Anvil - Past and Present: Live in Concert (1989)

Eight years and five studio full-lengths into a career seems a very reasonable point at which to release a live record, and so for their final Metal Blade outing we were treated to Past and Present: Live in Concert, recorded in San Pedro, California. Having seen the band a number of times at fests and other gigs in the states, and I can say that they do put on a pretty fun show, Lips the proverbial heavy metal front man with a riotous presence. However, I cannot attest to having ever heard them sound THIS good in such a setting, so credit should be given to the band, the producers and the man at the sound board for delivering such comprehensive clarity. In fact, the album might seem a little TOO clean, in that the set selections so eloquently capture their studio atmosphere.

But basically, anyone who loves the collective 80s Anvil output is bound to enjoy this mix of favorites. Personal highlights from their career like "Blood on the Ice", "Forged in Fire" and "Metal on Metal" each sound fabulous. Material from Hard 'n' Heavy is nowhere to be found here, but that's never been their most popular, so if there were to be an omission that album makes sense. Metal on Metal is well represented with the title track, "Mothra", "March of the Crabs", "Jackhammer", and "666"; while Forged in Fire is covered through its own title track, "Motormount" and "Winged Assassins". Only one track makes it from Strength of Steel ("Concrete Jungle", a wise choice) and then "Toe Jam" joins "Blood on the Ice" from Pound for Pound, which was their latest at the time. The final three tracks on the album are each medlies of two songs ("March of the Crabs/Jackhammer", "Metal on Metal/Winged Assassins" and "666/Mothra"), which I found a bit unusual, since splitting these would have made the CD at least flow better...it'd be nice to visit the latter halves of these without fast forwarding.

I might have liked another track or two from Pound for Pound in the set, but what the band has included here all sounds excellent, with a clean and punchy guitar tone, solid bass plugging courtesy of Ian Dickson and vocals that feel quite authentic to their former, studio incarnations. Granted, you won't get a lot of the added howls and layered screams from the records, but in a way this more stripped approximation of the material delivers just as authentic experience even if Anvil seems mildly less 'wild' throughout. The mix is superb: while I would normally think that Reiner's drums might steal the thunder, they're kept appropriately balanced so that the melodies and minor vocal nuances shine through. Crowd participation is present, but never overwhelming, you'll hear this most in between the paired up tracks. In all, Past and Present is a rock solid representation of the band's material, perhaps not set up in the most explosive set list progression in this track order, but as smooth and clean as other quality live albums from the 80s like Live Without Sense, Live After Death and so forth. Further proof that the Canadians were a 'total package' deserving much more attention than they received in this time.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Pound for Pound (1988)

Strength of Steel might have churned Anvil to a halt as far as the band's linear progression in the 80s, but that doesn't mean that their later efforts were entirely void of individual distinctions. Take its 1988 successor, Pound for Pound for example, which draws upon all the ire and wrath that the Canadians previously hinted towards, and then dials it all up to 11. This is easily my favorite of their catalog to its day. To this day. A darker, volatile and dynamic effort which does not ignore the proto-thrash leanings the band exhibited through the early 80s output, and riff for riff their strongest in terms of branding itself to the memory. What bluesy hard rock influence remains here is delegated to a pair of brooding, doom laden crushers, and even the frivolous and silly sex songs are delivered with speed, passion and menace.

It helps that Pound for Pound also features my favorite Anvil track, and perhaps the greatest tribute to the sport of hockey in all of metal music. "Blood on the Ice" is a monster of hammering speed/thrash rhythms, eerie tapping melodies and dire, violent lyrics which celebrate the game's more entertaining, gladiatorial components. You'll note that Lips' vocals are honed in on a lower, grimier range which is the case for almost every song on the album, and I rather like the tactic as it helped gradate the band towards the more hostile climate of aggression that was popular in this period, without abandoning the manly, muscular heavy metal roots akin to Manowar. But the composition itself was just brutal for this band, every guitar lick incredibly well incorporated into this structure of blades, sticks and fisticuffs. I hail from the admittedly hockey saturated New England populace, and just 30-60 seconds of this track is all it takes me to wax nostalgically for the bleacher-based vertical mosh pits (complete with crowd surfing) that the restless jocks at my high school used to conduct much to the dismay of the rest of the town...

