Metal bands inspired by CONAN 1982

Is that a bootleg?

Because I can't believe they didn't use that for an official album! Infinite times better and powerful than any Ken Kelly artwork.

Flaming Turd wrote:

Is that a bootleg?

Because I can't believe they didn't use that for an official album! Infinite times better and powerful than any Ken Kelly artwork.

Its a rare boot with Manowar!

Aha, so the Frazetta artwork was most probably used without legal permission.

The band HELIX with the song "HEAVY METAL LOVE" featuring SANDAHL BERGMAN!!!!! It's the year 1983 and every metalhead in the world was totally in love with Valeria (who btw, here is really bulked!)

Hissar Z wrote:

BAL-SAGOTH

The music is clearly inspired by Poledouris' score in "Starfire burning the ice veiled throne of Ultima Thule"

Some recognizable tunes there, specially "Riders of Doom".

Quote :

on wikipedia:

Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule is Bal-Sagoth's second full-length album, released in 1996 through Cacophonous Records.
In the song titled "And lo, When the Imperium Marches Against Gul-Kothoth, then Dark Sorceries Shall Enshroud the Citadel of the Obsidian Crown," a strong synthesizer melody begins at 4:17. This melody is a variation upon the melody heard in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian during the scene inside Thulsa Doom's stronghold, composed by Basil Poledouris.

Yes, sounds somewhat inspired by "The Orgy".

Quote :

Again from the score of Conan the Barbarian, at 00:37 in the track "Recovery" , the theme seems to be faithfully adapted by Bal-Sagoth in the track "In the Raven-Haunted Forests of Darkenhold, Where Shadows Reign and the Hues of Sunlight Never Dance" at 2:02. The band explains their inspiration came mainly from John Williams and Basil Poledouris' scores amongst others, maybe as a tribute.

Just listen to it on youtube and you'll see for yourselves.

Somebody made a fan-edited video with scenes of the Milius' movie and the clearly inspired by it MANOWAR song "THE SECRET OF STEEL":



Another one with the song "MASTER OF THE WINDS" wich was also directly inspired by the movie, and even mentions the "Four Winds" god of the hyrkanians :



All these fan-made videos proof the clear relation between the Milius' movie imagery and 80's bands like Manowar. It continues today as a tradition, as we have probed with so many examples.



I am trying to find one of Manowar's first ever official videos, wich feature them dressed as barbarians, playing with rubber swords and riding horses and stuff. It totally looks as good as one of the worst Italian ripoffs like "Ator" or "Conquest", so I suspect Manowar die-hard fans have erased any trace of that video from the youtube Anyway, if somebody knows wich video is that, please post it!

Here's 'gloves of plastic' for ya . Crom and Mapa!

youtube.com/watch?v=-4qTi7cDtI4

a re-edited version also:
youtube.com/watch?v=3J5psthAf8g



'Blow your stickers', another official Manowar vintage 80's clip

youtube.com/watch?v=yLgporKLnpA

Great!!! That's the one I was looking for. Four Winds will pay you, Hissarr. Here they are, in full SpaguettyBarbarian splendor:





Reloaded version:

For all you Manowar haters here, I just want you to know Manowar was around playing bars from 80-82 well before Conan The Barbarian came out and Manowar were already using the viking-look. Their song Secret of Steel is also referencing Viking beliefs in the power of steel. Im not saying the werent referencing the movie, but they use that phrase a lot and they are more heavily influenced by viking religion than Conan.

I don't think noone hates Manowar here. In my particular case, I just don't like them; but that's pretty different than hating. I don't hate them, I don't want them to disappear.

About your argument, well you might be damn right. I of course am not a fan of them therefore I don't know their history.

There are some particular details wich were clearly taken from the movie, and something that always surprised me was they never ever mentioned the movie as inspiration. Why? Well, of course I haven't read every Manowar interview, so, do you know if they actually mentioned it, at least once? Or Conan, as a character? - It's really strange they never say his name, at least I think it is.

Just stumbled across this thread while trying to figure out the name of a band (turned out to be Austrian Death Machine)..

Anyhow, thought I'd add this entry to the list you've got going here, since it's a somewhat different kind of music from the typical viking/power metal that seems to be the norm..

The band is called Elder. They've got a self-titled album on the Meteor City label. I guess you'd call them stoner/sludge/doom metal.



The last two songs on the album are Riddle of Steel Pt 1, and Riddle of Steel Pt2.

