Terça-feira 1 Ago 2006, 11h:36
For reasons that don't really bear close examination right now I'm listening to Battle Hymns, the 1982 debut of heavyweight cheesemetal champions Manowar. Which is every bit as hilariously awful as you might expect. What you might not expect, however, is to find that their seminal track Dark Avenger includes narration by no less than … Orson Welles:
Orson: He was met at the gate of hades
By the guardian of the lost souls,
The keeper of the unavenged
And he did say to him:
Let you not pass abandon return to the world from once you came
And seek payment not only for thy known anguish
But vindicate the souls of the unavengedAnd they placed in his hands a sword made for him called vengeance
Forged in brimstone and tempered by the woeful tears of the unavengedAnd to carry him up on his journey back to the upper world
They brought forth their demon horse called black death
A grim steed so fiercely might and black in colour
That he could stand as one with the darkness
Save from his burning eyes of crimson fireAnd on that night they rode up from hell
The pounding of his hooves did clap like thunder.Manowar: Burning, death, destruction raping the daughters and wives
In blood I take my payment in full with their livesNo one can escape me on black death I ride
When kissed by the sword of vengeance
Your head lays there by your side
I take the lives of all that I once knew
The torn flesh of a slow death waits for you.
Delightful stuff. I guess it beat advertising frozen peas as way to scrape together cigar money. I think it's a pity that more bands haven't followed the 'War's lead, though. Personally, I'm rooting for Dickie Attenborough to pair up with the ever-lovable Cradle of Filth.