Review - Lords Of Metal

Our chief editor is a good man and a good friend, and has put up with a lot of my crap from my side this year! And although he knows I'm really grateful for his patience, I also knew that he would get even one day. But even I didn't see it coming that he would do it that with this band! As a fanatic Manowar supporter, I have always ignored and boycotted the Italian clowns of Nanowar (nowadays with the addition “Of Steel”) out of principal. The morons have now come up with their new album and looking at its cover artwork and its title, it already is obvious that they haven't changed one bit. Only this time I can't go around it and must and shall review this CD.

Well then, here we go and let me already say that – to my own surprise – I have laughed my ass off! Musically the five Nanowarrior's are quite capable and do know how to rock. The album also starts with the strong rock n' roll-like 'Nanowar' and with their funny lyrics, the band immediately sets the mood for the rest of the record. From 'Stormlord Of Power' onwards, it is again mainly Manowar and Rhapsody Of Fire who are the main targets. And that continues happily on 'The Nanowarriors Prayer' and 'Blood Of The Queens' (with the one-on-one solo from 'Battle Hymn' in between). And to be honest; they do what they do in a hilarious way. Although in general it is mainly the two aforementioned bands who are mocked with, many other bands and even Pink Floyd have not been able to escape these morons. 'Odino & Valhalla' for example is a hilarious mix of Manowar, Rhapsody, a random folk metal band, Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In The Wall' and even a little piece of ‘Lambada’, with the theme song from ‘The Good, The Bad And The Ugly’ through the whole thing. ‘Radio Grafia’ is a medley-like songs were classics like ‘Radio Gaga’ (Queen), ‘Breaking The Law’ (Judas Priest), ‘Can I Play With Madness’ (Iron Maiden) en ‘Master Of Puppets’ (Metallica) are brutally Nanowarized. Or what to think of ‘Surprise Love’, which is a parody of glam bands such as Poison and Bon Jovi, together with a piece of Shaggy’s ‘Boombastic’. And the list goes on and on…By the double closing song ‘Karkangnor’s Song’ – ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘In The Forest’ – it is Blind Guardian that has to suffer the Nanowar makeover.

After hearing this record I can come to the next conclusions: I had already mentioned that the band definitely musically talented. Next to that they really have a sense of humour and have the gift to combine different bands and style in a hilarious way. And finally I can fully agree on what my colleague Koen said in his review for the band’s first full-length album, ‘Other Bands Play, Nanowar Gay’: ” In my opinion [is Nanowar] a musical worship on such acts like Manowar, Gamma Ray and Rhapsody and a lyrical metal satire…” and the fact that you shouldn’t take these guys too seriously. Altogether ‘Into Gay Pride Ride’ is an amusing album nice to hear for once, but after that you’ve also heard it all so to say.

ORIGINAL LINK

Nanowar's Upcoming Events

Upcoming NanowaR's activities! 

Don't miss them.

12.11.2010
Switzerland: Zuerich, DynamoWerk 21

Price: CHF 20, Gates Open: 19:30 [more informations]

13.11.2010
Villach, Grand Media Center Villach

Price 7 EUR, NanowaR Of Steel will play at 21:45

19.11.2010
Spain: Barcelona, Raven Metal Bar

Fiesta de presentación del album "Into Gay Pride Ride" y del Nanonote con Gatto Panceri 666 y Tuxbrain (no es un concierto!)
Entrada libre sobre las 23:00 [más informaciones]

Review - Metal CD Ratings - 4,5/5

Nanowar did it! They have successfully created a masterpiece of over the top silly anthems. All shall love this mass menagerie of side-splitting surprises sure to satisfy any fan of Manowar or Rhapsody of Fire. If you have a taste for the near prurient and/or ridiculous humor in your music, then this is the band for you! Fans of Beatallica, Massacration, Weird Al, and even Steel Panther take note of these 5 homely mettlesexuals from Italy who play with their instruments in a manner sure to satiate any fan of true metal.

The most important fact to realize is that this merry band of gay and happy metal-la-la-laughter makers have made their new CD entirely available as a free download from their website. If you have not seen the video for the song "Nanowar", I highly recommend that you do so with haste. This song, replete with some of the most whimsical lyrics ever, is pure fun. Then, the ever raging "Stormlord of power" follows with its own climatic conclusion. This plowed metal fisting fury is sure to keep your mouth agape.

