By Martin Popoff
Eric figures that because Battle Hymns was the band's first album, it was the most difficult of all of them to make. "It was so new to us, fresh to us. We learned a lot. You don't just go in there and play. You go in there and try different takes and magic happens in the studio and you realize it. Now, down the road, we realize that less is always more on the takes. And live is a different story. You don't always know that when you're making your first record. The quiet part in the middle of 'Battle Hymn', when we recorded that, I'm laying down all these tracks because it's my first album and I wanted to sing, I wanted to do harmonies with myself, all this crap. So I'm throwing all these parts down, having a great time doing it, and then I go back home. I'm done with my parts and I go home. And Joey is mixing down the album, and he calls me back. I mean, I'm home for a few hours, from Florida to New York. So the phone rings and Joey goes, 'brother, you f**ked up one note.' And I'm 'why, what do you mean?' 'You know the slow part in 'Battle Hymn'? It sounds like you're a little flat on one note, brother.' I had to fly all the way back down to sing one f**king note. I'll never forget this, I flew in, from the airport right to the studio, I sang the one note, right back to the airport and back home (laughs). It was f**ked up (laughs), but I mean, that just shows you how we are. It has to be right. This is going to be around when we're not, and that's how we feel about any project we do."
MANOWAR - Ancient Battles Page 5