But then, just about every song on this album with the exception of the useless 14 second outro snippet "Cramps" is worthwhile. There are slower, thundering heavy/doom pieces like "Senile King" and "Corporate Preacher" that are bursting with screaming leads, arching rock grooves and some of Kudlow's tightest, glorious howling yet. Frenzied, memorable speed metal surges with Lips' tense screaming like "Brain Burn" and it's simply but gluey chorus, or "Machine Gun" which is one of the heaviest beatings this lot has ever meted out. It wouldn't be an Anvil record without a few smut anthems, and the orgiastic square dance of "Toe Jam" and condom praising "Safe Sex" fill that soggy purse here; yet both are fast, driving, and loaded with a fuck ton of riffs and lovable, noodling excess that make them seem almost too serious for their lyrics.

Another personal favorite here, second only to "Blood on the Ice" would be "Fire in the Night" a slower paced cut which I'd gladly place on the level of past transgressions like "Metal on Metal" and "Forged in Fire", though this is busier and far more pissed off, Lips often sounding like the great Savatage frontman Jon Oliva at his most furious. "Where Does All the Money Go?" might be my least favorite of the full-length cuts on this disc, with a lot of the 70s rocking swagger that populated their earlier work, but it's not at all bad and the guitars are a bit more complex than something like KISS (if not as catchy). And even here, Robb Reiner is bludgeoning along with enough force that he could likely cave in a human skull with a snare roll. No wonder the guy was probably sought out by a number of higher profile acts at the time, a real human steamroller who gives a lot more than any perceived, percussion indulgence might take away.

The leads should also get a mention: they're wild, dirty and not enormously catchy, but they add this sporadic layer to the pummeling rhythmic substrate which comes across like a molten steel bukkake jerking session. This was Dave Allison's last studio album with the band, and he makes it count as he and Kudlow exchange their shrill, shrieking fretted diatribes. I've heard some gripes about the production of Pound for Pound, and to be truthful I can hear how it might not be so smooth as Strength of Steel or Forged in Fire, yet I admire the tension it creates, the pools of shadow hiding beneath the darker note progressions and the faltering, stormy heights of the higher pitched screams where they appear. This is one hell of an album. Bad ass defined. Period. If 1988 hadn't been so overly choked with higher visibility records the likes of ...And Justice for All, Operation Mindcrime, So Far, So Good So What and Seventh Son for a Seventh Son, or an undercurrent of both US and European brilliance in the thrash genre, an effort like Pound for Pound might have gotten the attention it rightly deserved. But it's never too late, and if there's a single Anvil experience I could recommend over any other (excluding the documentary), this would be the one.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (pile up, punch out in the end zone!)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Timeghoul - Complete Discography (2012)

A few years back, I wrote up a review for this Missouri obscurity's second demo, Panaramic Twilight, a rather unsung and exemplary foray into science fiction inspired death and doom which has seen a resurgence in popularity thanks to the widespread 'word of mouth' that is the internet. Dark Descent Records has thoughtfully paid heed to the myriad cries for a reissue, and thus both of the band's mid 90s tapes are now available in one convenient location, with new artwork, packaging and lyrics. It couldn't have come at a better time, honestly. The hydra of death metal nostalgia is in full bloom, its many heads devouring new generations who have tired of the technical excesses of the genre's modernization, and Timeghoul manage to fit that old school bill while retaining a progressive, dynamic personality all unto themselves, in a rare space between the sounds and aesthetics of Nocturnus, Deicide and later Pestilence records upon which the Dutchmen flew off into space.

Of the two demos included, I must admit some favor towards the Panaramic Twilight material (1994). It seems far better organized, cleaner and more approachable as far as its production values, and incorporates a grander, more absurd narrative. But there isn't a massive stylistic gulf from the Tumultous Twilight sessions (1992). The songs went from 6-7 minutes to even more expansive lengths, but the core techniques remain much the same. A burgeoning, low end death metal frenzy incorporating all the brutal squeals and early Deicide chugging you could ask for, complete with low gutturals on a level not unlike Demilich. More intriguing is how the band incorporates a lot of the clinical, surgical guitars that dominated late 80s tech thrash opuses like Watchtower's Control and Resistance, Deathrow's Deception Ignored or a handful of the Mekong Delta records. It creates this constant sense of exciting variation in which the listener cannot fully predict what will happen next, and that's part of what keeps me glued to BOTH of these demos, and generates a pang of sadness that they weren't able to take it all further.

