The Triumph of Steel

The Triumph of Steel
Cover art by Ken Kelly
Studio album by Manowar
Released	September 29, 1992 (1992-09-29)
Recorded	Haus Wahnfried, New York
Genre	Heavy metal power metal
Length	69:09
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Manowar, John Pettigrass
Manowar chronology
Kings of Metal (1988) The Triumph of Steel (1992) Louder Than Hell (1996)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	9/10 [2]

The Triumph of Steel is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Manowar, released in 1992. It is the only Manowar album to feature guitarist David Shankle and drummer Kenny Earl "Rhino" Edwards. The cover art was illustrated by Ken Kelly.

Album content

"Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts" is the longest (28 minutes and 38 seconds) and most complex Manowar song, and probably an anticipation of a concept album that was never accomplished. Because of its Homeric content, "Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts" has attracted the attention of a group of scholars at Bologna University in Italy. Mrs. Eleonora Cavallini, Professor in Classics, has written about this song:

"Joey DeMaio’s lyrics imply a careful and scrupulous reading of the Iliad . The songwriter has focused his attention essentially on the crucial fight between Hector and Achilles, has paraphrased some passages of the poem adapting them to the melodic structure with a certain fluency and partly reinterpreting them, but never altering or upsetting Homer’s storyline. The purpose of the lyrics (and of the music as well) is to evoke some characteristic Homeric sceneries: the raging storm of the battle, the barbaric, ferocious exultance of the winner, the grief and anguish of the warrior who feels death impending over him. The whole action hinges upon Hector and Achilles, who are represented as specular characters, divided by an irreducible hatred and yet destined to share a similar destiny. Both are caught in the moment of the greatest exaltation, as they savagely rejoice for the blood of their killed enemies, but also in the one of the extreme pain, when the daemon of war finally pounces on them. Furthermore, differently than in the irreverent and iconoclastic movie Troy , in "Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts", the divine is a constant and ineluctable presence, determining human destinies with inscrutable and steely will, and, despite the generic reference to 'the gods', the real master of human lives is Zeus, the only God to whom both Hector and Achilles address their prayers" ^[3]

Track listing

All songs written by Joey DeMaio except where noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts" Prelude I. Hector Storms the Wall II. The Death of Patroclus III. Funeral March IV. Armor of the Gods V. Hector's Final Hour VI. Death Hector's Reward VII. The Desecration of Hector's Body A. Part 1 B. Part 2 VIII. The Glory of Achilles"		28:37
2.	"Metal Warriors"		3:54
3.	"Ride the Dragon"	David Shankle, DeMaio	4:29
4.	"Spirit Horse of the Cherokee"		6:00
5.	"Burning"	Shankle, DeMaio	5:08
6.	"The Power of Thy Sword"		7:50
7.	"The Demon's Whip"	Shankle, DeMaio	7:45
8.	"Master of the Wind"	Shankle, DeMaio	5:26
Total length:			69:09

Personnel

Manowar

• Eric Adams – vocals
• David Shankle – guitars, acoustic guitar, classical guitar
• Joey DeMaio – bass, 4-string, 8-string bass, piccolo bass, bass pedals
• Kenny Earl "Rhino" Edwards – drums, percussion

Production

• John Pettigrass – associate producer
• Rich Breen – engineer
• Dave Kresl, Doug McBride, Hank Neuberger, Dan Stout, Stefon Taylor, Bruce Breckenfeld, Andrew Rubin – mixing at Air Waves Studio, Chicago
• John McCortney, Paul Grigonis, Ehab Haddad – digital editing and transfers at C.R.C., Chicago
• Howie Weinberg – mastering at Masterdisk, New York
• Silvio "The Don" Bonvini – production co-ordination

Charts

Chart (1992)	Peak position
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) [4]	22
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [5]	8
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [6]	68
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [7]	20
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) [8]	22

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Germany (BVMI) [9]	Gold	250,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [10]	Gold	50,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Jeffries, Vincent. The Triumph of Steel at AllMusic
2. Popoff, Martin (August 1, 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 262. ISBN   978-1-894959-62-9.
3. Eleonora Cavallini (2007). "Achilles in the age of metal". Mythimedia Project. University of Bologna.
4. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN   978-951-1-21053-5.
5. "Offiziellecharts.de – Manowar – The Triumph of Steel" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
6. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
7. "Swisscharts.com – Manowar – The Triumph of Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
8. "Manowar Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
9. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Manowar; 'The Triumph of Steel')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie . Retrieved May 6, 2021.
10. Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 954. ISBN   84-8048-639-2 . Retrieved August 23, 2019.