Perennial Warrior-Kings of True Heavy Metal MANOWAR have announced that their “long-awaited” upcoming (farewell?) album The Final Battle will be released this year, initially in the form of three separate EPs.

From the band’s Facebook post:

The wait is over! MANOWAR have finally confirmed the impending release of “The Final Battle I”, an EP comprised of eagerly awaited brand new material. Fans will first get their chance to own this initial instalment in a trilogy of thunderous EPs in an exclusive pre-sale at the merchandise booth of the band’s “The Final Battle World Tour 2019”, starting with their show in Frankfurt/Germany on March 29, 2019.

An exclusive digital presale period will start on iTunes the same day.

“The Final Battle I” is guaranteed to blow your speakers and your heads off with a whirlwind of crushing sonic destruction, orchestral majesty and epic, pulverising insanity.

The first of three parts which will constitute the highly anticipated new MANOWAR album, this EP is destined to go down in heavy metal history as one of the most insanely epic releases of all time. An imperious demonstration of the band’s undisputed mastery of both skull-crushing metal anthems and extraordinary feats of symphonic bombast, these four new molten metal tracks have been inspired by MANOWAR’s “The Final Battle World Tour” and fuelled by the support and energy of their fans. All music was conceived, recorded and mixed at MANOWAR’s very own VALHALLA STUDIOS, utilizing the unparalleled power of their PMC statement monitors with over 27,000 watts of ground-shaking clarity.

“The sheer power of these four songs is mind-blowing! We simply couldn’t release more songs at one time; it’s just too much!” says Joey DeMaio. “We want to give our fans the chance to take in every note, every word. Gain more strength from this experience and then be ready for the battles they fight every day. And join us on the road, on The Final Battle!”

“The Final Battle I” covers a vast amount of musical ground in its quest to deliver the ultimate heavy metal experience. The opener, the epic fantasy-brought-to-life March Of The Heroes Into Valhalla re-imagines MANOWAR’s music in vivid, cinematic form, providing a deeply moving journey through the warrior’s life, from bloody battles to ascension into Valhalla. The battle filled mood continues with the spine-shattering might and fury of the new anthem Blood And Steel. Next is Sword Of The Highlands, one of the most explosive and dramatic songs DeMaio has ever penned: a profound and stirring tribute to heroes long perished, it begins with exquisite elegance before erupting into a grand crescendo of power and glory, exemplified by a possible career best vocal performance from the ever impressive Eric Adams.

Finally, the most startling surprise arrives in the dark, lurking, brutal and merciless form of You Shall Die Before I Die; a hypnotic and coruscating epic that delivers a vengeful statement of intent and invincibility… with lead vocals by Joey DeMaio himself!

“The Final Battle I” comes with a crushing new artwork by iconic fantasy artist Ken Kelly, masterfully echoing the emotional rollercoaster you’ll be taken on.

Magnificent, monstrous and heavier than Hell, “The Final Battle I” will first be unleashed exclusively at the merch booth during MANOWAR’s “The Final Battle World Tour”, starting in Frankfurt/Germany on March 29, 2019 and on all further dates on this tour leg. It will also be available digitally on iTunes worldwide at the same date. The roll out will then continue into retail and online stores on May 30, 2019 and digitally on Amazon and Google. Play.

Parts II and III of the trilogy will arrive in course, inspired by MANOWAR’s adventures on the remainder of “The Final Battle World Tour”.

It has not yet been made clear who exactly will be playing guitar on these upcoming releases, seeing as how Karl Logan was infamously expelled from the band last year due to the public revelation of some highly unsavory sexual allegations and related legal predicaments. At the time, the band stated this expulsion would not affect the upcoming album, and an individual by the name of E.V. Martel is currently filling on six-stringed duties for the group’s ongoing European “Final Battle” tour. However it remains to be clarified whether Logan, Martel, both, neither, and/or someone else will have their fretwork featured on the upcoming studio recordings. David Shankle, former guitarist and Manowarrior who played on the classic 1992 Triumph of Steel record originally expressed interest in returning to the MANOWAR fold, however there has been nothing in the past couple of months to suggest that anything ended up coming out of this.

At any rate, regardless of any such technical or personal curiosities, it shall be interesting to be see how close this new music will come to matching the extraordinarily high expectations that could be instilled by taking the promises in the aforecited press release at face value.

Tags: 2019, epic, eric adams, Heavy Metal, italian-american culture, joey demaio, manowar, new york, power metal, true metal, USPM