What a week it is for girl power! Not only has the legendary Kate De Lombaert of Acid returned after far too long, but one of those aforementioned “Acid worshippers” I mentioned in my review of Hellbender are stepping out as well, eager to grab not just a piece of the hard and heavy pie, but the whole damn thing. Their name is Stainless, and since 2022, they’ve been causing quite the ruckus within the PDX scene, for all the right reasons. This band is doing the old school metal worship thing right, proudly wearing their love of all things NWOBHM, glam metal, and ’70s hard rock on their sleeve, yet without ever sounding like a blatant pastiche of said eras.
Their debut album, Lady of Lust and Steel, is a testament to this devotion, sandwiching 8 all killer, no filler tunes in the span of a little over 36 minutes, harkening back to the days when vinyl ruled supreme. There are no phoned in, half-assed “bonus” tracks weighing this bad boy (or rather bad girl) down, leaving the listener tapping out by track 6 or 7 of a 14 track CD-stuffing snoozefest. No, Lady cuts right to the chase, kicking us in the teeth with a balls-out brand of heavy metal and hard rock that taps into the sweat-drenched spirit of the genre’s glory days.
Similar to early Dokken or a Guy Speranza era Riot outing, one can certainly tell which songs on Lady come from the hard end of the spectrum and which ones come from the heavy. Stainless are a band with an excellent grasp on both. The opening “Restless an’ Ready” establishes the mood with conviction, sounding like a cross between early KISS and classic Motörhead. The riffs boast the outlaw swagger, frontwoman Larissa Cavacece spits with Lemmy-esque piss and vinegar, and the entire vibe is one of raw, no frills, rock n’ roll mania. Cuts like “(Don’t Cross Me) Fool” and “Vitamin Tease” evoke old school Sunset Strip sleaze, bordering on Ratt territory, while the bluesy power ballad that is “Take a Listen Mama” scorches one’s soul with a Whitesnake-esque fire.
On the heavy side of the fence are industrial-strength, face-melting speedsters like “Whorefrost” (What a title!) and “Danger in the Night”, as well as the eerie onslaught that is the title cut. During these metal moments, Stainless sound less major label and more underground, with none of these cuts sounding out of place on a compilation circa ’83 that could’ve boasted the likes of Acid, Exciter, Cirith Ungol, and so forth. While the songs and performances themselves smoke, what really appeals to me about Lady is Stainless’ ability to seamlessly balance both sides of this coin, so to speak. When it comes to hard and heavy bands, most have a better grip on one approach than the other. Not Stainless. They’ve got it down.
The first 7 songs kick so much ass that I’m willing to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the fact that the closing “Rough Justice” is a blatant lift of Motörhead’s “No Class”, which is a blatant lift of ZZ Top’s “Tush, which is probably a blatant lift of some old Bo Diddley song. As the saying goes, real recognizes real, and right now, it doesn’t get more real than Stainless. Lady of Lust and Steel will leave metallists and hard rockers alike lusting for more, in which case, I highly recommend their small but mighty back catalog of a single and EP that preceded this here debut album. If you’re “Restless an’ Ready”, crank this mutha up to 11!
8 out of 10
Label: High Roller Records
Genre: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
For fans of: Savage Master, Acid, Motörhead