Battle Hymns (Manowar album)

Battle Hymns is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Manowar, released in June 1982 by Liberty Records. It features the title track "Battle Hymn", and a song featuring a narration from actor Orson Welles, "Dark Avenger". Members of the band Ross "The Boss" Friedman and Joey DeMaio opted to produce the album as a team: the band, as a whole entity, would later assume production credits in succeeding albums.

At the time of its initial release, the album received negative reception. Some music publications did not consider Manowar to be a serious band, although few were favorable to the musicianship of Friedman and DeMaio in the album's songs. Over the years, Battle Hymns became highly influential for the power metal genre, which has since been acknowledged among critics and writers who were more favorable to the album. The album was re-recorded in 2010 as Battle Hymns MMXI.