Californian quartet Steel Panther walk a very fine line between taking the piss out of that most derided subgenre of heavy, eighties glam metal, and being an affectionate tribute to that musical time and place.
The cover of the album is a rather inflammatory and an inspired pisstake on the iconic Leonardo Da Vinci Last Supper painting, which both sets the tone and/or serves as a warning for what is to come. For the prudish or easily offended, run through the nearest exit!
If you were to look up the expression “Parental Advisory” in the dictionary, you’ll find a photo of this band. On All You Can Eat, their fourth long player, any notion of taste and decorum is absent.
On opener ‘Pussywhipped’, after a bit of out of character flamenco guitar, it’s business as usual for the boys, sonically capturing the attitude of glam metal.
The band gleefully turn up the ‘offensive’ factor to 11 – thank you Nigel Tuffnel from This Is Spinal Tap – by the time ‘Gloryhole’ and the ‘ballad’ ‘Bukkake Tears’ kick in (trust this scribe, you don’t want to know), and there is no escape.
This is an approach that, over a dozen tracks, could get very tired very fast. However, Steel Panther are very self-aware and manage to stay on the enjoyable rather than painful side of this line. There is truly nothing sacred lyrically on All You Can Eat, but if you can accept the humour for what it is, then you’re bound to have a laugh.
While the album is by no means a masterpiece, it’s humorous – and possibly the most politically incorrect collection you’ll hear in 2014.
Listen to ‘Party Like Tomorrow Is The End Of The World’ from All You Can Eat here:
