Gods Of War (EU) ［CD+DVD］

キング・オブ・メタルManowarの10枚目のスタジオアルバムにボーナスDVDがついたリミテッドエディション！　北欧神話の最高神Odinオーディンをたたえる初めてのコンセプト・アルバム。 オーディンは戦争と死の神であり、知識に貪欲でどんな犠牲も惜しまないとされている。オープニングの叙事詩“Overture To The Hymn Of The Immortal Warriors”や“The Sons Of Odin”では神話のおどろおどろしさが濃厚に感じられ、オーディンの全能性を表すためこれまでにない重量感のあるサウンドとなっている。エネルギッシュな“Gods Of War”、物語性に富んだ“The Blood Of Odin”とメリハリのある仕上がりとなっている。

Die selbst ernannten Metal-Götter von Manowar machen ihre Drohung wahr, die sie in Hinblick auf ihre Musik im Verlauf der letzten Veröffentlichungen langsam erhoben hatten, und liefern mit Gods of War von 2007 ihr erstes echtes Symphonic Metal-Album ab. Manowars Ambitionen waren jedoch an dieser Stelle noch nicht ausgereizt (waren sie es jemals?), weil Gods of War das erste Album aus einer angekündigten Reihe von Konzeptalben ist, die verschiedenen kriegslüsternen Gottheiten gewidmet sind! Für diesen ersten Teil wurde Odin gewählt, die höchste Gottheit in der nordischen Mythologie, der musikalische Rahmen jedoch scheint von Wagners Ringzyklus beeinflusst worden zu sein, glücklicherweise nicht allzu stark! Nur die Hälfte dieser 12 Aufnahmen jedoch lässt sich tatsächlich als Heavy Metal bezeichnen, die übrigen sind orchestriert/gesprochen/synthetisch, sodass die eine Hälfte des Album gute Titel und die andere Hälfte lediglich Füllmaterial bietet. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia|

Delivering on a threat that had slowly been rearing its bewigged head in the band's music over recent releases, self-proclaimed metal gods Manowar turn in their first certifiable symphonic metal album in 2007's Gods of War, which also represents the long-slogging quartet's tenth studio effort, incidentally. Hang on, though: the scale of Manowar's latest ambitions didn't end there (errr, does it ever), as they apparently vowed to make Gods of War just the first in a series of concept albums devoted to different war-mongering deities! For this first installment the chosen subject is Odin, the supreme power of Norse mythology (hence the Runic alphabet used throughout the CD booklet), but the musical framework connecting its songs seems to have been partly inspired by Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle -- though, mercifully, not nearly as long! This explains the unconventional nature of the album's opening statement, "Overture to the Hymn of the Immortal Warriors," and several interludes thereafter, which combine choirs, orchestras, synthesizers, and dramatic narrations for the purpose of advancing the mythological story line recounted by the non-symphonic tracks interspersed throughout. Most remarkable of all, though, is the fact that this forces Manowar's true metal fan legions to endure nearly ten minutes of orchestral fluff until enjoying grateful decapitation by the familiar scissoring metallic onslaught of "King of Kings" (and if you think the wait was hard on them, imagine what it was like for megalomaniacal bassist/songwriter/producer/milkman Joey DeMaio!). The fan-approved bloodshed then goes on via optimal headbanging opportunities like "Sleipnir," "Loki God of Fire," and "Sons of Odin," but even these often require listeners to sit out the mosh pit for tiresome spoken intros and outros; plus, there's the customary torment of the obligatory ballad, "Blood Brothers," to be dealt with (one per album, so says the "Stairway to Heaven" rule). So by the time Ragnarok finally turns off the lights on Gods of War, one is astounded to realize that just half of these 12 cuts actually qualify as heavy metal songs -- the remainder being of the orchestrated/spoken/synthetic stripe, for what amounts to over an hour of half-killer, half-filler experience -- wow! Needless to say, this EP-masked-as-LP charade may be too much to stomach even for veteran self-deluding Manowar followers, already accustomed to the group's used-car salesmen behavior over the years, but perhaps the band can salvage the situation with the next chapters in their proposed war god saga. We shall see.... ~ Eduardo Rivadavia

メタル界最強のサウンドと肉体を誇る男たちが放ったおよそ5年ぶりの新作は、北欧神話で〈神々の父〉と称されるオーディンの歴史と偉業を綴った一大コンセプト作品だ。冒頭のオーケストラによるイントロからパワフルな〈マノウォー・メタル〉へと繋がる曲展開、そして劇的な終幕が用意された今作は、言うなれば英雄伝説〈サーガ〉のメタル版サウンドトラック!　壮大で強靭な帝王の音がついに復活したぞ!
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