilles 11. The Glory Of Achilles/Black Wind, Fire, And Steel (10:26)
12. Black Wind, Fire And Steel 12. Gates of Valhalla (10:32)
-- -- 13. Violence And Bloodshed/Outro (6:10)

The sound quality on this bootleg fluctuates a lot, but the audio is generally of an average, listenable quality. There are edits between almost all the songs.

"Kill With Power" begins abruptly a few seconds into the song (but before the first verse starts).

Track 7 begins in the middle of a bass part. I'm not sure if it was a full on DeMaio solo or just a song introduction.

Track 8 is distorted bass intro to "Ride the Dragon." There's a bit more of the same at the end of track 9.

"Hail and Kill" is missing the clean intro. Rather than being edited out, it seems like it wasn't played.

The last 2 tracks are from the 1987 Tilburg show. The 1987 show is mentioned nowhere on the bootleg, and as can be seen above, these tracks are not mentioned in the tracklist. They were probably tacked on as filler material. As on the bootlegs of the Tilburg show, there's an edit at the end of "Gates of Valhalla." The outro is the intro to the studio version of "Warlord," followed by some "Death to false metal!" stage banter.

There are two disc color variants for this CD--one with a black disc face, and the other with a brown disc face.

As with other shows past the early/mid '80s, there's just not enough early stuff for my taste. About as representative as any of the other early '90s bootlegs for this period.

Fight For Revenge
The Ritz, New York, NY, Dec. 28, 1983
Angry Dino AD 1007
74:34
Given tracklisting: Correct tracklisting:
1. Intro/Manowar 1. Intro/Manowar (7:18)
2. Glowes Of Metal 2. Gloves Of Metal (6:36)
3. Secret Of Steel 3. Secret Of Steel (6:55)
4. Gates Of Valhalla 4. Gates Of Valhalla (8:15)
5. Army Of The Immortals 5. Guitar Solo/Army Of The Immortals (7:36)
6. Warlord 6. Warlord (5:03)
7. Fasttaker 7. Fast Taker (3:05)
8. Kill With Power 8. Drum solo/Kill With Power (6:21)
9. Bass Solo 9. Bass Solo/Black Arrows (9:19)
10. March For Revenge 10. March For Revenge (partial) (4:00)
11. Battle Hymn 11. Battle Hymn (10:06)

Companion bootleg to the "Kill with Power" bootleg. The front insert is clear plastic with a stylized Manowar logo and the title printed on it.

At 1:18 of "Fast Taker," the audio jumps forward in the song to the guitar solo.

"March for Revenge" is not the full song, just the last verse or so.

Gates Of Walhalla
Noorderligt, Tilburg, Holland, May 23, 1987
Sledgehammer Records HR - 30002
62:36
Given tracklisting: Correct tracklisting:
1. Manowar 1. Intro/Manowar (5:04)
2. Fighting The World 2. Fighting The World (7:55)
3. Blow Your Speakers 3. Blow Your Speakers (3:21)
4. Gates Of Walhalla 4. Gates Of Valhalla(10:34)
5. Bass Solo 5. Violence And Bloodshed (4:23)
6. Violence And Bloodshed 6. Kill With Power (4:39)
7. Kill With Power 7. Holy War (5:36)
8. Holy War 8. Master Of Revenge (0:58)
9. Master Of Revenge 9. Master Of Revenge (cont.) (0:54)
10. Black Wind, Fire And Steel 10. Black Wind, Fire And Steel (7:49)
-- -- 11. Battle Hymn (11:23)

Red and black disc color variants for this bootleg exist, but there appear to be no differences between the inserts.

This Tilburg show is the most bootlegged Manowar live recording. There are several CD bootlegs--"Death to False Metal," "Live And Alive," "Thunder & Lightning," and "Live In Tilburg '87" (covered below)--and a couple of vinyl boots.

The intro is the infamous Manowar live introduction with Orson Welles narrating over the finale music to Ben-Hur.

There's an edit at the end of track 4 right after "Gates of Valhalla" ends and Eric's introduction to "Violence and Bloodshed" suddenly begins. There's probably an edit between tracks 5/6, as the drumming that precedes "Kill with Power" abruptly starts, and there's another probable edit between tracks 6/7.

Unfortunately all of the "Fighting the World" album tracks and long epics leave little room for much else...Not enough "Into Glory Ride" or "Hail to England" stuff for my taste.

Kill With Power
Tracks 1-7 - Earthquake Festival
De Kegelaar, Kaatsheuvel, Holland, April 1, 1986
Tracks 8-11 - The Ritz, New York, NY, Dec. 28, 1983
Metal Monster Music MMM 008
71:16
Given tracklisting: Correct tracklisting:
1. Manowar 1. Intro/Manowar (4:49)
2. Metal Daze 2. Metal Daze (4:51)
3. Gates Of Walhalla 3. Gates Of Valhalla (10:16)
4. Bass Solo 4. Bass solo (incl. Black Arrows
& William's Tale) (9:00)
5. Sign Of The Hammer 5. Sign Of The Hammer (5:01)
6. Kill With Power 6. Kill With Power (5:11)
7. Battle Hymn 7. Battle Hymn (10:54)
8. Guitar Solo - Army Of The Immortals 8. Guitar solo/Army Of The Immortals (7:36)
9. Warlord 9. Warlord (4:58)
10. Blood Of My Enemies 10. Blood Of My Enemies (5:21)
11. Blood Of My Enemies (Reprise) 11. March For Revenge (partial) (3:19)

Companion bootleg to the "Fight for Revenge" CD. The front insert is clear plastic with a stylized Manowar logo and the title printed on it.