Timeghoul took chances, and a lot of this can be heard in the breadth of vocal choices. They can pull off chanted, unnerving clean harmonies ("Boiling in the Hourglass") or the grunting/rasping hybrids made popular by Glen Benton ("Occurence on Mimas"). I prefer the actual gutturals to an extent from the first demo, but the creepy ambient breaks, morbid cosmic intro transmission ("Occurence...") and aforementioned chants really make a wealth of difference. The lyrics are superb, especially for those into science fiction and horror, whether that be the grim future revealed through the Warhammer 40K fiction or the more ominous, isolationist atmospheres wrought by the legendary Arthur C. Clarke. Like Nocturnus and Voivod, this band excels at taking the listener to its source of creative chaos through both the words AND the music, and the marriage of pummeling, sporadic rhythms and frightening speculative brain candy was a huge part of its appeal to me personally.

I am a god, the prime being
I shall impale you
On the crumbled pillars of the millenia

I can cite a few minor gripes with the production of the earlier demo, such as the fact that the tone of the guitar is a little ruddy and some of the rhythm notes lost behind the percussion of both the drums and vocals, but this was pretty typical of early death metal albums in that whole Roadrunner and Earache scene (particularly some of the Morrisound productions like Deicide and Gorguts). And really, it's a demo, so one can't expect too much. Not to mention that Timeghoul addressed all of this the improved Panaramic Twilight, and songs like "The Siege", "Gutspawn" and "Infinity Coda" are well worth hearing regardless of the mix. Ultimately, this is a band which deserves to be experienced by all who missed them the first time around, and a Complete Discography is the perfect vehicle. Whether anything further comes of this is anyone's guess, as the band's own website seems rather nebulous on the possibility, but either way, this is worth the investment for any sci-fi death metal sicko dreamer.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (he stepped into the ceaseless beyond)

http://www.timeghoul.com/

Anvil - Strength of Steel (1987)

Strength of Steel is about the point at which I realized Anvil were not likely to progress much further. I don't say that like it was the end of the line for the Canadians, we all know otherwise, but the fact remains, that, directly in the middle of the 80s, when metal bands were exploding all around them, they spent four years to come up with an album that sounds more or less like a direct continuation of Forged in Fire speaks volumes as to their potential when records like Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood, Peace Sells... and The Dark were reaping whirlwinds of attention, and the genre as a whole had burst into the mainstream alongside the more fickle, empty headed glam and hard rock that served as its gateway drug.

Primarily, thrash had arrived in full force and stolen some of the limelight away from the bands that were sticking more to that heavy/speed or more traditional sound, and I think Anvil was absolutely a band to suffer from this shift in paradigms, along with countrymen Exciter. But where that band was still playing in a very fast, breakneck speed for their niche, Anvil stayed focused in on the slower brand of heavy metal that made their songs like "Metal on Metal" and "Forged in Fire" cult hits. Strength of Steel is quite a slow to mid paced record overall, and this time that fact does not always work out in their favor. In particular, the opener "Strength of Steel", while it exhibits some decent melodic singing from Steve Kudlow, and a few of the other cuts like "9-2-5" just don't pull their weight. The former is more like an intro to the record, but the constant repetition of the title seems a little uninspired and obvious, while the latter is just too repetitive, though once again, I like how Lips is stretching his pipes.

Then again, there are a few pieces here which use such measured momentum fully to their advantage. "Concrete Jungle" is a heavily atmospheric song, even more so than "Forged in Fire", and the use of the guitars as ambiance was quite impressive and unique for the period, when most bands were focused on hard hitting riff after riff. This track is also symbolic of the highly urban, middle class lyrical observations that dominate this disc, and I'm sure it's now slang use of the good old 'n' world turns heads even to this day, though the context in which it's used does make sense for the song and was doubtfully meant to offend. I also quite enjoy "I Dreamed It Was the End of the World", which has a great deal of swagger to it, and features my favorite guitar licks and chorus here, but doesn't exactly pick up into faster territory.

