Nanowar of Steel
Stairway to Valhalla

Space, the final frontier – we all know that reference from Star Trek first said by Kirk in the sixties and then by Picard in the eighties. Futurama did parody it and in the track Bum Voyage we hear about the voyages of the starship Nanowar of Steel… it is kind of silly actually but it also explain the idea of this band. They parody the likes of Manowar or Rhapsody. This is their new album, they call it Stairway to Valhalla, an album featuring Fabio Lione as guest vocalist and a strong production by Alessandro Del Vecchio – the artwork isn’t too shabby either. The digipak is nice and there are some amusing texts to read in there.

You know, when Fabio Lione known from Rhapsody and other things sing about Barbie and Botox made in China by Mattel and other things like that, it is kind of fun. Said Barbie song sounds like something written by Luca Turilli but less ironic I think. There are also references to be made to Manowar, Dio, some thrash metal, they borrow stuff from almost anywhere, there are some disco and some popular music references here and there as well. The album is quite varied and the playing time is sensible I think, not an album that feels too long. The production by Del Vecchio is also really good, the sound is really good and works well through the entire album, from the lalalala-stuff to Ironmongers and everything. Catchy. Childish. Sometimes it is funny, I think this is a good showcase of a band that doesn’t take itself too seriously, more metal bands should think like that.

This is good and funny, I like how they make their own thing out of familiar stuff. Their humour works most of the time, sometimes it is silly and childish but it works really well with its strong catchiness and good songs. They do Rhapsody and Manowar better than those guys do themselves as they know that you can’t b e dead serious as that just makes oneself really ridiculous. I do however think Fabio knows that as he can sing about Barbie, MILF princess of the twilight and botox made in China by Mattel. They seek the joke that no one has made before, I am not sure that they find it and following up such a statement with Uranus is perhaps not the best way to make that joke. Still, their jokes are funny at times.

The band also claim to know how Dream Theater makes their sophisticated music, claiming that they make it by taking a Manowar CD and usuing a screwdriver to scratch a large cock on it. That doesn’t work, I did that to Manowar’s Warriors of the World (the only Manowar CD I own) and it didn’t yield Octavarium or even Falling into Infinity. What I got was Brave New World by Iron Maiden, that means they were lying in the lyrics of the track Images and Swords. Copier of the Seven Keys are here as well, someone dating a gargoyle, and a garbage samurai whose story is told in Italian, the band is Italian by the way.

And these Italians manage many strong tracks on this album where I think L’Opelatole Ecologico and …And Then I Noticed She Was a Gargoyle are the strongest. Barbie and Ironmonger are also worth mentioning. This is great, they are as silly as Rhapsody, Sabaton, Manowar and those kinds of bands but they are that silly on purpose and their new album is really enjoyable. I recommend checking out this album.

HHHHHHH