Greece's Rockpages.gr is reporting that on Monday (November 15), Release Athens Festival held a press conference with Manowar bassist and founding member, Joey DeMaio, about the bands upcoming show in Greece in June 2022.

During the press conference it was revealed that the band worked with Rotting Christ’s frontman Sakis Tolis on a song inspired by “Odyssey”, which features a narration in Ancient Greek language by two famous and established Greek actors, Kostas and Konstantinos Kazakos, who are actually father and son.

Jimmy “Immortal” one of Manowar’s crue, who is Greek, and also a friend of Joey’s was also present making the introductions and actually being the connective link between the American metal band and the Greek metallers.

DeMaio talked about the band’s upcoming show at Release Athens Festival on June 22nd, 2022, as well as the setup of the stage, which is going to be the biggest the band had ever performed in the country, plus the concept of the song about the classic epic poem immortalized by Homer, “Odyssey”.

The following is an excerpt of a transcript of the entire interview...

Sakis Tolis: "I was asked to translate a text from English into Ancient Greek, which is very difficult. It is already difficult to translate it into Greek as a matter of fact. So, I asked my wife and some friends for help and during the summer we sat down for five days to do the translation and I think from what I heard at least it turned out very well. It is a great honor for me to be able to participate in a work by Joey, as Manowar is one of my favorite bands. Of course, I am impressed by what the father and son Kazakos did! Is he here to call him? I was really impressed with how they were performing. It’s epic!"

Konstantinos Kazakos: "From a young age I was a metalhead. As most of you know these colours don’t run. I’m an actor, but I’m also a musician and Manowar were my childhood heroes. So, working with them was a childhood dream come true. It was a divine gift. As soon as this proposal was presented to me, I jumped from joy and said “yes”. I think we’ve done something good, something beautiful. I am expecting to hear it too (laughs) but it will clearly be epic. My father played the role of Odysseus and I took the role of Telemachus. We played father and son. It was very interesting. It is an overview of “Odyssey” through the eyes of Telemachus. Once you listen to this you can judge by yourselves, but I want to tell you that it was a great experience to work with Joey, who is a great guy. Apart from being a musician, he is an awesome director. He can guide an actor, he is very descriptive, explaining exactly what he wants. We had a wonderful time."

Sakis Tolis: "I was shocked too, I have worked with a lot of people but he is on another level of professionalism; I was shocked by how much everything was on time and how much passion and love he had on what he does. I believe that if you love what you do, your creation leaves its mark and I think that it will also leave its mark. We are talking about Manowar, it is no coincidence that they have become who they are after all these years. Really, I took a lesson in my 50s!"

Konstantinos Kazakos: "There was passion, at the time we did this… you had to bleed as we say… you had to erupt…"

Sakis Tolis: "He used to say to Telemachos… “you come in and you have to kill… but, oh they fuck your wife! Make it more real”, I was moved… the way he said it was really something that wakes you up and gives you intensity and I remember that you said it much better in the 2nd take!"

Konstantinos Kazakos: Oh, thank you very much! And in the meantime I had to explain to my father who is Manowar! I said “do you remember some posters I had in my room when I was 15-16?” he goes “okay, you had many”! My room was full of posters! You could barely see the walls. I told him “there were these guys on the top right”, he tells me “I do not remember”, so I explained to him and he was very happy and he really wanted to do it for a band that exists from the beginning of heavy metal and is the band that I also listened to as a kid. I think we have done something good."

Read the full story at Rockpages.gr.

In the video below, Manowar take fans behind-the-scenes into the making of the narration for “The Revenge Of Odysseus” from their upcoming new album.

Manowar will not be able to perform the previously scheduled open air performance in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on July 4, 2022 due to the promoters’ failure to fulfill their contractual obligations. The Bulgarian fans can be sure the band will return to this glorious country, a representative said.

And this promise comes with a special gift: Manowar's new studio release will feature a song dedicated to the Bulgarian Manowarriors called “The Sword Of Spartacus”, named after the famed gladiator and national hero.

The Crushing The Enemies Of Metal Anniversary Tour '22 will celebrate four decades of Manowar and anniversaries of some of the band’s most celebrated studio albums; a real treat for every fan of true metal. A brand new stage production, a set list packed with fan favorites and other surprises will make this a tour you don’t want to miss.

Tour dates:

April
12 - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Ahoy
13 - Bremen, Germany - ÖVB-Arena - Halle 7
14 - Berlin, Germany - Velodrom
16 - Oberhausen, Germany - König Pilsener Arena
17 - Zwickau, Germany - Stadthalle
21 - Nurnberg, Germany - Arena Nürnberg Versicherung
22 - Neu-Ulm, Germany - Ratiopharm Arena
23 - Mannheim, Germany - SAP Arena

June
30 - Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Spain - Rock Fest Barcelona

July
21 - Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal - Laurus Nobilis Music Fest

Further details and tickets here.