These words are all that's left...

Think Orson Welles and if you have a shred of respect you think of his War of the Worlds broadcast and of course Citizen Kane along with the fine body of work he left behind (especially the sublime F For Fake), but eventually your mind wanders to his final role as the voice of Unicron in Transformers: The Movie. I like to think of it less of a step down and more of a step sideways... of course you could always take it as a damning indictment of the American film industry that had turned its back on him so brutally. Aside from a variety of dodgy television adverts that I grew up with he also found time to do some interesting voice work (he was the original choice for Darth Vader no less) but it seems that not many people seem to talk too much about his work with these guys: I wonder why. That's Manowar signing their record contract in blood. And yes, that is a loincloth. You'd prefer he was naked? Don't answer that. For a while back in the day you could go see these guys play the loudest heavy metal in the world (official) and each and every night they'd be introduced by the then dead, but unmistakable voice of Orson Welles:

"Ladies and gentlemen, from the United States of America, all hail Manowar!"

Man oh man. Good times. As a teenager 'Fighting the World' was just one of those albums that I never tired of listening to - it's ridiculousness beat Spinal Tap into submission with a large studded fist and yet the band took it all so seriously... which again was part of the charm. Welles, mostly ignored in the US at the time, was more than happy to accommodate this over the top metal band and sadly it turned out to be one of his final gigs. Perhaps he saw something kindred in their unashamed ego or maybe he just wanted the money. But how much could these guys and their label have paid Welles for his time? Motorcycles, gym equipment and animal fur don't come cheap. The story goes that Welles was so huge at this point that he had to take the freight elevator to the recording studio... he also took along a dog. Maybe a pet, maybe lunch. Who knows... Some of the words in question can be heard on the first Manowar album 'Battle Hymns' on the track 'Dark Avenger'. It's not their best song, but it is priceless to hear Welles come out with lines like this:

"... And they placed in his hands a sword made for him called VENGEANCE forged in brimstone and tempered by the woeful tears of the Unavenged".

If you need one Manowar song on your MP3 player though (and who doesn't?) then it's got to be 'Defender'. It's mostly Welles playing the role of fallen hero/father bequeathing his task to his son in the form of a letter. I dread to think how often I listened to this when I was a teenager. I even wrote a story based on the song. You can download the track right here - I'll keep it up for a week or until one of the band throws an axe at me. The kicker is that earlier this year Manowar played some over the top metal fest in Europe and along with their hundred strong choir and orchestra managed to persuade Christopher Lee to step into Orson's shoes to recreate that song and the other spoken word parts live. Now I'm guessing that that was for the money. Jess is out tonight for her last MA class of the year. I'm going to sit back with a glass of something strong and listen to some old Mercury Theater plays... I may even rewatch Transformers... Any MP3 files hosted on Visible Monsters are posted for evaluation purposes only and removed after seven days. [Music: off - I think I blew my speakers...]