Review STEEL PANTHER ‘On the Prowl’

From the beginning, Steel Panther was only partly about music. Entertainment was what stood in focus since the first days of the comedy glam rock band and this has not changed in 2023.

With ‘On the Prowl’ the band of four make-up fanatics release their sixth album and don’t change the trademarks. Sleaze rock and glam rock of the late 80s is what drives the group, what Steel Panther clearly underlines with ‘1987’.

After the departure of Lexxi Foxx, ‘On the Prowl’ is the first album bassist Joe ‘Spyder’ Lester and it remains to be said that the line-up change had no effect on the sound and groove of Steel Panther.

Also on the new album it is the rather dumb lyrics that rule. Humor is a very personal perception and what one person likes is rather nonsense for the other. No matter what you think about songs like ‘On Your Instagram’, ‘Magical Vagina’ and ‘Is My Dick Enough’, repeating the same joke over and over again becomes painful at a certain point. With ‘On the Prowl’ that point is certainly reached, which is a pity because as someone who grew up listening to bands like Ratt, Mötley Crüe and Poison, the quartet’s music is like a trip back to one’s own youth.

Of course, it’s not easy to make a complete change in style, however, sticking to a formula for success that is wearing out is not the future either. And ‘On the Prowl’ contains well done sleaze rockers like ‘Teleporter’ and ‘One Pump Chump’, tunes that can stand on its own without all the distracting gimmicks.

To sum up. ‘On the Prowl’ is a very typical Steel Panther album. This is both, a curse and a blessing. Fans of the band will be happy, as the four-piece delivers everything the community expects. On the other hand, a renewal wouldn’t be bad either, because the band doesn’t need the whole masquerade anymore. If even Kiss had taken off their make-up in the 80s and still celebrated great successes with ‘Lick It Up’, it should also be feasible for Steel Panther also to integrate some zeitgeist into their trademarks.