Of the rest, I found a sort of mix of those I enjoyed, still enjoy and then others which I couldn't care about or remember if you trained me to with some electric shock treatment. The closer "Paper General" is pretty good, with brazen melodies similar to what Running Wild were writing in the latter half of the 80s, and "Cut Loose" and "Straight Between the Eyes" are reasonably entertaining, though the lyrics are mediocre at best and I don't like the vocals on the latter (the harmony reminds me of tripe like Bret Michaels), which involved Dave Allison. The instrumental "Flight of the Bumble Beast" has some decent leads and guitar progressions, but I almost wish they'd lengthened it and added some vocals. On the other hand, "Mad Dog" is a track I particularly revile, one of those generically plotted blues/hard rock hound dog pieces which sounds like it was added more as a joke than anything. I'm also not fond of "Wild Eyes", which feels a little like "Forged in Fire" in the verse, with those lurching guitars and counter chords; though in truth it's a cover of Canadian rockers The Stampeders and the vocals aren't much alike.

I will say that Robb's drumming here continued to improve, with a lot of double bass and dynamic tension that honestly manages so steal the thunder away from the guitars and bass. Lips has also really settled into his range, and this was perhaps his most concrete, if not the most memorable performance to its day. Dave Allison doesn't do lead vocals here at all, but perhaps that was for the best. Production wise, it's slick and clean like Forged in Fire but there is still some depth to the guitar, and certainly the drumming. Considering that it arrived after an uneventful quartet of years (unless you count Backwaxed), and that it was the band's debut for Metal Blade, I had hoped for much more, but while it actually managed to chart on Billboard here in the states, it felt like a clear halt to the momentum they showed in the early 80s. There are good songs here (still), and it's a 'good album', but not the blockbuster they needed.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (in the land of the predator)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Backwaxed (1985)

So "Butter-Bust Jerky" examined the joys of splashing your man-wax on a lover's bouncing assets, and now we've got a compilation named for a title track in which Anvil entreats us on the joys of a similar emission along the contours of her backside... perfectly acceptable to all us perverts in the audience, but it makes me wonder if part of the band's plight in not reaching the level of their North American peers in the mid 80s might have had something to do with such colorful lyrical exploitations? Probably not, but I doubt it helped. After all, "Bang Your Head" wasn't about THAT head, and "We're Not Gonna Take It" was not, at least in my estimation, a hard rocking anthem for premarital abstinence.

Backwaxed arrived at a period in which Anvil were somewhat inactive in terms of their studio output. Having rocked out three albums in three consecutive years (1981-83), the band was busy gigging, dealing with personal shit and inevitably, seeking out a larger label deal (this was the last release through Attic records). So until 1987, in which Metal Blade and the band would collaborate for Strength of Steel, this was all we were getting, and it's a mix of redundant tracks from the prior full-lengths and studio outtakes that were recorded during the sessions for both Metal on Metal and Forged in Fire. Sadly, these are hardly hidden gems, but frivolous pieces of fluff which I would also have left off the full-lengths due to their relative ineptitude.

Four of the five rare cuts were unreleased, except "Steamin'" which had appeared on the band's rare s/t EP in 1982. I'd never gotten hold of that, so it was cool to finally hear it...until I actually heard it, and it's basically your typical throwback hard rock sex track similar to what they had written on previous albums, but the lyrics suck and the music is not much better despite the bluesy burn of the lead. Two others ("You're a Liar" and "Fryin' Cryin'") also suffer the same fate, with useless and uninteresting riffs and a pretty piss poor performance of Dave Allison's vocals on the former. Then there's the instrumental "Pussy Poison" which is faster paced Priest style speed metal with some crazy flange on the opening riffs, and "Backwaxed" itself, which is a pretty loud and proud means of celebrating the 'pulling out' method of doggy style birth control, and ironically far more memorable than any of these other obscurities...

As for the rest, they basically decided to fill out 37 minutes of play time with five selections from the earlier albums. Some strong songs here, like "School Love" off Hard 'n' Heavy and "Metal on Metal" from the sophomore of the same name, rounded out by "Jackhammer", "Scenery" and of course the "Backwaxed" companion piece "Butter-Bust Jerky". But I can't help but feel this was both a retarded and redundant choice. Why not huck a short live set on the album instead? Or some demo reels? Fuck, give us SOMETHING we do not already own. The ways these are just tacked onto the end feels pretty lazy and heavily cripples the compilation's value as a whole.

