STEEL PANTHER – Lower The Bar (2017)

I guess all of you already know this; if you miss the days when glammy hard rock was king and big hair, make-up and incredible guitar solos ruled the airwaves, LA’s STEEL PANTHER have you covered… While their music bring you that sense of euphoria you felt when you were that age, they’re a parody band for the genre and bring a lot of fun into it. Their latest album to be released tomorrow, “Lower The Bar“, has an ironic title, because they’ve done anything but with the music contained within it.
In fact, they’ve RAISED the bar for the genre on the musical side.

Screaming metal guitar, a high pitched scream and an immediate segue into a melodic refrain heralds the subtly titled ‘Goin’ in the Backdoor’ – the opener to Steel Panthers latest Hair Metal ‘smut-athon’.
You might argue a million things are wrong with Steel Panther – the politically correct I imagine steam at the very thought of such a band, the easily offended would I’m sure be pretty quickly offended, but the interesting group are those fans that actually love this type of late ’80s Sleazy Hair Metal.

Steel Panther may well parody the genre but it is very well, darn well done, the riffs like on ‘Anything Goes’ and the lighter flavoured ‘Poontang Boomerang’ are the sort of riffs that hit the mark in Hollywood 1988 and the groove is pretty much spot on.
The irony of course is that this ‘joke’ band now pull in audiences far in excess of many of their ‘serious’ Eighties peers.

Musically, I’ll stick a neck out and say that “Lower the Bar” is by far Steel Panther’s musical highpoint. Close your ears to the lyrics and imagine that English is a foreign language and this album rocks.
It’s well-written, beautifully played and power ballad ‘That’s When You Came In’ might be designed to offend with its opening foray of questionable words but hum it you f@ckers! Can’t stop can you?
It’s a song that a band like Warrant or any of their peers would have loved to squirt across the stage (with only the odd word changed perhaps) and that my friends is the great dilemma of Steel Panther – try and do this with a straight face and you’d be laughed out of the room, but do it laden with expletives and bad jokes and you are playing to packed rooms! Go figure.
Yeah, Steel Panther is one of the most successful live rock acts in America. Yeah, in 2017.

‘Wrong Side of the Tracks (Out in Beverly Hills)’ is similarly spirited and similarly smutty and of course similarly consummately executed. Jeez, these guys know how to rock, and rock they do on ‘Now the Fun Starts’ a moody low key paean to the party that has some great guitar and a terrific vibe.
‘Pussy Ain’t Free’ strikes a slightly sleazy pose as a future live anthem in the making, second power ballad ‘Wasted Too Much Time is a ‘subtle’ contemplation on relationships that should strike a chord with some; whilst ‘I Got What You Want’ takes it back up a notch with a real Sunset Strip scorcher plenty of keyboards and Van Halen-isms.
The album closes with two sure-fire winners; the swagger and blues of ‘Walk of Shame’ and a cover of Cheap Trick’s ‘She’s Tight’ which is nice n’ catchy.

Musically, “Lower The Bar” might just be Steel Panther’s best. In fact, for this genre, established bands need to start stepping up their game because, at this rate, Steel Panther is going to take the throne.
So grab your hairspray and six-pack of beer, get smashed and crank this sh*t up to 11 – “Lower The Bar” arrives on March 24th!

01 – Goin’ In The Back Door
02 – Anything Goes
03 – Poontang Boomerang
04 – That’s When You Came In
05 – Wrong Side Of The Tracks (Out In Beverly Hills)
06 – Now The Fun Starts
07 – Pussy Ain’t Free
08 – Wasted Too Much Time
09 – I Got What You Want
10 – Walk Of Shame
11 – She’s Tight

Michael Starr – lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar
Satchel – guitars, backing vocals
Lexxi Foxx – bass, backing vocals
Stix Zadinia – drums, keyboards, piano, backing vocals

PRE ORDER:
www.amazon.com/Lower-Bar-STEEL-PANTHER/dp/B01LWQ7VK4
.