Steel Panther - Feel the Steel (15th Anniversary) [Purple]

Steel Panther's debut Feel the Steel turns fifteen with this purple vinyl anniversary reissue, and the Sunset Strip send-up is as loud and outrageous as ever.

The Los Angeles band spent years as Metal Shop and Metal Skool, playing the club circuit as a tribute to eighties hair metal before turning their love for the genre into razor-sharp comedy. Released in 2009 with Jay Ruston producing, Feel the Steel nailed the sound of 1987 so precisely that the jokes hit even harder.

"Death to All but Metal" is a gleeful manifesto with Slipknot's Corey Taylor along for the ride, while "Community Property" delivers a power ballad so overwrought it loops back around to sincere. "Eyes of a Panther" struts with pure arena swagger, and Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows joins in on "Turn Out the Lights."

Michael Starr, Satchel, Lexxi Foxx and Stix Zadinia play it completely straight musically, and that's the trick: the riffs and solos are genuinely great, even when the lyrics are wildly unprintable. This edition also adds two bonus tracks to the original running order.

For anyone who misses spandex, hairspray and shameless excess, this is the ultimate party starter, and the purple vinyl suits its sense of occasion.