Sign of the Hammer

According to the band's own account, published in 2025, Manowar had released Hail to England on Music for Nations and gone back on tour when, in London, an A&R man from 10 Records, a subsidiary of Virgin Records, offered to sign them. The band already had a record finished and signed, but during the talks the label asked for one more song, so Joey DeMaio wrote "Sign of the Hammer" on the spot. It was recorded at The Manor, a studio Virgin owned, together with some overdubs for other tracks, and it became the title track. Ross the Boss has said that apart from "Sign of the Hammer" and, as he recalls, "Mountains", everything had already been recorded at the Toronto sessions for Hail to England. The labels credit Jack Richardson as producer of every track except the title song, which Tony Platt produced; Platt mixed the whole album, and it was digitally mastered at Master Room in London. DeMaio wrote all the songs, "The Oath" together with Ross. Eric Adams sang, Ross played guitars and keyboards, DeMaio played four- and eight-string bass and bass pedals, and Scott Columbus played drums and percussion; no guests are credited. The band says the last song left at the end of the Toronto sessions was "Guyana", the hardest of them, and that its instruments were recorded in one take the next day. It also says this album introduced the hammer logo that later became an emblem among its fans. 10 Records released the album in Britain in 1984 on LP (DIX 10) and cassette. It entered the UK albums chart for the week of 30 September to 6 October 1984 at No. 73 and stayed for one week, and in Music Week's issue of 6 October the 12-inch single "All Men Play on 10" (TEN 30-12) stood at No. 7 in the heavy metal chart. According to Ross the Boss, the band signed with Atlantic Records after this album.