Warriors of the World

The band's ninth studio album was released in Europe by Nuclear Blast on 27 May 2002. According to the label, the members had spent the previous two years building a new studio in bassist Joey DeMaio's house, which they named Hell, and the booklet credits every song as recorded and produced there by Manowar. The band also engineered the record and recorded every part itself, the orchestrations included. Ronald Prent mixed it at Galaxy Studios in Belgium and René Schardt mastered it; the cover painting is by Ken Kelly. Eric Adams sang, Karl Logan played guitars and keyboards, DeMaio four-string, eight-string and piccolo basses and keyboards, and Scott Columbus drums and percussion, while Joe Rozler added grand piano, pipe organ and the orchestral arrangements. DeMaio wrote nearly all of the songs, "The Fight for Freedom" and "Swords in the Wind" with Logan. The band also recorded Giacomo Puccini's aria "Nessun Dorma" and Mickey Newbury's "An American Trilogy", the latter with backing vocals by Mary Breon and Rozler, and Nuclear Blast presented it as a tribute to Elvis Presley on the 25th anniversary of his death. Each song carries a dedication in the booklet: "The Fight for Freedom" to those who lost their lives on 11 September 2001 and their families, "Nessun Dorma" to Adams's mother, who died while the album was being recorded, and "The March" to Richard Wagner. The single "Warriors of the World United" came out ahead of the album, entering the German singles chart in April 2002 and peaking at No. 15. The album itself entered the German albums chart at No. 2, which the band reported as its highest position there, and stayed for 31 weeks; it was certified gold in Germany in 2003 and reached No. 17 in Finland. It followed in the United States in June and entered Billboard's Independent Albums chart at No. 42. Two more singles came out the same year, "An American Trilogy" and "The Dawn of Battle", the latter carrying two songs that are not on the album.