Ultimately, the only tunes here that are not a waste of time are "Backwaxed" and "Pussy Poison", but neither is worth paying whatever outrageous amount it might require to get one's hands upon this release, and really, even they are not at the level of most of the fare on the first five albums. That said, these songs are not available elsewhere. Even the later, comprehensive anthologies don't sport them, so if you're an absolute die hard or manic collector, it might be worth having for completion's sake. Otherwise, listen to "Backwaxed" on Youtube or something, laugh at the funny lyrics and move along.

Verdict: Fail [3.5/10] (I've got a method that ain't thought of yet)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Forged in Fire (1983)

It's often the case that a band seeing a brief and sudden splash of success will attempt to closely emulate that success, if not note for note than at the very least aesthetically. Metal on Metal was likely not a commercial breakthrough on anyone's scale, but clearly that leading single was far more resonant than anything off the debut album, so it makes sense that Anvil would follow it up with a similar lead-in title track on Forged in Fire. Not that these have been the only two tracks in this style by the Canadian old timers, and not that "Forged..." is in any way a direct knockoff of its spiritual precursor, but it's difficult not to come away with a sense of deja-vu for the first five minutes of this third album.

Fortunate then, that "Forged in Fire" is one of the clear highlights of this disc. Set at a dangerous, slow groove, it lurches along at a spidery pace while Lips performs a treatise on metallurgy, the duality of which would not escape even the most addle brained headbangers. The vocals trade off on the signature sneers and howls, while the thud of the bass sets the momentum. I rather liked the glistening strings of melodic feedback throughout the bridge, which set at atmosphere even greater than that of "Metal on Metal", but probably the most interesting element is the counter point of the guitars in the verse. It's also an introduction to a 'cleaner' Anvil, at least in the tone of the guitars and tidiness of the drumming. Clearly more polished than the sophomore effort, with a dearth of rawness in the chords, but that said the music is stylistically quite similar to Metal on Metal and the heavier cuts found on Hard 'n' Heavy, 'pound for pound' their most muscular effort to date, if you'll forgive the foreshadowing.

That's not only due to the pace of many of the tracks here, but also the drumming. Once again, we're faced with a performance that might audibly come off as less menacing than the prior LP, but in terms of technicality Robb Reiner seems somewhat more energetic and advanced, as if he's slowly evolving along with the riffs. Outside of the title track, favorites here include "Free as the Wind", a nice atmospheric speed metal piece which served as a peculiar presage to the late 80s stint of Germans Running Wild, even funnier as the first lyrics in the song are, in fact, 'running wild'. "Make It Up to You" has a bit more of a commercial appeal, sort of like Heart meets REO Speedwagon, but while the lyrics are shitty, the music is incredibly catchy. And then, of course, you've got the closer "Winged Assassins" which serves as the ultimate Anvil tribute to aerial combat, pretty fast for the band at this time and incorporating some of Lips' better vocals on the album.

There are a number of tunes ("Shadow Zone", "Hard Times Fast Ladies") in which he utilizes a shrill, shrieking tone that almost devolves into parody, but thankfully the music is great; and others where he uses the same style of screaming more effectively ("Motormount"). We've also got what must be the best of the Dave Allison fronted tracks here in "Never Deceive Me". It still feels heavily influenced by that 70s rock that the Canadians have a hard time shaking out of their set, and far from perfect, but good enough that fans of KISS, Boston and so forth might dig it. And then, of course there's the mandatory ridiculous sex song, which is even more laughable and absurd here in that it's distinctly about ejaculating on your female partner's chest and having her rub the results onto her preferably large mammaries. This is, of course, the "Butter-Bust Jerky", and yet I know that even reading that has the potential to scar you for life. I apologize, since Anvil is not likely to.

Overall, various gripes and coital eccentricities aside, the album is quite consistent in quality and I believe it's nearly a match for Metal on Metal. Song for song, there's a lot of excitement, some tearing leads, and a laudable atmosphere which prove that Anvil were continuing to evolve as songwriters. The best was still yet to come, but they were well on their way, and Forged in Fire has a timelessness about it that is hard to ignore (much like the debut).

