Steel Panther - Feel the Steel (2009)

At last, the saviours of metal have arrived with tongue firmly planted in cheek and enough old-school 80s riffs to blow your hat off! Feel The Steel is the debut album from Steel Panther and is a barnstorming effort from start to finish featuring every musical hair metal cliche in the book and ‘Parental Advisory’ lyrics which, in parts, made me laugh out loud: I can’t recommend this highly enough. Musically the album is very strong as you would expect from a band featuring metal veterans Guitar Institute of Technology instructor and ex-Fight guitarist Russ Parrish and L.A. Guns vocalist Ralph Saenz, aka Satchel and Michael Starr.

In my opinion Steel Panther succeed where others failed – such as The Darkness (from whom Justin Hawkins appears on backing vocals for Party All Day) – largely on two counts: firstly, the lyrics (if a little banal) are funny and secondly, that the music is of a very high standard – the band haven’t compromised on the musicianship and songwriting and relegated it to second-place behind the humour/irony . . . something of which a few other bands should take note!

For the sake of Tipper Gore filing a lawsuit, I won’t provide a track by track breakdown of the album but must mention a few of the many highlights. The album opens with the single release Death To All But Metal which is a standout metal anthem bemoaning the absence of bands such as Def Leppard and Motley Crue whilst heavily slagging contemporary mainstream artists (see the video below) and, whilst the lyrics are rather childish (a fact not lost on the band who ask “why do all my lyrics sound like Dr Zeuss?”), I do find myself endorsing their sentiments to a large extent! Track 2, Asian Hooker, has some fine lyrical moments too and mixes a naive Asian Melody with a powerful, thumping rock riff to good effect.

Where the band may make few friends in the industry is with their ’so-close’ parodies of major rock hits. Party All Day, for example, has distinct similarities to Bon Jovi’s Living On A Prayer – but in this instance is about venereal disease and a rock n’ roll lifestyle of a waster: “smoke and drink and screw, that’s what I was born to do”.

Even closer to the knuckle is Girl From Oklahoma which is very nearly More Than Words by Extreme, however I won’t even begin to discuss the subject matter but let’s just say it’s not of the same ‘touching ballad’ sentiments of Extreme.

Of course, as you would expect from a hair metal band, there’s a classic ballad. Here that honour falls to Community Property: “if you were a hooker you’d know i’d be happy to pay. If suddenly you were a guy, I’d be suddenly gay” – almost brings a tear to the eye!

As said at the outset, the thing that really makes it work is that if you substituted the lyrics for more ‘mainstream’ ones, every track would still be a cracker and would easily sit alongside some of the greats of the era being lampooned. Some of the lead guitar work too is exceptional and follows various styles which is no mean feat in itself with Parrish soloing in the styles of Richie Sambora and even the neo-classical noodlings of Malmsteen with great aplomb.

Definitely worth purchasing for great, poweful rock tracks and a good laugh at the same time . . . unless you’re under 18 of course, in which case seek parental advice!

• Michael Starr – Vocals
• Satchel – Guitars
• Lexxi Foxxx – Bass
• Stix Zadinia – Drums