If it was not clear enough, Nanowar love classic Manowar. Personally, I have grown weary of the band and all the Manowar imitators. This once inspirational act have lost their momentum. Joey's tired and rude band is now re-recording 'Battle hymns', and why did they cover "Heaven & hell" as a tribute to Dio? Let us not even get into how badly Magic Circle Music screwed over Rhapsody! Thankfully new Ross the Boss and Virgin Steele both no longer sound like Manowar!

"The nanowarrior's prayer" aptly begins with, "Grandfather tell me a story...". This even flow triumphantly becomes absorbed by "Blood of the queens" a parody which will surely seal the deal, fill the hole, and stop the blood flow. Even though the CD title is clearly a play on the 'Into glory ride' suggestion, the music is much more along the lines of my favourite Manowar release - 'Kings of metal'. The lyrics for "Blood of the queens" are some of the funniest words I have read:

"For the Power, for the Glory,
For the movie "Toy Story"
For the "Hell On Stage Live"...
Our metal is true, and true metal wins
Leads us to fly on absorbent wings:
166 Tampax are drowned in the blood of the queens"

166 is clearly a reference to their spoof song "Number of the bitch". Just like their many war idols, these masters of pizzazz are careful to splice in several references to other past song titles and lyrics for good measure.

"Surprise love" is a little ditty sure to entice fans of glam and all who let their hair grow long, down there. This sweet crying game, trains ye heart and mind to keep one eye open for any stray chickens who claim to be dames in distress, or is it cross-dress?

"RAP-sody" is nothing more than a club mix of Rhapsody's own "Emerald sword" - a song where Nanowar previously practiced heightened raillery with brilliant persiflage in the song "Emerald fork" - thus commenting on the folly of the fast food industry. Obviously, they have not learned their lesson to avoid all these fatty foods, lipids, polysaccharides, and excrescence; because, they have written a 2-part ode to indigestion with "Karkagnor's song" thus creating their very own Bard's swansong of reverse peristalsis and gastrointestinal evacuation. Those fu*king Happy Meals have cursed them again!

I should let you know that Nanowar like to mix many styles of music in their songs, and the DJedi interstitials all throughout, may annoy some. Given their mettle milieu, though I can see why they would want to do this. Once again they have songs in their native language, as well.

On their live CD 'Made in Naples' they had the song "Countrycycles of steel", a Country/Western take on Queen. In the middle of "Odino & Valhalla", they break into Pink Floyd's "The wall" with a direct quote from their underground train conductor leading them to Valhalla - an actual destination en route.

I recently interviewed the band for Metal Covenant, and they truly have a sense of mirth, and do not take much too seriously. As Gatto Panceri 666 plainly states: "Five jerk-offs from Rome once realized that they could combine the two things they loved most - Heavy Metal and Fun - into a single project called "Nanowar of Steel". If you do not get it, well, then there is a thick body of psychiatric literature on the consequences of having a low IQ."

There you have it, so why not triumphantly treat yourself to some true miraculous metal, and flourish with the essential minerals. For these are more than words of wisdom, they are the legacy of powerful minds. There is no need to digitally steal, because with these epicene warriors everything is about freedom. 

ORIGINAL LINK

Review - Metallized.it - 88/100

LAMENTO CRITICO
Inizio a scrivere questa recensione, e sono praticamente in preda al panico. Come si recensisce un disco di metal demenziale? Da dove parto? Come finisco il pezzo? Cosa ci metto in mezzo? Vale la pena parlare dei testi? Delle musiche? Della produzione? Nel caso specifico, penso proprio di no. Perchè i Nanowar non sono una normale band di metal demenziale: i Nanowar sono probabilmente La band di metal demenziale! Ed Into Gay Pride Ride ne è l'assoluta, brillante conferma, mettendosi nella posizione di essere apprezzato da chiunque non sia troppo bacchettone per farsi quattro risate innanzi a titoli come Lamento Erotico, Stormlord Of Power e Metropolis PT. 3 - The Legacy: perchè oltre a trattarsi di un disco divertentissimo dal punto di vista dei testi, Into Gay Pride Ride è composto, arrangiato, suonato e registrato in maniera assolutamente professionale. Detto in poche parole: i Nanowar sono una band con le palle.
Vediamone insieme il perchè.