Verdict: Win [8/10] (made for pounding a massive weight)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Ominous Crucifix - The Spell of Damnation (2012)

Mexico's Ominous Crucifix is another of many 21st century bands culling an influence directly from the late 80s/early 90s death metal roots, and yet it takes an alternative approach to the majority of younger acts channeling Left Hand Path, Mental Funeral and Mortal Throne of Nazarene into a reverb drowned present. No, their F.D.A. Rekotz debut The Spell of Damnation might better be compared to the warlike ministrations of classic Bolt Thrower, at least in the drumming and atmosphere, though the vocals have a bit more ghastly breadth to them which recalls a Schuldiner, Reifert, Tardy, van Drunen or Kam Lee rather than the gruffer, drier Karl Willetts. In addition, there is a fibrous, textured guitar style which resonates with the 90s work of New Yorkers Immolation, only the production here is a lot more raw, and the riffs never so dynamic.

A lot of slower, double bass driven passages make for the majority of the album. Bricklayer death metal. One gets the impression that the lower muted rhythm guitar sequences are churning up his or her guts into wet, bloodied cement, and then steamrolling it with mobile artillery. The bass plods along beneath the dense guitar tone as if it were near-coagulated blood streaming through the gutters of the battlefield. Vocalist 'Rubens the Mercurial Herald' hurls a lot of panning, carnal syllables about the primary vocal line, and you definitely get the same sense of up front shock and extremity that you did in hearing those classic 90s death metal records, yet he doesn't ever sound particularly hostile or abominable, and part of this is just the banal lull that the supporting riffs often create.

Tunes like "Putrid Purity" and "Primitive Sun" balance off rather mediocre chugging grooves with the more caustic, atmospheric tremolo patterns, but while I can't claim to have been snared by any of the riffing progressions here, Ominous Crucifix never ceases to create this sure sense of momentum, from the cradle to the grave. One could easily envision fans of primal and simplistic US death circa Jungle Rot or War Master lurching and lumbering about a pit to this music, and they certainly have a penchant for slowly building up atmosphere through the tracks, not to mention an appropriate choice of frightening samples to inaugurate "Defiling the Altars of an Absent God" or "Third Day Resurrection". Ultimately, though, the Mexicans don't hurdle the writing barrier to the extent that I feel compelled to continually revisit their music.

If you're into spacious, simplistic chugging and moiling death metal and you don't set the bar all that high, then there would be no reason to miss this out. The Spell of Damnation delivers what it needs to that it might feed off its own, consistent flow of pummeled viscera, but unfortunately, nothing more.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/ominouscrucifix

Anvil - Metal on Metal (1982)

Anvil might have had a pretty good start with Hard 'n' Heavy, but it was the sophomore Metal on Metal that would usher in a new wave of attention towards the Canadians and very nearly hand them a hall pass to the level of notoriety bursting like fireworks around a select handful of other North American metal luminaries in the same era. Yeah, we all know how it turned out in the end, but no one can deny that this time, the band came strapped with more than just the good intentions and raw testosterone of their heavily hard rock influenced debut. This time they brought a 100% genuine anthem with them that would remain their best known song for all the decades to come. In fact, there are people out there who likely know Anvil ONLY for the track "Metal on Metal", as if the rest of their storied saga could be swept under the rug.

And it wouldn't be hard to plead their case, because this is one of those timeless monsters that simply won't escape your memory once it's pounded itself in there. Personally I loved the clever use of their namesake in this and other album/title track selections, but beyond that you've got this unique, dark and swaggering brute which features the appropriate metal clanging gimmick that you'd expect from the title. Immediately we're introduced to a darker, heavier Anvil with far more muscular guitar tone, and Steve 'Lips' Kudlow, while still utilizing the same range as the first album, seems as if his balls have dropped, or he smoked a few packs before churning this out in the studio. Huskier, manlier, and bolder, the near growls in the bridge stand out as a welcome warning that you are about to get your skull caved in by the weight of it all. Doesn't hurt that the lead burns like molten steel, the backing shouts are well developed and the damned central guitar riff is one of those so simple and effective that many other bands were probably slapping themselves in the forehead that they didn't come up with it.

