Review by Greg on December 25, 2023.

Talk about being on a roll, won't ya? Nanowar Of Steel appeared determined to lose as little momentum as possible when they announced their 6th album Dislike To False Metal at the start of the year. Coming after the incredible one-two punch of the power metal compendium Stairway To Valhalla and the super fun, folky Italian Folk Metal, this one acts as a sort of synthesis between the two, with added flavors. The album marks the return of English lyrics, but their folk turn wasn't a one-off phase as there are still traces of accordions and various instruments. And again, there's more...

...okay, if you're keeping track, the band had already made parodies of several non-metal genres, and I'm imagining you rightfully bracing yourself for the worst after having spotted 'Disco Metal' within the tracklist. Well, what can I say... it's exactly what you're fearing, I'm afraid. If you can't bear the excessive use of autotune/vocoder typical of italo-disco, you better skip it altogether, but guess what? Somehow they managed to nail this one as well. This isn't much of a 'secret guilty pleasure', so to speak, but more of a sincere admiration for a group of artists who seemingly excel at everything they try, even when well outside everyone's comfort zone, or the limits of common sense. This isn't cheap humor, in case you're still suspecting it. You can refer to the longest episodes here: closer 'The Power Of Imodium' attempts a rather puerile 'Bohemian Rhapsody'-styled bridge, but there's undeniable talent on display as always, and 'Chupacabra Cadabra' is just... man, I don't know anymore. The 'Painkiller' drum intro is the last sane thing you'll hear within these almost 10 minutes. Basically, it's like a giant suite mixing flamenco, western, samba, telling some head-scratching fictional tale (where poor George W. Sanchez makes an appearance as well) in an anglicized Spanish. Yeah, sorry 'Odino & Valhalla', you've been dethroned.

There would be so much to say about every track, honestly. There are a couple of special guests – Eleine's Madeleine Liljestam more than contributes to the epicness of a song about dandruff, of all things (the advance single 'Winterstorm In The Night'), while Sabaton's Joakim Brodén appears on 'Pasadena 1994' mimicking his own group, much like Fabio Lione did two LPs ago, narrating the history of the Italian defeat in the World Cup of the same year from a cruel, but hilarious historic perspective. Bonus points for the Swede's perfect pronunciation of 'catenaccio'. There is a simply irresistible Backstreet Boys-esque love pop ballad in 'Protocols (Of The Elders Of Zion) Of Love', poking fun at stupid conspiracy theorists (man, every word in this sentence sounds wrong, doesn't it?). 'Dimmu Boogie' is a classic rock number which also happens to have a killer solo (think Motörhead's 'Angel City', but with more blues to it) and might even be my favourite of the lot. There are surprises waiting for you at every turn throughout these almost 50 minutes.

At the end of the day, my main gripe with Dislike To False Metal is that, as long as it doesn't stray too much away from the previously laden path, it simply doesn't do anything that wasn't already made, in a better way, before. 'Sober' sounds like a lite version of 'La Maledizione Di Capitan Findus', when you come to think about it, and 'Metal Boomer Battalion' doesn't sound too dissimilar from 'Ironmonger'. But probably that's just me being an asshole about something that's made to be fun, mostly – not to mention the fact that most of the running time is indeed spent on doing something new. I just fear I'm not gonna be replaying this as much as the other two, but those were such mighty opponents, admittedly. Also, the return to English lyrics meant that the band couldn't go all-out talking about trash TV and local stuff, so they really outdid themselves on the jokes aspect – literally every line is a pun on something, to the point I'm avoiding quotes since I'd easily fill this page only with my favourite ones, and the lyrics are hilarious even without the music in the background. The aforementioned 'Metal Boomer Battalion' makes the whole thing metal by mentioning Metal Archives in its bridge. Now we're talking.

Closing an admirable trifecta, Dislike To False Metal is of course an experience recommended to everyone. What's beyond the shadow of a doubt is that, with every album, Nanowar Of Steel put themselves in the more and more difficult position of following it up. They've worked great so far – but what's left to parody?

Rating: 8.3 out of 10