Humor in metal is quite rare and valuable phenomenon. There is not such a big number of bands like this: Beatallica, Tenacious D, Boney Nem (honestly it’s a peculiar cover band) and Nanowar Of Steel. To my surprise, they still exist; write new music and soon their new album Stairway To Valhalla will be released.
Nanowar Of Steel (then just Nanowar – dwarfs of war) was formed in Rome in 2003. This project from the start was full of humor: extremely exaggerating pathetic lyrics of “true heavy metal”, the band got such an incandescence of idiocy that it’s impossible not to smile. “Power Of The Power Of The Power (Of The Great Sword)” is one of the simplest but significant examples. But the band is also got a huge load of self-irony: “Other Bands Play, Nanowar Gay”. And the annex “Of Steel” appeared when Rhapsody changed their name to Rhapsody Of Fire.
Stairway To Valhalla is the fourth band’s album. Their sense of humor here has spread not only to Heavy or Power Metal, but to the other genres also. Hard Rock here presented by the song “Uranus” with ambiguous chorus (Sigmund Freud would be extremely happy to analyze it). I heard some lyrics with the similar theme from Rammstein. But if Till Lindemann seriously imaged a body as a world map, Nanowar Of Steel joke about body as a whole universe with Uranus in… There is also a lovely ballad “…And Then I Noticed That She Was A Gargoyle”, the plot of which can be easily understood from the song’s title. But I need to say, that the music sounds really romantic.
However all the titles here are speaking for themselves, like “Vegan Velociraptor”: it’s a merry children melody (if it’s possible in metal) with funny and absurd lyrics. Or “The Call Of Cthulu”, where an ancient spell “ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” pronounced with some samba.
“Another Drill In The Wall”, which I need to highlight is an Industrial rework of Pink Floyd‘s famous song (spoiler alert: it’s not from The Wall album). Also, as an “evil Jewish Zionist”, I really like when somebody laugh at Roger Waters. An old buffer Roger totally fucked up in the end of his life and in his interviews and performances he is vilifying Israel (by the way, because of him and his letters a couple of bands refused to play in Israel; BDS is a serious business, you know), Ukraine, USA, Europe and even his homeland Great Britain.
I already mentioned pathetic lyrics’ exaggeration; the band was always good at it. So Stairway To Valhalla isn’t an exception: super-pathetic “In The Sky”, hymn “Ironmorgen (The Copier Of Seven Keys) and “Hail To Liechtenstein”, which will fit for both Manowar and Sabaton. But please, before the listening open a Wikipedia and read what Liechtenstein is famous for.
But it needs to say that the album made professionally from choir intro “Declination” to the last track and it’s quite technically complicated. “Heavy Metal Kibbles” could take a worthy place in Blind Guardian’s repertory (with other lyrics, of course) alike the “Tooth Fairy” in Sonata Arctica’s. Lots of solos in this song shows the good cognition of classics.
The only lack in this album is that it’s contraindicated to stubborn “true metalheads” and people with atrophied sense of humor and self-irony. Others can fully enjoy good music and funny lyrics with a bit of idiocy. And it’s not a bad word, really! I think, people need to do some stupid, idiotic things time to time for to not get crazy.
Stairway To Valhalla will be released on November, 9.
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