NANOWAR OF STEEL – Stairway To Valhalla

If the name Nanowar Of Steel sounds ridiculous, the band is happy you found it that way.  They’re letting you in on the joke. Hailing from Rome, Italy, they self-describe as a parody-fun-gay-metal band.  They created their own Metal genre: Parody Gay True Metal.  Citing influences as Manowar and Village People, they describe their latest release as “the greatest Happy Metal album of all times”. Our hard working Metal Express Radio album screener describes their sound as Symphonic Melodic Power Metal with powerful melodious vocals and chorus backing vocals.

Well, it’s all true. It’s goofy and it’s glorious.  The lyrics lampoon Heavy Metal and Pop culture while the music effortlessly skips across Metal genres while maintaining credibility.  In short, this band can write, sing and play.  They just can’t do it seriously.  Case in point, the crushingly heavy Thrash of “Heavy Metal Kibbles”.  If it weren’t for the “meowing” and “barking” in the song, it would not be out of place on Judas Priest’s Painkiller.   “Barbie, MILF Princess Of The Twilight” musically passes muster for an outstanding Power Metal song until the listener tunes into the lyrics.  Any illusion of seriousness is completely shattered once the chorus hits.  Interspersed among the musical mayhem, short “interludes” poke fun at stereotypical Metal instrumentals.  The results are mixed.  One of the best is the hilarious shading of Dream Theater on “Images And Swords”.

Resistance is useless, Stairway To Valhalla is a winning combination of silly lyrics and serious riffs.  Recommended for True Metal fans who don’t take themselves too seriously.

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TRACKLIST (Highlights: 2, 4, 7, 13, 18)

1. Declination
2. Barbie, MILF Princess Of The Twilight
3. The Call Of Cthulhu
4. Heavy Metal Kibbles
5. Il Maestro Myagi Di Pino
6. L’Opelatole Ecologico
7. Images and Swords
8. In The Sky
9. …And Then I Noticed That She Was A Gargoyle
10. Tooth Fairy
11. Vegan Velociraptor
12. Another Drill In The Wall
13. Ironmonger (The Copier Of The Seven Keys)
14. Bum Voyage
15. Uranus
16. The Crown And The Onion Ring
17. The Quest For Carrefour
18. Hail To Liechtenstein

LINEUP

Potowotominimak – Vocals
Mister Baffo – Vocals
Mohammed Abdul – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Uinona Raider – Drums
Gatto Panceri 666 – Bass, Backing vocals