Battle Hymn

Obviously you are not a true Manowar fan. The song is Battle Hymn. Singular. And that's now how you set out lyrics... kids today.

Favourite guitar solo of all time. And that's on a playlist of John Petrucci, Zakk Wylde and the like ^_^.

The songs about the armies of metal slaying everything.

All right, I know this song was written in 1981 and released with the album in 1982, but this song is about the einherjar, also known as the WARRIORS OF VALHALLA (and / or Freya's Fields).

I'll explain it by breaking things down for everyone. First of all, at the dawn of the 1980s, there was not nearly as much material available to America about the Vikings, Norse Mythology, etc. A lot of it was still in Old Norse. ...Moving on.

The band wrote this song about battles from the perspective of a badass viking warriors, followed by the perspective of a warrior pondering what the sands of time will think about their victory. Next comes his death, followed by waking up in Asgard, where he fights, kills, dies, and is reborn every day forever until the events of Ragnarök. I'll break it down for you:

Ahem:

"By moonlight, we ride; 10 000 side-by-side!"

Super Viking battle. Ten thousand is a lot of fists. Vikings didn't just pillage. Vikings also had entire towns near harbor/port cities, and acted as a maritime protection force. So, if there are multiple towns of Nordic warriors gathering to fight off a large force (Christian Crusaders, Ottoman invaders (if they are protecting a city by living in an adjacent Viking Town, etc.,) of enemy attackers. MOVING ON...

"With swords drawn, held high, Our whips and armor shine...!" Warriors take pride in their weapons. They keep'em oiled and shined and ready for battle.

"Hail to thee, our infantry; Still brave beyond the grave!" Okay, this is where it becomes obvious we're talking about Vikings. They praise their fallen ancestors because to die in battle is a great honor.

"All sworn the eternal vow, The time to strike is now: Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh-oh) Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh) Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh-oh) Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)" Okay, this is where Viking HONOR comes into play. You vow not to run away. You vow to fight until your death. You vow to destroy your enemy until you are destroyed, no matter how long it takes, or how many battles it takes, until you are an old fart. MOVING ON...

"Gone are the days when freedom shone, Now blood and steel meet bone!" Enemies from a foreign land have invaded, and the Vikings are having their way of life threatened. Now they're going to fight to keep their way of life intact. That's historical fact; the Christians came to convert Scandinavia, which is probably why the song opens with a force of 10,000 warriors strong. They need every local town together to stand against oppression and conversion.

"In the light of the battle's wake, The sands of time will say: 'How proud our soldiers stand, With mace and chain in hand! Sound of charge; into glory [we] ride... ...Over the top of their vanquished pride!'" OKAY! Good times! The tide of the battle is in the favor of the Norse peoples, and the warrior singing this song is so effing proud that he concludes the 'sands of time' will even brag about the victory of his people, which continues into the next chorus with:

"Victory, victory (oh-oh-oh-oh) Victory, victory (oh-oh-oh) Victory, victory (oh-oh-oh-oh) Victory, victory (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)"

AND THEN ... the heavy music stops, and everything gets soft. Our warrior has just died, maybe by an arrow he never saw coming. Maybe by a catapult bolder. Maybe from being beheaded from behind. Whatever it is, he never saw it coming. So the FOG OF WAR is still with him. Basically, the dude is a little confused, but he KNOWS he died. He knows that, because he died, he's going to a DIFFERENT battle ... the neverending battle in Asgard:

"To the battle, we ride; We crossed a starlit sky. No space, no time. We'll catch the wind."

Next, he reflects on the battle he came FROM: "Strange losses, men died. We crossed a starlit sky. And still, no space and time... We'll catch the wind." What THIS means is he's being taken over Bïfrost bridge, carried by a Valkyrie. The strange loss is him reflecting on how he fell on the battlefield, never saw it coming, and he's lying there, looking at dead people around him in his final moments. And then it get stranger because the warrior is plucked up and taken across the Bïfrost. He looks around, and he sees stars in the sky and feels wind on his face as the Valkyrie catches the wind as she takes him to Asgard.

For those who don't know, Viking Warriors go to Fraya's Fields FIRST. She gets FIRST PICK of warriors (lady's first, I guess, lol). Any warriors she doesn't choose ... winds up going to Valhalla (Some claim it means WAR HALL, whatever - I don't speak archaic 'Old Norse,' or Icelandic, which is the next closest thing).

Once you are sorted (Freya's Fields or Valhalla), you become "einherjar," which is, quite literally, 'ARMY OF ONE.' That is the name for the Warriors of Asgard that will fight every day, die in battle, and continue to practice fighting and dying and being respawned (lol) until the event of Ragnarök, which is when Fenris devours Odin, there is a war of attrition against a zillion dishonored dead of Hell (Helheim), and, later, the fire giants of Muspelheim who worship Surtr.

When you die defending Asgard, things get a little grim. First, the gods are defeated or devoured. And then, without them to respawn you, your death means your soul winds up in the Ginnungagap, aka THE VOID. You are truly dead at that point. But knowing that Thor will fight and die to save Earth from Jörmungandr - the world serpent and child of Loki, it's easy to put your anxiety away and KNOW that you're fighting the GOOD FIGHT - Earth will survive.

UNTIL THAT TIME, the warrior lives in Asgard as a warrior that is practicing their craft - battle. They fight one another, kill and die, and they're reborn the next day, drinking and eating, and flyting, and then they go back to the battlefield. They love that stuff. So, the song goes back to the CHORUS:

Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh-oh) Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh) Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh-oh) Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh) (Oh-oh-oh) Sound of charge into glory ride Over the top of their vanquished pride By moonlight, we ride 10 000 side by side Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh-oh) Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh) Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh-oh) Kill, kill (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)!!" Kill, die, wake up, feast and drink, and kill some more. Rinse and repeat. The warrior is definitely in Asgard with these lyrics. No doubt about it.

And then Manowar ends the song / album with the big rock finish: "Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh!"

I HOPE THIS HELPS ANYONE CURIOUS ABOUT THIS SONG. I broke it down for you guys, because the incomplete lyrics have been posted way back in 2002, and ... c'mon. TWENTY YEARS ON THE INTERNET with incomplete lyrics? TWENTY YEARS of conjecture?? I decided it was time to tell everyone the truth. ENJOY!

this song reminds me of a past life spent playing internet roleplaying games (tibia.org) till 4am and then getting up for school at 7, I wouldnt have it any other way, good times. looking back the song does seem a bit violent for my impressionable 14 year old mind... kids these days

Violent? Yes of course it's violent but who the **** cares? This is an awesome song but the "to the battle we ride part" was so bad... they could have skipped it... for your 14 year old mind? Impressionable... I'm sorry for my 13 year old "mind" it sounds pretty cool (in a Manowar song but not in reallity, but impressionable? Oh please...) :P

i acually like the "to the battle we ride part" it reminds me of sumthin´ i can´t remember

i too like the last verse, and i believe it belongs and fits nicely. It goes with the overall message of the battle and it's like after it's all over and walking through the rubbish and everyone's calmed down there's just a sense of overwhelming peace sort of. I can see it in almost every manowar song, and love how it fits in and makes the whole song into like a movie.

The version on Battle Hymns MMXI is really good. It's longer with better quality and has parts in it that fill you with such intensity.

The Song is written in the present, so you have the best chance to emphatize With a soldier in the middle age how and with which imaginations they went into the battlefield. It is the idea of joey de meio how it could be if you Look inside a head Of a man living as a soldier. Several hundred or thousands of years men fought in Battles around the world and this is one idea how the thoughts are of such a man. Nothing more.