Video Breakdown Nanowar Of Steel Valhalleluja

It's been probably 30 years since I've listened to metal on purpose. This sucked me right in, and I can honestly say I love this band, this song and this video. It's a perfect fusion of gospel and metal, and the jokes are silly, yet multilayered and smart.

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Sorry for the crappy video quality on the shot of me. I'm still working out the lighting in the new place!

[@MrDanilop45]

It was fine. Agree with you, it’s a fun video to share at Christmas time. Probably you already know that NanowaR of steel have 20 years of funny music to share. I saw them live this year and in two hours it was just a scratch on the surface of what they can do.

[@joebar72]

The movie "trading places" (in Italy "una poltrona per due") it is a film that has been broadcast punctually on Christmas Eve for 40 years... in Italy it is not Christmas without this film.

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Huh, interesting. Kind of like "Home Alone" here.

[@nonseinormale]

@@grahamokeefe9406 that is another inside joke/easter egg too...Una Poltrona per Due translated in english means An Armchair For Two ...another joke about furniture!!!

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Ha! I love it!

[@normora5857]

It's not Christmas without this song. The very first time I saw this I almost fell of my chair laughing. It still puts a smile on my face.

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Like I said: The only Christmas song you need!

[@angiewegenerdjmetalamazon4468]

Great breakdown on the video, thank you, it was fun watching it! :D

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@manumaster1990]

top!

[@josepsamarrafarre]

It's always a pleasure to watch a good analysis done by a "man of culture" 😉 As a gift to reward your great video, I subscribe to your channel (to pray for your video to get more awareness from the Almighty Algorithm) and I also want to give you some extra tidbits (after Sacha's tit bits) as food for thought to try to get more people into improving further the analysis of this Masterpiece of Parody. One of the things that I wanted to point out is how genious it is that they switched to Hebrew in the middle before Odin's "reveal". The Bible being split between the Old and the New Testament, where we find the evolution from the god of the Jews to the god of the Christians (so different and yet the same god) is fantastic, In Nanowar's video the switch from the old Odin to the modern one is total (it changes: from darkness to light, form mixed gender chorus to solo singer on top of a male chorus droning sound, from Hebrew to English, from one style of music to another, from bearded to beardless, etc). I also love that they chose to put banners at the back of the "church" with a big runic "O" (Othala) for Odin with the Ikea logo written in our alphabet but stylized with the characters drawn as if chisseled into stone or wood like real runes. You can also briefly see a second big rune at the bottom of the banners and I would swear that it's an "E", which looks like a capital M, and I wasn't sure what it represented until I remember that this rune is "Ehwaz" and that means "horse". That's BLEW MY MIND 🤯because it may well be the real idea behind the whole song! Why? Because on top of being fun, Odin was always riding Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse, SPECIALLY on the night hunt for the Giants on the night of Christmas Eve (like Santa) and, best of all, SLEIPNIR is also the title of one of the songs from THE F*****G ORIGINAL MANOWAR whose name they've parodied! Once you realize that, we can go even further and think of the horse meatballs symbolically as the "Bread and Wine" of Christians too! 😂😂😂

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Thank you for your thoughtful and info-packed reply, and welcome to the channel!

[@Pr1ck4chu]

Didn't know about the guitar techs and IKEA. It might very well be correct, I myself have always interpreted it as some other Sweden references since both metal bands are Swedish. Very good breakdown! I've been obsessed with this song (and band) for years now and I am Swedish. I haven't seen any american with as much knowledge as you, most reaction videos contains a lot of confusion over things like Systembolaget, the horse meatballs and the hebrew lines. A thing worth mentioning is that the bass player speaks a lot of languages (have seen any numbers between 7-10), hebrew being one of them. He has a Ph.D. in Astrophysics and was a Java developer before. I have the feeling that a lot of the smart references in their songs might have a connection with his smartness, but that's just my assumption. Would love to see a breakdown of Norwegian Reggaeton, that's another Nanowar of Steel song that has a lot of smart references that most people outside Scandinavia doesn't get. Let me know if you want some info about the Norwegian "heavy metal wars" or other references :)

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Thanks so much for the kind words! I've been pretty obsessed with this song myself. I had the advantage of doing this as a breakdown video, rather than a reaction video. If I'd gone into it cold, I wouldn't have known a quarter of this stuff. But I love stuff with hidden easter eggs and details (I'm currently obsessing over The Shining). I watched the Norwegian Reggaetron video, but I really didn't understand it.