But that's not the only great track here, and a number of its neighbors possess a rather startling depth that I don't remember experiencing on much of the debut. The year before, the Canadians had written the first good metallic tribute to a Stones' tune I'd yet heard, and here they unleash the first to a Toho monster in "Mothra", and a good one. Solid, mid-paced Judas Priest riffing helps spin the saga of the fictional Japanese beast while spurious leads help glide it into a finely structured chorus and a killer breakdown riff which yet again seems like a precursor to thrash. Lips is all fucking over this song, and the robotized vocals at the finale are another nice touch. Another legendary Anvil cut is the instrumental "March of the Crabs", also pretty effective as it allows Reiner's pummeling abilities to rise to the fore behind the rise and fall of the melodies, and fuck, the very EXISTENCE of this piece on the album just goes to show that these guys were getting serious...

Alas, not all of the writing here lives up to this same, impressive standard. We've got another Dave Allison fronted track called "Stop Me" which by this point feels like another band entirely, and a girl anthem called "Scenery" in which one of the riffs is a bit close to "Crazy Train" for my comfort (though the song is not entirely without merit). Others, like "Tag Team" in which Lips channels a bit of Gene Simmons' rugged vocal appeal is not all that special, or the driving if bland "Tease Me, Please Me" and "Jackhammer" just can't compare to a song like "Metal on Metal", and perhaps that's the reason the album wouldn't have the staying power the band needed to ride their momentum to the top. Don't get me wrong, there are a few other delicious tunes here like "Heat Sink" and "666" to strengthen the back end of the record, but it doesn't have that pure track by track appeal that contributed to the success of an album like Kill 'Em All or Number of the Beast.

Metal on Metal deserves a lot of credit, though, for the clear evolutionary path it represented for its progenitors. Louder, brasher, and far happier, the woodshed studio tones of the debut were dropped here in favor of a more industrial strength workspace, and this is felt in the thunder of the guitars and the raw weight of the guitar tone. Even the bass of Ian Dickson sounds more metal on this effort, thunking away with abandon even when he hasn't got an interesting line to engage. This transformed Anvil from a rather average sounding, fun hard rock/metal entity into something to be respected and perhaps even feared, as the celebrity roundup on their documentary film will attest.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (to hell with tomorrow)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Hard 'n' Heavy (1981)

Many people were probably introduced to the Canadian mainstays Anvil and their blue collar heavy metal struggle through the Anvil: The Story of Anvil documentary in 2009, but it's quite interesting to note that aesthetically, things have not changed much in their camp since their full-length debut over 30 years ago. Hard 'n' Heavy does emerge from that hazy, hard rocking blues underworld that better known peers and predecessors like Judas Priest, Accept and Saxon all traipsed about on their respective debuts, but their mix of serious, sexual and silly lyrics is one that they'd maintain until what is now going on forever. There are only a few tracks here that I'd deem truly 'great', but as a whole the debut has that remarkable ability to feel fresh even today, when the genre as a whole has evolved to the point that some of its more extreme artisans have become the auditory equivalents to things like fifty car pileups and industrial grade blenders.

There's a particular youthfulness here that not only ties to the lyrical content, but also the reality that Steve Kudlow was only in his mid 20s when it released through Attic. Hard to believe that 'Lips' was ever a strapping young man, but here it was, and the inexperience does often show in the writing. Not that there is anything petulant or entirely immature here, but a few of the guitar riffs are so basic that even by the early 80s they felt familiar. On the other hand, Hard 'n' Heavy certainly sounds seasoned enough in the studio, with a great balance of crisp guitar tones circa both Kudlow and Dave Allison, and Robb Reiner's strong, workmanlike drumming which feels like it's coming from the room opposite you. The central focus is on Lips' vocals, which were and remain among the more unique in the heavy metal spectrum. His tone is both boisterous and fragile, manly and about to shake apart, but he deserves credit for his ability to pitch between brief shrieks, enormous chants (as in the bridge of "School Love") and the steady mid range that he generally associates with the verse lyrics.

