Legendary Actor CHRISTOPHER LEE To Guest On MANOWAR's 'Battle Hymns' Re-Recording

Legendary actor Christopher Lee, who has appeared in such cinematic milestones as "Lord Of The Rings", "Star Wars", "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Dracula", will make a guest appearance on the re-recorded version of MANOWAR's classic 1982 debut album, "Battle Hymns", which is scheduled for a 2011 release.

Commented the band: "He has played key parts in some of the biggest, most legendary movie franchises of all times. He has played kings, wizards, evil forces and shining knights. He is worshipped by movie and theatre fans all over the world. He speaks multiple languages fluently and is an accomplished singer of opera and metal as well. He has been knighted by the Queen of England and honored with numerous awards. And now, he is joining forces with The Kings Of Metal to rewrite heavy metal history: The legendary Sir Christopher Lee will be the narrating voice on 'Dark Avenger' on 'Battle Hymns 2011'!

"Sir Christopher Lee is a brother of true metal. More details on 'Battle Hymns 2011' coming soon!"

In a recent video message, MANOWAR bassist Joey DeMaio explained the band's decision to re-record "Battle Hymns":

"We've had a couple of people ask why re-record a record like 'Battle Hymns' when it's perfect... I didn't say it's perfect, but other people said it's perfect, and we thank you for that. We're not trying to make it better, because it is what it is, but there's a lot of technology now that we didn't have when we made the record and we're gonna take advantage of it to make it as loud as we possibly can. So it won't be better; it'll just be different. And the songs themselves deserve to be recorded again because they're great songs and the fans have actually requested a lot of this to happen. And also, Donnie Hamzik, our original drummer, is back in the band, and he wanted to have another go at it. We're all together and we're gonna have a fucking great time."

Video footage of DeMaio talking about the decision to re-record "Battle Hymns" and laying down bass tracks in the studio can be viewed below.

MANOWAR's new album, "Hammer Of The Gods", which is the first installment of "The Asgard Saga", the band's unique multimedia fantasy adventure with best-selling author Wolfgang Hohlbein, is due next year.

MANOWAR's latest DVD in the "Hell On Earth" series was released on November 27, 2009. "Hell On Earth V" covers MANOWAR's recent world tours, including Germany, Norway, Spain, Finland, Russia, Romania, Turkey, USA and Canada. It features live performances of old and new classics such as "Gloves Of Metal", "The Crown And The Ring", "Hand Of Doom", "Hymn Of The Immortal Warrior", "Father", "God Or Man" and many others.