The 'Manowar' wagon rolls on with another dose of battle tinged Metal and while not one of their best, it's a decent release especially for the mid nineties. The influence of 'Grunge' and the 'Alternative' scene had no impact what so ever on 'Manowar' and here they continue in the style the founded in the early 80's. Unfortunately it's all a bit the same and although there's some solid material the plodding drum and bass work appears on to many tracks.

'Return of the Warlord' opens the account in trademark fashion, the pummelling rhythm work while eventually tedious on later tracks, sounds powerful on this opener, the vocals are as always mighty and the guitaring slick. 'Brothers of Metal' continues in similar vein, and although the lyrics are predictable, its a solid fist-raiser, but I'm not to sure about the vocal harmonies though. Third up is the thumping anthem 'God made Heavy Metal', 'Eric Adams' does sterling work on the facetious lyrics and overall it makes for a decent romp. Less hell-bent is the moving power ballad 'Courage', the heavy use of piano gives this number a theatrical almost 'Savatage' feel, and while not one of my favourites it's a respectable change from the expected. Next up is 'Number 1', which despite the all round commitment shown, doesn't quite work and lyrically ends up sounding awkward. Better is the thumping rocker 'Outlaw', the intro to which is very reminiscent of 'Riot' circa 'Thundersteel', and as a whole it comes together very well, the blistering drum work is phenomenal and the vocals combine with some forceful guitaring for my favourite track of the disc. The pace drops for theatrical lead-in to 'King', which neatly picks up into a strong thumper, but by now this rhythmic plod has become tiresome and starts to detract from more worthy song components. Next up are two instrumentals, first is the atmospheric epic 'Today is a Good Day to Die' which despite being well executed, at 9 minutes does tend to go on a bit. 'My Spirit Lives on' is a shorter fast moving number, laced with fine fret work but ultimately is pretty directionless. The album closes on a high with 'The Power', a commanding blazer and another fist-raising 'Manowar' classic, lyrically strong, with 'Eric Adams' and 'Karl Logan' ruling supreme.

Although not one of their best, there's still enough quality to please fans. With the exception of two live album, 'Manowar's' next studio release 'Warriors of the World' didn't appear until 2002.