Editing Manowar (section)

===''Battle Hymns'' (1981–1982)===
The band recorded a [[Demo (music)|demo]] after its creating. It was enough to secure a recording contract with label [[Liberty Records]] in 1981. The debut album, ''[[Battle Hymns (Manowar album)|Battle Hymns]]'', was released the following year.<ref name="BH40"/> As the song "Dark Avenger" required an introductory narration, the band wanted to include a famous actor in it. Executive producer Bob Currie contacted the manager of [[Orson Welles]], who was open to the idea. He recorded two narrations for the band, "Dark Avenger" and "Defender".<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wellesnet.com/manowar-founder-recalls-heavy-metal-recordings-orson-welles/|title= Manowar founder recalls heavy metal recordings with Orson Welles|date= August 11, 2017|publisher= Wellesnet|access-date=September 19, 2024}}</ref>

Soon after the album's release, Manowar engaged in their first tour. The band played support for hard rocker [[Ted Nugent]], but their collaboration lasted only a few months. Manowar then decided to put together a short tour by themselves and all the arrangements were made in a few weeks by their manager. Despite these setbacks, the band gained domestic fame on this short tour and also began to get their first European fans, particularly in the United Kingdom and in Germany. Stressed from the strain of the continuing performances, Hamzik decided to leave the band at the end of this tour and was replaced with [[Scott Columbus]].