Not all of the tracks here have ever had the same level of impact on me, but at least it opens with a bang in "School Love", one of the more badass with a big if predictable verse rhythm and some of the band's better early licks. Especially that proto-thrash sequence in the bridge at around 1:30 which seemed a few years ahead of its time. My other favorites are "Bedroom Game" and "Ooh Baby" which both seem like pure, driving Priest worship with a dash of Deep Purple; and "Hot Child" which is loaded with these great, rocking guitar grooves that instantly hook themselves to your ears before the first verse canters into its march-like, percussive structure. This one also has a great, atmospheric chorus which carries off into the rafters. I'd like to also give some credit for Anvil's cover of the Stones' "Paint it Black". It initially fooled me into thinking it might be a cover of "Barracuda" thanks to the opening triplets, but I actually quite like how Kudlow's vocal just soars in the chorus segments, making for some mighty entertainment.

One of the problems I have with the album is that a few of the tunes feature Allison on lead vox rather than Lips. He's not got a bad presence, per se, but he immediately changes the landscape so I feel like I'm listening to something KISS or Poison would have released in the mid to late 80s. Sort of a controlled, rocking abandon that just doesn't measure up to the better tracks. A lot of these early bands suffered from a bit of an identity crisis as they were just starting to hit their strides, and for Anvil, this was that moment. "I Want You Both (With Me)" is the bigger culprit of the two Allison is fronting, but "Oh Jane" is not a whole lot better despite the stronger guitars. That said, neither is really enough to mar the album's overall quality to the point that it fails to entertain. You'll notice a difference, but neither is inferior to the heavily 70s rock inspired "At the Apartment" or the she-demon/Australian rock tribute "AC/DC", the latter of which has the most generic riff here.

Hard 'n' Heavy is a great album if you're into long summer drives to the beach or if you suffer crippling nostalgia for the late 70s and early 80s when the Trans Am was the material pinnacle achievement of masculinity. It's got songs about chicks, school, chicks, and...more than one chick at a time, so we're not dealing with the same level of variety that you'll find on later efforts like Metal on Metal or the excellent Pound for Pound. Spiritually it seems like some unsung spiritual precursor to the feel good vibes of Priest's Turbo or a whole lotta shitty 80s glam rock, but there is certainly enough of that later, harder hitting Anvil not to pass this by in your quest for classic sounds. One of those 'static' works which never seems to age, despite itself, aside from the pedestrian, but not out of place lyrics.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (there's more than one way to play the game)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Autothrall's Top Metal Albums of 2011

The Top 20 Metal Albums of 2011

01. Vader (Poland) - Welcome to the Morbid Reich
02. Antichrist (Sweden) - Forbidden World *debut of the year*
03. Flourishing (USA) - The Sum of All Fossils
04. Septic Flesh (Greece) - The Great Mass
05. Virus (Norway) - The Agent That Shapes the Desert
06. Deceased (USA) - Surreal Overdose
07. Negative Plane (USA) - Stained Glass Revelations
08. Infera Bruo (USA) - Infera Bruo
09. Sabbat (Japan) - Sabbatrinity
10. Burzum (Norway) - Fallen
11. Morbus Chron (Sweden) - Sleepers in the Rift
12. Doomsword (Italy) - The Eternal Battle
13. Arch/Matheos (USA) - Sympathetic Resonance
14. Pagan's Mind (Norway) - Heavenly Ecstasy
15. Barbarian (Italy) - Barbarian
16. Midnight Odyssey (Australia) - Funerals from the Astral Sphere
17. Sonne Adam (Israel) - Transformation
18. Vektor (USA) - Outer Isolation
19. Leprous (Norway) - Bilateral
20. Oranssi Pazuzu (Finland) - Kosmonument

Overall 2011 was not a match for either 2009 or 2010 in terms of sheer quality, but it's clear that the various genres are continuing to expand, and in some cases, contract. Old school death metal is back in full force, and we saw a few old friends return in spellbinding configurations. Unfortunately, a lot of letdowns as well. No perfect 10 scores for the first time in many years, but the Vader, Antichrist, Flourishing, and Septic Flesh were all pretty damned close, and have not left my normal rotation since I first experienced them. This list of 20 is drawn from a pool of approximately 614 new 2011 full-lengths & EPs I've listened to, at least once, through completion; around 370 of which I actually reviewed. You can find an expanded list of great 2011 titles over on my RYM page, if you're so included, or just scroll through the blog here using tag '2011'.