VOGLIO ANDARE A VIVERE NELLA FORES(H)TA
Abbiamo sedici brani, di cui cinque sono funzionali solo a far ridere l'ascoltatore ed undici in cui i Nanowar prendono tutte le loro conoscenze in ambito rock e metal, evidenziando spessissimo i clichè testuali e musicali della nostra amata musica, come ben espresso dal divertentissimo primo paragrafo di Look At Two Reels, cantato a mo' di filastrocca:

Sit down all you little children
Listen well to me
I'll tell you of Blind Guardian,
Dragonforce and Rhapsody

To listen to their songs
You need to know a lot of things
And read at least seventy times
The "Lord Of The Rings"

Tra tutti, i pezzi che più mi hanno divertito e colpito sono Forest Of Magnaccions e Lamento Erotico: la prima per la grande capacità autoironica (e per l'apparizione speciale di Piero Pelù, lo confesso!), la seconda per il bellissimo svolgimento della storyline, unita ad un arrangiamento da paura che non solo punta ai Rhapsody, ma per alcuni versi ci si avvicina anche qualitativamente... Notevole anche Odino & Valhalla (anche se i fan di Morricone e dei Pink Floyd potrebbero avere qualcosa da obiettare) e sorprendente Rap-Sody, che è la versione rappata della celeberrima Emerald Sword, lievemente adattata per l'occasione anche nei testi.

Ora, chi non ha ancora ascoltato questa perla di metallo demenziale potrebbe lecitamente chiedersi: ma questi come si permettono di schernire dei gruppi che, nel bene e nel male, hanno delle capacità musicali al di sopra della media? Con che coraggio prendono in giro i Rhapsody o i Manowar? Ebbene, lasciatevelo dire... i Nanowar lo fanno perchè se lo possono permettere. Certo, le voci di Potowotominimak e Mr. Baffo non sono neanche paragonabili a quella di un Fabio Lione, ma diamine se "i ragazzi" ci sanno fare... i due infatti possiedono una capacità di variazione timbrica da far spavento, ed un'elasticità vocale impressionante. Non so quale di loro si impegni principalmente nel cantato del disco, ma a prescindere da questa nozione il lavoro svolto è eccezionale; lo stesso si può dire del chitarrista Mohammed Abdul: anche lui, non è che sia un David Gilmour o un Luca Turilli, ma la sua prestazione su Into Gay Pride Ride è inattaccabile. Non mi dilungherò oltre congratulandomi anche con il batterista Uinona Raider ed il bassista Gatto Panceri 666, tanto ormai penso che sia chiaro il mio pensiero a proposito... tuttavia, meritano i miei complimenti i fonici del Temple Of Noise e degli Storx Studios, perchè oggi come oggi è rarissimo sentire delle buone produzioni analogiche.

NON E' UN DISCO PER POSERS
Si sarà capito che ho amato alla follia Into Gay Pride Ride: l'ascolto (e possibilmente l'acquisto, anche se so che la band ha reso l'album scaricabile gratuitamente presso il loro sito ufficiale) è consigliato a tutti coloro che non si prendono troppo sul serio, e che desiderino ascoltare qualcosa di divertente e contemporaneamente di grande qualità. Nell'ambito della valutazione numerica del disco ho tenuto in considerazione la qualità delle composizioni e degli arrangiamenti dei brani, la composizione della tracklist, la qualità dell'esecuzione e della produzione e, naturalmente, la cosa più importante... il grado di divertimento che questo platter riesce a procurarmi. Vivissimi complimenti, Nanowar: colpito e affondato! 

