Steel Panther

Heavy Metal Rules

Steel panther InC

Poodle-rock pussy grabbers fuck their way to album No.5.

On their new album reviewed elsewhere in this issue, The Darkness display their growing knack for balancing frivolity with widescreen musical ambitions. There is no such creative dilemma for LA spoof-glam cretins Steel Panther, whose stock-in-trade remains big, brash, courgette-in-the-gusset party anthems about fucking bitches on rooftops. Heavy Metal Rules is shallow as a splash of sputum, but proves a guiltier pleasure than the masturbation detailed on opening track All I Wanna Do Is Fuck (Myself Tonight).

Putting the #MeToo movement to one side, there are schoolboy sniggers to be had from moments like Always Gonna Be A Ho (‘Is there no man you haven’t laid/Has your vagina never seen the shade?’). But, as ever, what saves this album from one-spin status is the Panther’s ear for a hook; parody or otherwise, Fuck Everybody and Gods Of Pussy are tunes to enjoy even after the smirks have faded. ■■■■■■■■■■