Gods of War

Five years after Warriors of the World, the band's tenth studio album came out in Germany on 23 February 2007 on its own label, Magic Circle Music, with distribution by SPV. Announced as the first in a cycle of concept albums, each paying tribute to a different god of war, it takes Odin, father of the Norse gods, as its subject and tells of his history and deeds. It opens with "Overture to the Hymn of the Immortal Warriors" and moves through the two parts of "Army of the Dead", "Overture to Odin" and "The Blood of Odin" towards "Hymn of the Immortal Warriors"; the sixteenth track, "Die for Metal", is marked as a bonus track on the sleeve. The line-up was the same as on the previous album: Eric Adams on vocals, Karl Logan on guitars and keyboards, Joey DeMaio on four-string, eight-string and piccolo basses and keyboards, and Scott Columbus on drums and percussion. According to the booklet, every song was recorded and produced in the band's studio, Hell, and DeMaio wrote, engineered and produced the album; "Sleipnir" was written with Logan, and the back of the sleeve credits "Die for Metal" to the pair as well. Dirk Kloiber and Rich Breen did additional engineering, Ronald Prent mixed the album at Galaxy Studios in Belgium, as he had its predecessor, and Darcy Proper mastered it. The booklet text is set in a typeface modelled on runes, with a key to the letters printed alongside. Besides the regular jewel-case CD there was a limited edition, a leather-bound mediabook in an embossed metal slipcase, with a bonus DVD on the making of the album and behind-the-scenes footage, and a double LP in a gatefold sleeve. Like Warriors of the World, it entered the German albums chart at No. 2 and stayed for 19 weeks, and it reached No. 12 in Finland; in the United States it entered Billboard's Independent Albums chart at No. 46. The EP The Sons of Odin, with other versions and live recordings of songs from it, had come out the previous October.