MTV News has issued the following report from Chris Harris and Jon Wiederhorn

Many smack-talkers have called MANOWAR cartoonish, silly, pompous and out of touch, but there's a legion of diehards for whom that kind of criticism warrants a sharpened spear to the groin. These are the Manowarriors, the fans that have followed the band through 25 years of music trends, label and lineup shifts and an increasing emphasis on the European music market.

"I have fans in the U.S. come up to me all the time saying, 'OK, next time, I'm flying to wherever it is in Europe that you're playing,' " bassist and band spokesman Joey DeMaio said. " 'And if I can't get the time off, I'll just quit and get another job.' You're talking about some seriously devoted people that are kind of like family to us."

The Manowar elite isn't incredibly huge (if NICKELBACK had an army, it'd outnumber Manowar's 1,000 to one), but it's unbelievably loyal. So much so that in July 2005, 25,000 fans from across the globe flocked to Geiselwind, Germany, to attend the first Manowar convention, which featured appearances by ex-bandmembers, the crowning of the lovely Miss Manowar and a band concert with full orchestra. So, when Manowar's first album in five years, Gods of War, comes out April 3, you can bet these folks will flock to the stores and celebrate with gallons of mead and mountains of beef cooked rare. KISS, eat your heart out.

"People are so loyal to us because they listen to our songs and say, 'Yeah, they're talking about me. That's my life. That's the way I feel,' " DeMaio explained.

Manowar fans seem to take pride in what others mock — mainly, that their favorite band constantly strives to top itself, creating the loudest, most intense and most bombastic songs each time it enters the studio. Gods Of War is no exception. The disc, which features titles like 'Hymn of the Immortal Warriors', 'Loki God of Fire' and 'Glory Majesty Unity', is filled with crashing power chords, thunderous beats and orchestral arrangements that enhance the might and majesty of the music.

"It will fry the hair on your balls," DeMaio said, without a hint of irony. "These days, there's a real lack of big, epic metal that is drenched with crushing guitars and choirs and orchestras. So it's nice to be one of the few bands that's actually doing that."

There's an inherent problem with metal bands that constantly try to be more extreme. There are ceilings on volume, speed and intensity, and when the barriers are pushed too far, the results tend to be either absurd or unintelligible. But according to DeMaio, the quandary lies in the musicians, not the formula.

"Most people that are out there playing in bands are not musicians, they're just people holding guitars," he said. "They're not playing the instrument, the instrument is playing them. But if you're truly a musician and you're able to look at music as a whole and understand it, you have a lot of doors open to you. There's a lot of different kinds of instrumentation, so you can always challenge yourself and give your audience a fresh taste of what you're doing."

Gods Of War will be Manowar's first offering in a series of albums about mythological gods — in this case, Odin. "We've always been interested in Norse mythology and it's been a lifelong passion for our fans as well," DeMaio said. "The idea is that Odin was the god of war, and that lends itself to something big and dramatic."

Manowar worked on Gods Of War last year at their studio compound in Valhalla (well, upstate New York, actually) and at the members' individual homes, and the process was fraught with frustration and rigid perfectionism.

"It's not easy for us, ever," DeMaio began. "There's too much [analyzing] of the material and equipment we use. You're talking about people who approach this as scientists, and we push man and machine to its limit. And that requires 100 percent commitment to each and every note played, and the quality of the performance and how it is reproduced and recorded."

It didn't help matters that Manowar's overwhelming volume tends to fry their equipment. "We have a saying that a speaker sounds best before it blows," DeMaio explained. "When you're living on the edge all the time and your whole mission is metal to the max, things get pushed to the limit."