[@Pr1ck4chu]

@@grahamokeefe9406 I really understand, it's hard to keep up with every scandal or news in every part of the world. Scandinavia is such a small part of the world, i'm still surprised that this Italian metal band knows this much. The Norwegian Reggaeton is packed with references to the "Norwegian black metal wars". The black metal band Mayhem was formed in 1984. They became well known for their extreme expression with corpse paint and, for the time being, really hardcore metal. They had scene shows with blood, fake corpse props and such. They strived to be more and more extreme. This was during the satanic panic. The Scandinavia was also hit with that wave of panic and ignorance even though most Scandinavians aren't as religious as the US. The singer of Mayhem, the Swedish Per "Dead" Ohlin, comitted suicide in 1991. He and some other band members rented a house together. When some other band members found him with slith wrist and a shot to the head, the band member Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth collected some pieces of his skull bone and turned these pieces into necklaces. He also snapped many photos of the terrible scene. The band used one of these images as an album cover later on, but this LP was stopped before many copies had been sold. Some members quit since their limit was reached when Euronymous handled the loss of their friend is such a discusting way. Either way, Varg "Count Grisnak" Vikernes founded another black metal band at the same time, called Burzum. He was compeeting with Mayhem about being the most extreme black metal artist. He set some churches on fire (like the Fantoft Church mentioned in the Norwegian Reggaeton) and killed som animals, but they couldn't prove that it was him at this point. Euronymous started a music shop called Helvete (means "Hell" in both Norwegian and Swedish). This became a gathering point for many musicians in Norway. He had a framed piece of Deads skull hanging on the wall. Everything culminated when Varg Vikernes killed Euronymous. It was then discovered that he had commited the church burnings as well. This led to metal music being seen as a satanic music by the elder generations and every teenager that listen to metal at the time was seen as almost criminal. They were a big part of creating the perceived connection between satanism and metal music that's falsely spread on a global level. They weren't satanists, they were narcissists and criminals. A really fun part of the Norwegian Reggaeton is when they're trying to look really cool while burn a picture of Varg and it turns into a latino artist that I have forgot the name of :D There are much more to say about all the references, but this is the shortest info that I could provide about the basic happenings that they're making fun of. Google "Norwegian metal wars", "Varg Vikernes" or Mayhem if you like to know more.

[@panikov]

Great video!

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Thanks!

[@StergiosMekras]

~11:00 missed the Pippi Longstocking wig, not sure if it's mentioned later.

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Yeah, I meant to mention it. Just forgot.

[@reneedevry4361]

In Norse traditions sailors were dragged under by Sirens/Mermaids therefore drowning in a Sea of Despair. I was also going to comment on the Times have changed, I'm a gentle god but already caught by another comment. The 2 countries that the Vikings don't know where they are were part of internet stupidity/conspiracy theory where there were false claims of Viking visits. No proof of course. All 3 guitar players are wearing yellow Ikea uniforms. You are the first reactor that I have known that understood that those 2 guitar players with the wig and beard were the Blues Brothers hiding in a church choir like the movie. Overall, excellent breakdown. This is the best Christmas Metal song but I also could not be without Lyric Noel's "Carol of the Bells" or Dark Sarah's "A Grim Christmas Story" 🥰🥰Merry Metal Christmas from Canada🇨🇦

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Merry Christmas to you too! I didn't know sirens figured in Norse mythology. I thought they were just a Greek thing. Speaking of Canada, I'm reading Geddy Lee's autobiography. I had forgotten he did that thing with Bob & Doug McKenzie back in the 80s. 🤣

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Oh! I just realized that the symbol on the banners in the church are in the movie Midsommar! I don't know what that particular rune means, but it was very important to the cult in that film. I couldn't say if it were a deliberate reference or not. Just an interesting connection.

[@reneedevry4361]

@@grahamokeefe9406 Good point. I will grab one of my books on Norse runes and check it tomorrow.❤️

[@quiricosolinas7876]

Great job!!

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Thank you!

[@marioangelosecchi9330]

Solo reference: Slash - November rain

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Visually, yeah, but I don't hear a musical connection.

[@marioangelosecchi9330]

Per oggi bisogna farselo bastare! I'm sorry

[@cosplaydelmuori4471]

The marmaid stuff i think is just a way to let you feel like this man that is drowning in a sea of despair because he dont like Christmas but is forced to celebrate by his patner. P.s. The fact Odin now says "time have changed, no more war" is a joke on Cristian God because also God in the begging was this cruel and vengefull god that drown all the word and kill all the first born but the come Jesus and he change into "peace on earth love all" etc etc

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Right! I had read that somewhere, but forgot about it.