ORIGINAL LINK 

Review - Powermetal.de

 

MANOWAR, Louis Armstrong und Ennio Morricone vertonen gemeinsam "In And Out" mit Monty Python als Darstellern.
Vor einigen Jahren durfte ich euch ja das offizielle Debüt der italienischen Chaoten von NANOWAR vorstellen, und seither haben sich dramatische Veränderungen ergeben. Um sich vertragsrechtlichen Problemen höchst dubioser Art zu entziehen und um die Identität und Kraft des Bandnamens besser in Szene zu setzen, sahen sich unsere Freunde vom Stiefel gezwungen, ihren bereits weltweit etablierten Bandnamen in das gewöhnungsbedürftige, aber natürlich viel mächtigere NANOWAR OF STEEL zu ändern. Ähnlichkeiten zu existierenden ernsthaften Bands sind voll beabs... äh... rein zufällig.

Bin ich normalerweise nicht so sehr der Freund des musikalischen Kabaretts, so kann ich doch nicht umhin, diesen Jungs zu attestieren, dass die herrlich respektlose und boshafte Art der metallischen Persiflage schon ihren Reiz hat. Zum einen haben die Musiker technisch und kompositorisch wirklich einiges auf dem Kasten, das andere verhinderte Komiker der Szene nicht zu bieten haben, und zum anderen passt halt auch das Songwriting, beziehungsweise das Talent der Band, bekannte Motive aus zig verschiedenen Songs der unterschiedlichsten Bands durch den Reißwolf zu drehen und so zu rearrangieren, dass sich ein schlüssiger neuer Song ergibt, bei dem man zumindest ins Schmunzeln gerät, aber oft genug auch laut loslachen muss. Gerade der deutlich von MANOWAR inspirierte Doppelschlag mit 'The Nanowarrior's Prayer' und 'Blood Of The Queens' lässt den nicht ganz humorlosen Metaller locker aus dem Stuhl kippen. Man stelle sich vor, die mächtigen vier Reiter, von denen der Großvater erzählt, ritten keine Streitrösser sondern fuhren Dreiräder (of Steel), trügen statt Rüstung, Nieten und Leder, ausschließlich heißen Fummel und Strapse, und statt Hammer, Schwert, Axt und Keule doch eher Gegenstände aus dem Beate-Uhse-Katalog mit sich, um schließlich das 'Blood Of The Queens' zu besingen.

So finden sich dann auch inmitten gesanglicher und musikalischer MANOWAR-Zitate plötzlich metallisch-episierte Passagen aus Loois Hamstrongs 'What A Wonderful World' bei denen zusätzlich ein gewisser Hanzi Kusch seine Stimme strapazieren darf. So werden in 'Odino I Valhalla' auf völlig unnachahmliche Weise Ennio Mozzicone, PINK FLOYDs 'Brick In The Wall' und ein unbekannter Armeno-Amerikaner namens Serjio Tankiani verwurstet, und - das ist das Seltsame - es funktioniert. Die Songs machen Spaß und sie laden zum Mitsingen ein. Klar, das ist bescheuert, was NANOWAR hier abziehen, aber es ist bei allem Irrsinn so cool gemacht, dass man einfach nicht anders kann, als gut gelaunt seinen Spaß daran zu haben. Das funktioniert auch, wenn MANOWAR, BON JOVI und Shaggy sich bei 'Surprise Love' die Hand reichen, wenn "Garloz Santanna" bei der Bandhymne die Saiten qualmen lässt.

Textlich geht es wie gehabt um Schwule, Schwulsein, allerlei Reizwäsche und Sexspielzeug, die missliche Situation aus Versehen einen Partner vom eigenen Geschlecht zu ehelichen, und sich schließlich doch damit zu arrangieren, und zu guter letzt um Elben, Zwerge und Orks die in einer Wohngemeinschaft eine erotische Vielecksbeziehung mit einem gewissen Luca Tour Hill, Lou-Ka Tu-Ril oder Luka Turillee führen. Über die schlüpfrigen Details möchte ich an dieser Stelle den Mantel des Schweigens hüllen. Nein, politisch korrekt ist das alles nicht, ernst nehmen kann man es auch nicht, aber trotzdem: Stellt euch vor MANOWAR, Louis Armstrong, Ennio Morricone und SYSTEM OF A DOWN vertonen gemeinsam "In And Out" mit Monty Python als Darstellern - das muss einfach Laune machen!

ORIGINAL LINK