On their expansive, multi-decade spanning career retrospective Italian parody rockers NANOWAR OF STEEL prove that, despite their solid musicianship, brevity still remains the soul of wit. Founded in Rome in 2003, five-piece NANOWAR OF STEEL take aim at power metal acts such as MANOWAR and classic metal greats like IRON MAIDEN with galloping riffs and tongue-in-cheek lyrics in both English and their native Italian. Recorded live during a sold-out show at the 3000 capacity Alcatraz in Milan, XX Years Of Steel takes the listener on a thirty seven track, two and a half hour long, self-indulgent journey through their twenty year history which struggles to justify such an extravagant length.
While parody metal has managed to find an audience with bands like TENACIOUS D and STEEL PANTHER making their impact on the mainstream, XX Years Of Steel stands out as exhaustingly unfunny, dragging one-note jokes out into songs that last far longer than any novelty. After a brief introduction in Italian the band launch into their first full track Sober which sees the members of NANOWAR OF STEEL take on the guise of pirates who, rather than throwing back mugs of grog, prefer to stay sober and drink milkshakes or mineral water, a premise with maybe a minute’s worth of comedy potential that’s stretched out to over four minutes of energetic shouting. While dedicated fans may enjoy a live career retrospective such as this, XX Years Of Steel spends its two and a half hour runtime fighting an uphill battle to find an audience outside of the crowd present for the album’s recording.
Props have to be given to NANOWAR OF STEEL for their appropriately solid musical chops, delivering chugging riffs and scorching leads against a backdrop of thunderous rhythms. If not for its tiresome and unfunny lyrics the track Tricycles Of Steel could pass itself off as a rejected JUDAS PRIEST B-side with suitably grandiose guitar solos and wacky percussion bouncing off dual vocalists Carlo Alberto Fiaschi and Raffaello Venditti’s falsetto leads. While XX Years Of Steel shoots for the lowest hanging fruit comedically, NANOWAR OF STEEL’s musical competence at least softens the blow when their jokes fail to land.
While the first twenty eight tracks of XX Years Of Steel cover NANOWAR OF STEEL’s extensive back catalogue through energetic live recordings, the final nine bonus tracks are brand new studio recordings with a few covers, a couple of originals and some hits re-recorded with special guests. As a career retrospective this bonus CD sums up NANOWAR OF STEEL far better than the previous two hours of live hits despite sharing the same bland, toothless comedy songwriting.
This ranges from an IRON MAIDEN parody that’s decades too late to the punchline to chugging covers of MARKUS BECKER’s German novelty song Das Rote Pferd and VENGABOYS’ We’re Going To Tortuga which do little more than throw distorted guitars into already ridiculous novelty songs. Perhaps as a standalone release celebrating NANOWAR OF STEEL’s twenty year history this collection of bonus songs would’ve been a treat for longtime fans, however, stapled onto the end of a two hour live album these extra tracks just act as a reminder of how much the band have outworn their welcome.
If you’re not already a fan of NANOWAR OF STEEL from the beginning of XX Years Of Steel then go and listen to something else, this two and a half hour, thirty seven track slog is sure to put you off the Italian parody metal crew for life. While NANOWAR OF STEEL nail the power metal aesthetic and deliver a handful of solid riffs, their self-serving repetition drains every ounce of humour or joy from what should be a celebration of their history.
Rating: 3/10
XX Years Of Steel is out now via Napalm Records.
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