The Triumph of Steel was released in 1992 by Manowar

Manowar (band)

Manowar is an American heavy metal band from Auburn, New York. Formed in 1980 the group is known for its lyrics based on fantasy and mythological topics along with their "loud and bombastic" sound...

. It is the only Manowar album to feature guitarist David Shankle

David Shankle

David Lee Shankle is an American guitarist. He is known for his "shred" style of playing, which earned him the nickname of "the shred demon". Shankle was the guitarist for the band Manowar from 1989 to 1995 and he played on the album The Triumph of Steel. Today he has his own band, the David...

 and drummer Kenny Earl "Rhino" Edwards

Kenny Earl

Kenny Earl "Rhino" is an American musician, best known as the ex-drummer for Manowar, which he joined in 1990. He is currently the drummer of Angels of Babylon-References:...

. Cover art by Ken Kelly.

Track listing

1. "Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts" (Joey DeMaio
   Joey DeMaio
   Joey DeMaio is an American bass player and main songwriter for the heavy metal band Manowar which he co-founded in 1980. He is also the founder and CEO of Magic Circle Music....
   
   ) – 28:38
   • "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"
2. "Metal Warriors" (DeMaio) – 3:54
3. "Ride the Dragon" (David Shankle
   David Shankle
   David Lee Shankle is an American guitarist. He is known for his "shred" style of playing, which earned him the nickname of "the shred demon". Shankle was the guitarist for the band Manowar from 1989 to 1995 and he played on the album The Triumph of Steel. Today he has his own band, the David...
   
   , DeMaio) – 4:33
4. "Spirit Horse of the Cherokee" (DeMaio) – 6:02
5. "Burning" (Shankle, DeMaio) – 5:10
6. "The Power of Thy Sword" (DeMaio) – 7:51
7. "The Demon's Whip" (DeMaio) – 7:50
8. "Master of the Wind" (Shankle, DeMaio) – 5:26

Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts

"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 recently attracted the attention of a group of scholars at Bologna University in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Mrs. Eleonora Cavallini, Professor in Classics, has written about this song:

"Joey DeMaio

Joey DeMaio

Joey DeMaio is an American bass player and main songwriter for the heavy metal band Manowar which he co-founded in 1980. He is also the founder and CEO of Magic Circle Music....

’s lyrics imply a careful and scrupulous reading of the Iliad

Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...

. 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

Hector

In Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...

 and Achilles

Achilles

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....

, 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

Troy (film)

Troy is a 2004 epic war film written by David Benioff and directed by Wolfgang Petersen based on the events of the Trojan War. Its cast includes Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector.It was nominated for the Academy Award for Costume Design.-Plot:...

, 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

Zeus

In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

, the only God to whom both Hector and Achilles address their prayers"

Personnel

• Eric Adams
  Eric Adams (singer)
  Eric Adams has been the singer of the heavy metal band Manowar since 1980. Before he became the band's singer in 1980, he had sung for a group, called LOOKS. In the band was also future Manowar bassist and childhood friend, Joey DeMaio.-Early life:Eric Adams was born on 12 July 1954, in Auburn,...
  
   – vocals
• David Shankle
  David Shankle
  David Lee Shankle is an American guitarist. He is known for his "shred" style of playing, which earned him the nickname of "the shred demon". Shankle was the guitarist for the band Manowar from 1989 to 1995 and he played on the album The Triumph of Steel. Today he has his own band, the David...
  
   – electric, acoustic & classical guitars
• Joey DeMaio
  Joey DeMaio
  Joey DeMaio is an American bass player and main songwriter for the heavy metal band Manowar which he co-founded in 1980. He is also the founder and CEO of Magic Circle Music....
  
   – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , 4-string, 8-string bass guitars, piccolo bass guitar, bass pedals
• Kenny Earl "Rhino" Edwards
  Kenny Earl
  Kenny Earl "Rhino" is an American musician, best known as the ex-drummer for Manowar, which he joined in 1990. He is currently the drummer of Angels of Babylon-References:...
  
   – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  

Production

• Produced By Manowar & John Pettigrass
• Production Co-Ordination: Silvio "The Don" Bonvini
• Recorded & Engineered By Rich Breen
• Mixed By Dave Kresl, Doug McBride, Hank Neuberger, Dan Stout & Stefon Taylor
• Digital Editing & Transfers By John McCortney
• Mastered By Iron Weinburg