Manowar

Face it, even us nerdy bookworm types have had our attention spans annihilated by this point, so a three-song Manowar EP sounds like a good idea. This 16-minute CD features two new songs and one from the band's lacklustre last album. The first track, "The Dawn of Battle" is a rockin' enough affair, full throttle out of the gates, a rote but enjoyable Manowar anthem. "I Believe" is another one of the band's inspire-the-geeks power ballads, and it worked well (at least for this geek). Pound for pound, better than the last album, but with three songs, there's not much room for fluff. And yes, they're still cheesy, hokey and unbearably sincere about what they do, but that's why we love 'em so, we hate 'em so, and we'll always be listening to what they do next. We just won’t always admit it.