Gloves Of Metal

The progress I've been making with my Megaforce collection has been slow going this year. Despite the snails pace, I've managed to knock one heavy hitter from the Want List with Metallica's Kill 'Em All LP. For Megaforce silver label pressings, most people may consider that album, or even Ride The Lightning, as the label's holy grail. I'm here to challenge that theory, and present you with what I believe to be the biggest catch from the silver label pressings.

If you do a quick search for Kill 'Em All on eBay, you'll find that without fail, someone is always looking to unload a first press copy with the silver Megaforce label. Now check for Manowar's Into Glory Ride, and chances are you will come up empty. Sure there are plenty of options to pick up the black label pressing with the red Manowar logo, and some of them may even be listed as a "first pressing", but make no mistakes...the silver label is the real deal for an original pressing. I have no idea what the pressing numbers are for this record, nor when Megaforce switched to the black labels, all I know is that they are harder than fuck to find...hell, popsike only shows two copies ever sold...and one of them is the one I grabbed. It shows up so infrequently, that there were times that I doubted that it even existed...like it was myth...the legend of the great white whale. When I finally saw one available on eBay, I pounced. The cost wasn't a concern, I finally had one in my sights, and I wasn't going to miss.

The funny thing about this quest is that, at the time, I wasn't really sold on this Manowar album. Sure, I've been a fan of everything from Hail To England through Kings Of Metal, but for Into Glory Ride and Battle Hymns...I just never bothered. Thanks to my obsession with those early Megaforce pressings, I finally checked out Into Glory Ride, and I'm glad for the push. This is classic Manowar, and I can't believe I've ignored this album for so long.

Got to love those simple silver labels. This record puts my collection at 10 out of 19, and knocks the first three Megaforce releases off the Want List.