Anvil – Impact Is Imminent
AFM Records
Release Date: 20/05/22
Running Time: 53:33
Review by Simon Black
9/10
Everyone gives Anvil a bit of a hard time… and if you are reading this expecting me to go all 1980’s Kerrang! on these Canadian lifers, then you are very much mistaken. I will be honest, I somehow missed Anvil back in the day and only really got engaged when I finally saw their legendary “The Story of Anvil” movie, albeit some considerable time after its release – so this is first time out for me when it comes to listening to any of their studio albums.
Whilst many write this film off as a reality version of Spinal Tap and give the band a hard time to boot, I found this to be a very moving piece of film. If you have not seen it, it briefly introduces Anvil via some well-known names in the business, highlights their potential and humour from a promising early start and then jumps forward a few decades to a group of people struggling to keep the band going whilst holding down the kind of grinding jobs that are prepared to tolerate employees disappearing off on tour occasionally with no success or money to show for all that effort. Throughout the movie, we see a band used and abused over the decades and still trying to make a go of it whilst having to deal with rank amateurs and shysters.
They are not alone in their plight and that’s rather the point of the movie – even if some of what we see on screen has a deeply tragi-comic twist. Like so many bands out there, music, recording and touring are the only things that keep people sane. If the alternative is a life of shit-paid blue-collar existence, then yes, putting all your spare time into energy into being a musician is not only understandable, but totally laudable. The world may have changed since they started doing this nineteen albums ago, but they deserve a medal for just continuing to try and make a name for themselves in the face of painful financial burdens, the regular shit storm that is dealing with bottom feeder tour promoters in shit hole venues and the sheer guts it takes to keep going despite not ever having made it to the top of their game. Throughout the movie, we see a band used and abused over the decades and still trying to make a go of it whilst having to deal with rank amateurs. Through it all their gratitude to the fans, their love of Metal and their sheer honesty leave one feeling respect, even if this business has been unkind to them, and their contribution to it not always considered as top-drawer.
Which brings me to their latest opus…
Let’s be honest, this is Heavy Fucking Metal. If you want poetic lyrics, complex chord structures, mellifluous harmonic melodies and technical subtlety, then may I suggest something in the Symphonic or Progressive aisles. If you want straight ahead, honest to god street Metal, then really Anvil deliver the goods here. Opener “Take A Lesson” is the band’s perspective on my summation of the events of the movie and their own career, so don’t just take my word for it, as Lips speaks the truth well enough for himself. It’s a straight-ahead mind-paced rocker, but moody and honest, like much of the record. But the fun, the energy and the sheer joy are massively on display here as well, and totally infectious with it.
For a band with so much original material under their belt, this also feels measured and well-crafted. I’m guessing lockdown has a lot to do with this, as it seems to have given the band a bit more time to both select and pre-produce their material and to keep things well and truly in their Proto-Thrash sweet spot. The music straddles the middle ground between Motörhead and early Metallica, and quite honestly I would be annoyed if it tried to do anything different. What we get here though is a technically tight delivery and I wonder how much a part of that can be laid at the door of new bass man Chris Robertson whose precision delivery provides a focussed frame for Lips Kudlow and Robb Reiner to hang their musical hats on.
The band also know how to have fun though, which is as important now as it was in the 1980’s (which were actually a lot more po-faced than people remember) as moments of joy like the short Blues jam ‘Teabag’ attests, but you’ve gotta love the straight down to it basics of Thrashers like ‘Ghost Shadow’ or the relentless riffage of ‘Fire Rain’.
I was expecting to have to pull my punches on this review, but in fact I’ve found this an honest joy to listen to. The band are back in the UK late this year, once again playing low key venues, but let’s prove the world wrong by showing up in force. See you down the front.
‘Ghost Shadow’ Official Music Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Take A Lesson
02. Ghost Shadow
03. Another Gun Fight
04. Fire Rain
05. Teabag
06. Don’t Look Back
07. Someone To Hate
08. Bad Side Of Town
09. Wizard’s Wand
10. Lockdown
11. Explosive Energy
12. The Rabbit Hole
13. Shockwave
14. Gomez
LINE-UP:
Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow – Vocals / Guitar
Robb Reiner – Drums
Chris Robertson – Bass / Vocals
LINKS:
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