Nanowar
Other Bands Play, Nanowar Gay!

Don't worry, guys. You haven’t made a mistake, nor have I made a mistake in writing the name of the group here present, it's really them: the Nanowar!!! It’s probably pointless to tell you that they are a comical metal band, but since nothing should be taken for granted, I'm telling you; actually, I've already told you. This is the last self-produced album of this legendary little band, the third in the musical career of the four amusing Romans who are part of said mythical band. The band members are such pranksters and… considerate that they sign with funny nicknames:

• The leader is the bassist Gatto Panceri 666, a name and a program (a bit like Word and Excel …uah, ah, ah! What a joke!)
• The guitarist (who was also the singer for a short period during the official singer's absence), the iron right-hand man or even better "steel" right-hand man of the great Gatto, is the immeasurable Mohammed Abdul. Well, maybe not immeasurable, but surely a good guitarist
• The singer is nicknamed Potowotominimac. No one on earth knows what it means, not even he knows what it means (there's a double entendre in this sentence, which has the exact same meaning); it’s known that the drawings on the covers are his works. In short, a talented man!
• The drummer is the pounding Milino (for friends) or Uinona Raider (for enemies). What's written on the booklet tells me he only played on half of the songs on the album, while the rest of the percussion was offered by a couple of friends who play in other bands known through the record label, and amongst them is Daniele Carbonera, the first drummer of Rhapsody. Maybe he’s not the best, but …he has two nicknames instead of just one!!!

These valiant warriors of short stature, but still valiant, fight against a sometimes excessively serious metal with their mace of irony, pointing out that metalheads very often make the mistake of evaluating any metal product as "good" regardless of the value of the work, and these are called posers (a term that, moreover, Manowar used to mean the same thing, but referring to other musical genres). They proclaim themselves carriers of True Metal, that is, True Metal and also of all other noble heavy minerals ...I have nothing else to add, except that like Manowar, in their songs the words "True" and "Of Steel" are everywhere!!!
To make a small clarification, unlike the more famous Atroci, they sing in English to succeed not only in Italy (the homeland of the comical style), and they believe that singing in English is more true (ps: true is synonymous with true, pure, but also cool and unique, and is used ironically)

