Brian Posehn is a comedian and actor, notable for television roles in Just Shoot Me, Big Bang Theory and films like The Wedding Singer.  He has also released a couple of pretty solid stand up comedy albums through the years – showcasing his witty humour, and unique delivery.

Posehn is also an avid “metal head”, often working heavy metal references into his routines.  Now, he try’s his hand at releasing an actual metal album, albeit, a very humorous and tongue in cheek take on it.  It’s like Steel Panther, but fresh…

Posehn teams up with guitarists Scott Ian and Joe Trohman to write the songs, and the results are that Grandpa Metal is actually a really cool album.

It helps that a host of top notch musicians have joined the fun.  Gary Holt, Phil Demmel, Kim Thayil, Weird Al Yankovic, Chuck Billy and Alex Skolnick, Bumblefoot, Patrick Stump and the late Jill Janus all make appearances lending more than just a touch of metal credibility to the project.

There is a very amped up cover of A-Ha’s Take on Me in the mix, which is so ridiculous that it becomes wonderful, but the best results are in the original material.  Satan’s Kind of A Dick features some crushingly good guitar riffs, and both New Music Sucks and New Music Sucks Reprise are so relatable for people who dislike “mainstream” music.

There are also some funny vignettes between the songs that often serve as intro pieces.  None better than Scary Nightmare, which sees Posehn’s grandmother explain that he’s not Swedish enough to be a Viking, and I fact he’s only one quarter Viking, and three quarters pussy – which of course leads us into the song One Quarter Viking, Three Quarters Pussy.

We all love metal and comedy, so this collision of the two worlds is a very pleasant surprise.  The two worlds haven’t existed together this well since Steel Panthers first record.

8/10

Shayne McGowan.