Nanowar
Stairway to Valhalla

THE REVIEW

Declination, a scrappy intro in Latin, pompous and pretentious just enough, is the appetizer to a concentrate of hard & heavy, neoclassical power scales, epic choirs, blasting double bass, explosive solos, dragons, swords, hymns to metal, brave journeys in search of metallic purity, and any cliché you can think of about the magical world of TRUE METAL. Everything is carefully blended into a mixture that explodes in the listener's face with the force of the shockwave of irony.

It kicks off in high gear with Barbie, MILF Princess of the Twilight, and it feels like listening to the most inspired Rhapsody, the voice sounds just like Fabio Lione's: indeed, it is Fabio Lione! A guest behind the microphone, he mockingly makes fun of himself and conceptually blesses the whole Nanowar (Of Steel) "operation". And there is no competition: Manowar, Judas Priest, Helloween, Stratovarius, Blind Guardian (The Quest for Carrefour sounds like an unreleased track from Somewhere Far Beyond, the Kursch imitation is perfect!), speed tracks, power tracks, ancient '80s hymns to the truest metal, saccharine ballads, glamorous over-the-top songs, thrash riffs, endless hidden references everywhere. All the songs have the flavor of classics, the choruses stick in your mind and are ready to be sung in the shower. The lyrics mock the entire beloved global metal scene.

It's an approach reminiscent of Elio e le Storie Tese (the convoluted flow of Vegan Velociraptor reminded me of La vendetta del fantasma formaggino), cleverly playing with music and lyrics, and the result is surprising, the band has matured a lot since the last album of unreleased tracks dating back eight years ago. The music is inspired, and many well know how the genre in its stagnation needs a breath of fresh air. Irony and mockery seem to be the new path to revitalize a genre that has become quite atrophied and stagnant.

Listen to it, and when you scream like madmen "Hail to Liechtenstein!" you'll know that Nanowar has won.