Quote :

riddle of steel, pt. 1:

sudden liberation
of war-molded mind
antediluvian spirit
freed for the first time

foretold by the sages
ancient wizards of plains
son of crom-built kingdom
from the ashes of chains

captors of the sun
and priestess of the high seas
fathers of the mountains
and the holy commune of the trees

spirit of the rider
with the will of the land
he will carve his kingdom
with his own two hands

the riddle of steel
in the halls of the mighty
a sword unsheathed
and an arrow of lightning

Quote :

riddle of steel, pt. 2:

the standard of the cult
and snakes of thulsa doom
in the spirit of vengeance
i strike into the womb

if the wolves will not stop me
if the mountains are tame
then who will stop my quest
for fortune and for fame?

to the temple of flesh
to the priests of false light
in bereavement of strength
in perversion of might

the tree of wisdom
i spill my blood upon
crucified for vengeance
and the spirit of crom

sworn to fight and die for he
who taught the riddle of steel to me
for crom i light the pyre
and cast my enemies into the fire

time may swallow victory
what matters not as trees grow tall
so raise your swords, today we fight
standing proud few against all

yeah

Hope you dig it!

This is perfect, brother. Please keep coming around.

The member who stated that Manowar was there in 80-82 supposedly before the first conan film was released, with songs such as "secret of steel" is obviously a fanboy and doesn't know much about Manowar history:

first album, 1982: "battle hymns" : there isn't one song concering Conan's world , it's all standard heavy-metal fantasy themes (dark avenger, battle hymns) with a hint of biker stuff as well.

second album, 1983,"Into glory ride" : Finally we have, in '83, some songs directly inspired by Milius' film, with songs such as "secret of steel" and viking mythology inspired songs such as "Valhalla" (which will inspire cult bands such as Bathory, which will lead to a certain type of viking metal with raunchy vocals & choirs, later on).


Manowar could then be described as a group mixing elements from Viking mythology and Milius' Conan the Barbarian.
Who would DARE to say that songs such as The crown and the ring isn't influenced by Conan & Kull? etc etc.
Plus their cover art beginning with Into glory ride is CONAN influenced, there's nothing viking in the ocinography.
Ken Kelly is known for his Conan books covers, thus the MAnowar "mascot" is a revised Conan holding a fantasy sword with his face blurred out.

Anyways, saying that Manowar didn't inspire themselves from Conan is one of the lousiest remarks I've ever heard in metal, I'll remember that one!!

w w w.myspace.com/conandoomconan

Album now out on Throne Records and Aurora Borealis Records



Merch available here - w w w.conan.bigcartel.com

Hey there, just stumbled upon this forum only yesterday. Some great stuff to be found among these pages!!!
To also contribute a bit, I present yet another metal band taking direct inspiration from Conan and REH in general (also some Lovecraft influences in their lyrics sometimes). The band is called IRONSWORD and while they take influences from very early (not-so-cheesey-bombastic) Manowar, early Maiden (some gutitar parts), Omen and Manilla Road, their vocalist with a rather raw/gruff/dark way of singing may make them interesting for those not into trad. metal.



lyric excerpt:

Quote :

Beyond the borders of Koth and Shem
Searching the splendor of the dreaming west
Crossing Corinthia, Ophir lies ahead
The road of kings is ours again

In the night
Barbarians ride
Throughout Hyborian world

some more tracks:

Quote :

Through the darkness and the dawn
Picts wage war on Hyrkania
Aquilonia bathed in blood
All share the spoils of Hyboria...

Discography (leaving aside Promos and Splits)
Ironsword Full-length, 2002
Return of the Warrior Full-length, 2004
Overlords of Chaos Full-length, 2008
w w w myspace.com/officialironsword

Lee Aaron Metal Queen video

Awesome. Awesome finds, guys.

Oh my gosh that robot wich breaks the chains with a laser.

Grauer, any idea of who the author of that cover is? Looks like Ken Kelly but I suspect he is another artist following Manowa's style.

Oh, sorry for looking the thread up this late. You mena the cover of IRONSWORD's masterpiece "Overlords of Chaos"?
Sure - it was done by Martin Hanford who also did some artwork for the mighty BAL SAGOTH (love that band!) (not to be confused with Martin Handford, another artist whos done the Where's Waldo stuff)

Hm, I'll look for more on that artist. Thanks man.

