It’s certainly the month for backwards looking rock and metal releases. Having just checked out the rock ‘n’ roll combo that is ’77, it’s now the turn of Steelwing who sound every bit the eighties-styled power metal group that their enthusiastically macho name would suggest. Of course, that’s not to say this is a bad thing, basically what Steelwing do over the course of their album is to take all the key ingredients of early Maiden, Pries an Saxon and throw in the benefits of 2010 production to make a storming metal album replete with huge solos, screams that suggest their trousers are as tight as their music and pounding drums.
First track proper ‘headhunter’ slams us straight into the world of Steelwing – it’s everything I remember from the eighties and I can imagine the stage set this band will employ looking something like every Bon Jovi video ever made, but it’s just so much fun. By the end of the track I was nodding appreciatively and by the time the next track – ‘sentinel hill’ kicks in it’s impossible not to be standing in front of the mirror with a huge cheesy grin playing air guitar to the solos (of which there are many) – it’s just that sort of album, chocked full of memorable song writing, finger-blistering solos and gloriously histrionic vocals not heard since Panzer X’s all too brief flit in the studio.
Over the course of the album there are so many highlights: ‘Roadkill…(or be killed)’, ‘The Nightwatcher’ and ‘point of singularity’ are my own personal favourites, but the quality of the album doesn’t dip from the opening bars to the last cymbal crash. There is of course a caveat – while this album is a fantastic throwback to the days of eighties hair metal, there are those who will find the whole thing hard to take seriously, but then that isn’t really the point; this is metal played with a life-affirming joy. It brings to mind the unbridled energy of Iron maiden and Steelwing have the song writing flair to carry it off. This is the ultimate album for bedroom air guitarists, or for those who think that Steel panther’s take on old-school metal is a worthwhile venture. Great stuff and well worth a listen.
