Steel Panther’s gig at Sweden Rock Festival a couple of years ago was the funniest gig I have ever seen! Not only are the guys great musicians, great songwriters (if you can get over the fact that they steal everything), they’re also a bunch of stand up comedians!
Their stage rap is so insane you have to witness it to believe it. And boy, is a band like the Panther needed in this day and age. They’re all about taking the piss, writing songs about sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll, and just like on their debut album Feel The Steel, there is not one serious second on the album!
The spoken intro ”In The Future” is a very funny piss take on Mötley Crüe’s ”In The Beginning”, a great way to open this CD. Then we get songs like the first single ”Just Like Tiger Woods” (remember this when you’re having fun, three holes are better than a hole in one…), a very funny and great song, ”17 Girls In A Row” is funny piss take on all the sex bragging 80’s metal bands and then, of course, we have the love song of the album. ”If You Really Love Me”. Just listen to the lyrics. Funny as hell and a great song.
Same goes for the love ballad ”Why Can’t You Trust Me”. If you don’t, at least, smile when you hear this, you don’t have a sense of humor. On ”That’s What Girls Are For” (no need for imagination on this one) they stole the whole ”Pour Some Sugar On Me” / ”I Love
Rock N Roll” concept. The finishing ballad ”Weenie Ride” is really beautiful, but with the dirtiest lyrics you can think of.
Of course there are other cool tracks on here like ”It Won’t Suck Itself”, ”Critter”, ”Tomorrow Night”, ”Let Me Cum In” and ”I Like Drugs” – you get the idea on just reading the song titles. But where just about everything hit spot on with their debut, this one doesn’t. Not that it’s bad because it isn’t. Quite the opposite. But it doesn’t hit like the debut did. I guess it’s not easy to make a follow up to a joke album and try to make it sound fresh without repeating yourself, but still be forced to do just that. Because that’s what this band is all about. Steal as many of the glam songs, be as rude and dirty as possible and look the bit as well. I would have wanted them to just go on repeating themselves.
Here the theft isn’t as obvious and it somehow feels like they are trying a bit to hard to write stuff that has a Steel Panther sound. They shouldn’t. But enough of the criticism. It’s a great album that will make you laugh and if you liked their debut, you’ll probably like this one as well. I know I did.
Jon Wilmenius (8/10)
Tracklist:
01. In The Future
02. Supersonic Sex Machine
03. Just Like Tiger Woods
04. 17 Girls In A Row
05. If You Really, Really Love Me
06. It Won’t Suck Itself
07. Tomorrow Night
08. Why Can’t You Trust Me
09. That’s What Girls Are For
10. Gold-Digging Whore
11. I Like Drugs
12. Critter
13. Let Me Cum In
14. Weenie Ride
CD & Festival reviews 