More on the line of Manowar (well, better said copying them) with all the Milius' based "Steel" mysticism:
a band called nothing less than "SACRED STEEL", from Gemany, and was created on 1997.



His first album was titled "REBORN IN STEEL", wich is obvious how much into the steel mysticism of the movie they were. Now I wonder if these dudes were really understanding the Milius' movie Nietzschean "Riddle" phylosophies (a man with a weak will needs to overcome himself, almost dying, then being reborn in order the will who masters his flesh to become as strong as steel) or if they were just cloning Manowar. Being "reborn in steel" pretty much suggests to me the guys knew what they were talking about, but they could have taken the reference from any place simply because it sounds cool. (We must remember the "Riddle" on the movie is a concept not fully understood not even by some hardcore fans of the Milius' movie wich name or site they work on I'm not mentioning but it's a site dedicated to a guy who loved stheroids, woman asses and cigars. )



So I looked for the lyrics of the "Reborn on Steel" titled track on the album, just to see how conscious of the alchemystic explanation of the Riddle these dudes were, and:

Quote :

Steel forged in fire
baptized in blood
the flame soaring higher
given birth the metal god

Doom falls silent death draws near
bring on vengeance pain and fear
assault of metal death is real
kneel and praise the gods of steel

You are born to suffer
you are born to bleed
your time is over
the false one to be killed

Righteous slaughter no more lies
time for truth the time to die
metalheads born to the light
sons of steel will kill tonight

We are reborn in steel
born to be heir to the king
foretold to be rulers of heaven and earth
we are reborn in steel
sworn not to bow not to kneel
forever to rule witness our rebirth

do I need to comment it? Poetry by a 11 year old kid, anyone? Would you claim these guys understand crappo bout anything deeper in the Milius' movie than a donkey's asshole? So, yeah. They got the title from somewhere else, because it sounded cool.

Wich is fine.


Yeah, not enough. We want more of those tasty deep verses. Here's the song "SACRED STEEL", much more mature than the previous one -this one could have been written by a 12 years old kid- :

Quote :

Born into metal born into steel
deep in the heart of darkness
metal is revealed
out of the blackness to rule and to kill
those weak and false shall perish
taste the sacred steel
See the light feel the steel
the mighty power of the iron gods to wield
defenders of salvation enemies of night
soldiers of fortune guardians of light
United by the power united by the will
our hearts are filled with metal
for metal we kill
make the dream come true let the war begin
you losers step aside
for sacred steel has come to win
Believe in magic believe in truth
believe in yourself and conquer doom
believe in suffering and all will heal
as we deliver sacred steel
Head on steel commander
lead us into the fight
lead us into our destination
victory and might
We came to kill
sacred steel
with iron will
sacred steel

The next 1998 album "Wargods of Metal":



Includes again songs with titles where there's always the word "metal" or "steel". And of course sir, the lyrics contain these words a lot too. Oh, btw, they spit "Meethulh" just like Manowar. Fuck yes. Like saying "metal" a lot automatically makes an alpha male of you.

Examples:

9.- By Steel We Rule
11.- Empire Of Steel

Just a glimpse on modern metal, to see how the topic evolved though time. It's the very same "Manowar" theme from the 80's but in a new sound and form.

It even depicts a Frazettian "Death-Dealer" viking at some point. In the personal taste level, I do like this kind of sound more than the 80's. Both instruments and voice style. (Still not my favourite band anyway)

Of course the "Conan-style" is gone, since it was a pure 80's thing. Today seems the main inspiration are PS3 Videogames. KRATOS is the new CONAN for the new-gen metal.


The bad is DUSTURBED and the song is INDESTRUCTIBLE (2008).

there's also : iron angel with our " hellish crossfire "




Manowar is very inspired by the Cimmérien .I approuved yeah !

Another very good album : Manowar : fighting the world

The trailer of the "CONAN THE BARBARIAN 3D" featured some nu-metal soundtrack:





Song wich was nothing less than a remake (a remaked song on a remaked movie?) of "CRAZY TRAIN" by OZZY OSBOURNE, dated 1980:






Not the first time OZZY was related to CONAN, though. In 1999, MCFARLANE TOYS produced an Ozzy action-figure wich looked nothing like the true guy. The very same Ozzy said: "I'm speechless... Dunno what to think. I look like CONAN THE BARBARIAN ON LSD". Better say on haggah.