THAT'S ONLY eight parts if you don't count the prelude and the two distinct passages of 'Part VII: The Desecration Of Hector's Body'. It really doesn't get much more epic than that.

MORE EPIC sword and sorcery mayhem as steel meets bone and chunky riffage meets a rousing if none-too-subtle battle cry of 'Kill! Kill! Woah-oh-ohh'.

'MAY EACH note I now play be a black arrow of death to all those who play false metal!'. Now if that's not the way to kick off a frantic, hyperspeed bass solo then frankly we don't know what is.

LIKE STEEL, the Black Wind is a recurring theme in Manowar's universe. Stop sniggering at the back there and bow down before the sheer levelling might of this awesomely drum-powered power/thrash metal hybrid.

A RELIC of their (extremely) brief flirtation with MTV, this comic gem was named as one of VH1's 40 Most Awesomely Bad Metal Songs. Ridiculous it certainly is, but it's also a harmless slab of big dumb fun.

THEY'D NEVER exactly been dedicated followers of fashion but in the mid-'90s, with Korn ushering in an era of nu-metal, their fists aloft, shirt unbuttoned stance was even more against the grain.

'AND THEY placed in his hands a sword, made for him, called Vengeance. Formed in brimstone and tempered by the woeful tears of the unavenged'. An early taste of the sheer epic scale of things to come, featuring a superbly atmospheric voiceover from legendary actor/director Orson Welles.

LOADED WITH post 9/11 sentiments, instrumentals, Elvis covers and, uh, opera, 'Warriors...' was an odd, patchy album but this full-throttle screamer (and some of the screaming does have to be heard to be believed) is up there among their best.

NEVER ONES for beating around the bush, here they sacrifice any notions of subtlety on the altar of huge great riffage and an exhortation to general bloody mayhem.

THE RELEASE of Metallica's 'Kill 'Em All' the previous year had upped the ante but, while Manowar relied more on heroic bombast than all-out thrash, they proved they could keep apace with speedy metallic wrecking balls like this.

'OTHER BANDS play, Manowar kill', they claim on this ultimate boneheaded anthem. Not to mention: 'We like it hard, we like it fast/ We got the biggest amps - man, they blast!'. Poetry. Sheer poetry.

THE BAND'S anthem and mission statement, asserting their right to conquer every shore, and stipulating the fact that they'll live forever more. Reality is not necessarily a prerequisite in Manoworld.

WITH A title like that what more do you need to know? Clocking in at eight minutes plus, this is more grandiosity on a ludicrous scale.

MANOWAR APPEAR to love the following things: motorbikes, steel, buxom women, steel, loincloths and steel. But even more than, say, steel, they love heavy metal at its loudest. As this paean to the power of true metal amply proves.

ONE OF their fastest, tightest aural assaults, powered by yet another exceptional drummer (one Rhino, aka Kenny Earl Edwards), who replaced Scott Columbus on 'The Triumph Of Steel' album.

IT'S STORY time as music gives way to atmospheric narrative and a tale mighty Warriors of Metal. 'Grandfather...who were those four men?', asks a curious child in perhaps the most priceless ending to an album track ever.