Now I'll show you the album and start first with analyzing the cover. Those of you who know Manowar, the original band (although Nanowar want to define themselves as original and Manowar as their counterfeiters), will surely have recognized in the cover the ridicule of the historic album Fighting The World and will surely have understood that the name of the album comes from the chorus of Kings Of Metal; those who don't know Manowar should educate themselves a bit to have a laugh with me and with others who have heard this hilarious group. The legendary dwarves in Village People style and the pink lights that "come from behind" contribute to giving that gay style that the title of this magnificent work aims to give.
If you place the disc present inside the jewel-case into the CD player and press play, you will begin to hear an Intrue (the title itself says it all) which mocks the first 30 seconds of Holy War (also present in Fighting The World), except instead of "religion" and "salvation," all the metals in the periodic table are listed, naturally followed by "fire and steel," you are already wetting yourselves before even hearing mention of strontium. The legendary dwarves should have already stolen your heart when, before the second track, you hear the legendary phrase "in sella, alla bersagliera" of Paolo Villaggio in a Fantozzi film, the introduction of the mythical Trycicles Of Steel, making fun of the not always true association between metalhead-motorcycles, moreover this seems like a parody of The Return Of The Warlord (also by Manowar). Fantastic is the chorus when it says "Pollution is low, no fuel to go: we ride the trycicles of steel", no further comments needed. The next track is the "supercharged" True Metal Of The World, which very much connects to (not musically, but conceptually) Warriors Of The World United (another Manowar) for that dream of seeing True Metal united all over the world one day. Shortly after there is another intro: Burger. This is dedicated to McDonalds, always (for unknown reasons) linked to, in their opinion, Rhapsody (in previous albums there was a cover of theirs called Emeral Fork). This intro contains the theme of "Il pranzo è servito" played with the violin and tells the tragic story of a servant beheaded because he brought the king a cold "Happy Meal". And so arrives King!!! In my opinion, the most beautiful. It’s a song in full Rhapsody style and deals with topics dear to this latter group, with explicit references to Luca Turilli and his legendary all-the-same musical styles (like Symphonic Hollywood Epic Metal and it's not a joke) and his legendary very original, not "always the same epic story" stories. The end of this song brings back all the words dear to epic and true metal (let's say... Rhapsody, Manowar and Domine above all) like "Of Steel" and "Of The Sword" and "Of The Dragon" and so on until it's downright annoying (which is what epic and true metal groups have done, playing and singing songs that are always the same and saying always the same things with even always the same words).
We move on to a masterpiece: The Power Of The Power of The Power of The Power (Of The Great Sword), a name that says it all and when listened to will have you bending over in laughter. I won't spoil anything because the surprise is nice. I'll just tell you that before this track there's yet another intro but very nice (intros are very typical in the true and especially epic genre!). Once that's over there's another intro that connects to an event that happened in the group's guestbook where some people from Naples protested because in the well-known Master Of Pizza the Neapolitans were made fun of, to which Gatto Panceri 666 promptly replied saying that the song was meant to satirize prejudices (after all it’s strange that people from Rome call Neapolitans "southerners"). This intro wants to recall the event, hammering on the fact that some people have difficulty listening and understanding reasons that go beyond what one thinks (that is, despite Gatto having explained the reason for their song, dumb people, like the hilarious Napoli Metal Mafia, continue to think that Nanowar made songs for absurd reasons). A clarification, in this short track, the audio is very low and I don't think it's due to something planned, but to something unexpected. Well, end of story.
The following song has nothing to do with the intro (how nice), and it's Metal-la-la-la. It tells of what can happen if you are in showers of only males, and if the CD in question is Other Bands Play, Nanowar Gay you already know what it's about. The gist is this, there’s this guy in a shower singing a metal song (which goes "Metal! La, la, la!", like the title of the song), when someone points out that he dropped a soap bar. From there, Psycho-like sounds begin to be heard and then the popping of a "something", after which the guy in the shower lets out a scream like Eric Adams and continues to scream the metal song he was singing all along.
And now the covers! The first is Gioca Trué (a cover of Gioca Jouer by Cecchetto) which wants to be the hit for metalheads and maybe they succeeded. Then the song delves into jokes about Neapolitan crime. Subsequently a gem The Number Of The Bitch. It must be listened to and not reviewed, and I tell you the mere reading of the text is not enough! I won’t spoil it, it’s wonderful! And, moreover, it's precise precise! Subsequently another of their Metallica covers (the other was on the previous CD), even though they insist on saying that it was Metallica who covered their song and became famous without their knowledge, and it's Entra l'Uomo Di Sabbia a literal translation (but really literal) of Enter Sandman. The song is very similar to the original and very amusing. Before the Outrue (similar to the Intrue, except at the end the fantastic phrase reigns supreme "Now you've learn english with Nanowar!") there is in my opinion the most beautiful song of the album. It’s Triumphant March Of The Nanowarrior and it shows all the magnificence of the true dwarf metal thanks to some very amusing vocal works. Listening to it, however, doesn't hurt. It tells the story of Little Red Riding Hood going to her grandmother's, but in a True Metal key, meaning Little Red Riding Hood is the Nanowarrior!

I apologize for the lengthy review, but it was necessary considering that many of you do not know Nanowar. I warmly invite you to listen to the CD and have a good laugh, to go to www.nanowar.it and write on the guestbook "The cover is colored divinely, I want to know who is that legend who colored everything with Photoshop 6 for free!".
I want to point out that this is one of the "all" CDs that can be liked and disliked, so if you mention it in the comments, I'll say "thanks to 'sta minchia!”. I would also like to hear the reasons because if each one wants to say theirs without bothering the others, a dialogue doesn't form: let’s try to square or triangle or X ourselves into understanding and not insulting each other for free. And I close with a Manowar-esque phrase: Born to amplify!