The Final Battle I

The Final Battle I is a four-song EP of new material that Manowar issued in March 2019. Announcing it on 22 March, the band called it the first instalment of a trilogy of EPs that together would make up the next Manowar album. It shares its name with the band's 2019 world tour, and bassist Joey DeMaio said the songs had grown out of that tour: its places, its people and what the idea of a final battle meant to the band. He added that the band could not release more than these four at once, so that fans could take in every note. Everything was conceived, recorded and mixed at the band's own Valhalla Studios in New York, and the cover art is by the fantasy artist Ken Kelly. The opener, "March Of The Heroes Into Valhalla", follows a warrior's life in cinematic form from the battlefield to Valhalla, and "Blood And Steel" is a new anthem. "Sword Of The Highlands", a tribute to heroes long dead, builds from a quiet opening to a grand climax, and on the closing "You Shall Die Before I Die" DeMaio himself sings lead. The CD credits Eric Adams (vocals), DeMaio (bass, keyboards), E.V. Martel (guitar), Anders Johansson (drums) and Joe Rozler (keyboards); DeMaio wrote all four songs and produced the record. Martel had joined as the tour's guitarist after years in what the band calls the only official Manowar tribute band, and Johansson, formerly of HammerFall, played his first Manowar show in Brno on 25 March 2019. On 29 March 2019 the CD went on sale at the tour's merchandise booth, starting at the Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt, and the download went on sale worldwide on iTunes; shops, online stores, Amazon and Google Play followed at the end of May. In Germany it entered the album chart dated 21 June 2019 at No. 36, for one week. In May 2019 DeMaio said the band would carry on with Parts II and III, but in December 2021 he was unsure whether the next release would continue the trilogy or be a full album. As of October 2026 the band's own discography lists no second or third part.