Tracks 8, 9, and 11 are the same recordings as on the "Fight for Revenge" boot.

"March for Revenge" is not the full song, just the last verse or so.

Live In Tilburg '87
Noorderligt, Tilburg, Holland, May 23, 1987
Metal Biter MB 16
62:18
Given tracklisting: Correct tracklisting:
1. Manowar 1. Intro (0:31)
2. Fighting The World 2. Manowar (4:27)
3. Blow Your Speakers 3. Fighting The World (7:59)
4. Gates Of Walhalla 4. Blow Your Speakers (3:35)
5. Bass Solo 5. Gates Of Valhalla (4:01)
6. Violence And Bloodshed 6. Gates Of Valhalla (cont.) (6:15)
7. Kill With Power 7. Violence And Bloodshed (5:25)
8. Holy War 8. Kill With Power (4:04)
9. Master Of Revenge 9. Holy War (5:12)
10. Black, Wind, Fire And Steel 10. Master Of Revenge (1:52)
11. Battle Hymn 11. Black Wind, Fire And Steel (6:41)
-- -- 12. Battle Hymn (11:24)
-- -- 13. Outro (0:52)

Disc itself is printed with the title "Master of Revenge." No exact date information is given anywhere.

Same Tilburg show as mentioned above on the "Gates of Walhalla" boot, and the same notes I made about edits apply here.

Track 5 is the acoustic part/first verse of "Gates..." It continues directly into the rest of the song on track 6.

Return Of The Metal Kings
Stadthalle, Offenbach, Germany, Oct. 21, 1992
Death To False Metal! DTFM 211092
76:25
1. Intro
2. Manowar
3. Fighting The World
4. Drum Solo - Rhino
5. Metal Warriors
6. Kings Of Metal
7. Herz Aus Stahl /(bass solo)
8. Ride The Dragon
9. Hail And Kill
10. The Glory Of Achilles
11. Black Wind, Fire And Steel
12. Battle Hymn [sic]
13. Outtro

Track 1 is the Orson Welles introduction.

The volume of the right channel drops for a moment at 0:38 of "Fighting the World."

Most of the last half of track 5 is the band selecting chicks to come up on stage for "Kings of Metal." The second half of track 7 is a bass solo and some stage banter in which American beer is (rightfully) disparaged.

There are breaks between tracks 9/10 and 11/12. It's unclear what was edited out, if anything.

The clean "Brothers I am calling..." intro to "Hail and Kill" is not here, and it doesn't sound like an edit. Can anyone confirm they didn't play this part during '92 gigs? After the crowd chanting from the previous track, you hear a guitar string pluck and then the band seem to launch directly into the regular song starting with the "Blood and death are waiting..." line. As I mentioned above, it's not on the "Death to All..." bootleg either--maybe they skipped playing this section for '92 shows?

The last three minutes of "Black Wind..." are pretty much just bass and feedback.

Joey tells the story of the American journalist who didn't "get" "Triumph of Steel" at the beginning of track 12.

Track 13 is part of "The Crown and the Ring" played as background outro music.

Of all of the German '92 bootlegs here, this is the best in terms of sound quality and unedited content. The downside is that this boot offers NOTHING from the 2nd/3rd albums--at least the others have "Kill With Power."

Steel Hearts At War
Germany 1992 (?)
Death Enterprises DE 007
65:55
Given tracklisting: Correct tracklisting:
1. Manowar 1. Intro/Manowar
2. Fighting The World 2. Fighting The World
3. Metal Warriors 3. Rhino's drum solo/Metal Warriors
4. Kings Of Metal 4. Kings Of Metal
5. Herz Aus Stahl 5. Herz Aus Stahl
6. Basstime 6. Bass Solo
7. Ride The Dragon 7. Ride The Dragon
8. Kill The Power 8. Kill With Power
9. Spirit Horse Of The Cherokee 9. The Glory Of Achilles
10. Battle Hymns 10. Battle Hymn

Bootleg gives no specific/date recording information beyond "Live in Europe '92," but the stage banter reveals it's from Germany. They played a similar set-list throughout the whole tour and even the stage banter was the same at times, but if you know the date/location of this particular show, please let me know. I don't believe they played in Frankfurt proper for this tour, but I would assume it was a nearby gig, since some other Death Enterprises bootlegs seem to be from Frankfurt gigs.

The intro is the usual Orson Welles introduction.

There are obvious cuts at the end of tracks 7 and 9.

Warriors Over Cologne (Digipak)
Tracks 1-9 - live Ringfest, Cologne, Germany, Aug. 17, 2002
Tracks 10-12 - "The Dawn of Battle" EP 2002
Label unknown
66:10
1. Manowar
2. Kings Of Metal
3. Herz Aus Stahl
4. Bass Solo
5. Warriors Of The World United
6. Kill With Power
7. House Of Death
8. Talkshow
9. Black Wind Fire & Steel [sic]
10. The Dawn Of Battle
11. I Believe
12. Call To Arms

The live tracks all have gaps between them. The ever-present live intro is played before "Manowar," and there are a couple of seconds of "The Crown and the Ring" outro at the end of track 9.

A large portion of the bass solo is part of "Sting of the Bumblebee." Track 8 is some of Joey's usual deep and philosophical motivational speaking.

The last 3 tracks are listed as "Bonus / non-album tracks," and they're just the normal studio versions.