ANVIL – “STRENGTH OF STEEL”, “POUND FOR POUND” & “WORTH THE WEIGHT”

Reissues,  SPV (2011)

Despite many years of exposure to the music industry, I am always amazed by its unique way of operating and the mass of contradictions that are endemic to it. Take, for instance, Anvil and the way they have been treated by the industry over the years. Having released three albums of immense quality quite early on in their career, namely “Hard ‘n’ Heavy” (1981), “Metal On Metal” (1982) and “Forged In Fire” (1983), and having been promised a contract with a major label by their then manager David Krebs (Aerosmith), the band was miraculously left to fight its own battles.

The numerous good quality albums that followed were not enough to help them break out of the unjust obscurity that they have found themselves to and they had to wait for a good twenty five whole years for an independent producer, who also happened to be a fan of the band, to release the highly acclaimed documentary “Anvil! The Story Of Anvil” in order for the industry to start taking notice! Now that spotlights are back on the band, the big labels started to take notice again (typical!) and one of them, legendary SPV records, decided to reissue three of the band’s less advertised albums and whose review you are about to read.

The first album is the band’s 1987 release Strength Of Steel – the only Anvil release to have received chart recognition in the US, peaking at No.191 on the Billboard 200 album charts in the year of its release. This, in my humble opinion, is not only the best of the three reissues on offer but also one of the best records ever recorded by these fine Canadians.

Taking on musical influences from British legends, such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and infusing them with extra energy and passion, Anvil released a fairly varied album full of simply-crafted classics that have simply stood the test of time. Whether you will opt for the slow- paced dark anthem “Strength of Steel”, the flamboyant solos of “Concrete Jungle”, the Priest-sounding head-banging gem “Cut Loose” or the five and a half minute epic “Kiss Of Death”, Anvil’s fourth studio album is one of the best representatives of an era where Classic Heavy Metal was still the main genre of choice.

When Pound For Pound was unleashed on the world a year later, Thrash Metal was already winning ground in terms of popularity and so Anvil’s decision to go heavier/darker did not come as a surprise to anyone. Leaving most of their classic Rock n’ Roll influences behind and following an approach which shared many similarities with bands like Mercyful Fate, the Toronto [then] quartet came up with ten new compositions which are slightly more complex and, dare I say, experimental in nature- a good example being the opener “Blood On Ice” with its various rhythmical changes, enough to surprise a few people.

The album is much less balanced in comparison with its predecessor as, on the one hand you have real stand-out tracks such as the groovy/heavy riffed “Corporate Preacher”, the Motley Crue (!) sounding “Where Does All The Money Go” and the epic duet “Senile King” / “Fire In The Night”, while on the other side of the fence lie the more average “Toe Jam”, “Safe Sex” and “Cramps” – the latter being one of the most incomprehensible thirteen second ‘tracks’ I have ever come across!

The year Anvil decided to release their sixth studio effort Worth The Weight was at the time the whole world was already swinging to the short and simply tunes of Grunge – making even more surprising the fact that this eight track release features some of the longest compositions in the band’s career.

More varied and confident than its predecessor, the album relied on dark epic compositions such as “Infanticide” to win over people’s hearts – something that would have certainly happened if the album was release during any other time period.

It is quite impressive to witness how well the groovy sounding “On The Way To Hell” gels with the much Thrashier “Bushpig” and also how addictive a simply-crafted track like “Pow Wow” can become after only a couple of spins!

It is a shame that, just like its predecessor, “Worth The Weight” cannot keep the quality standards high throughout but simply the incorporation of the nine minute “Sadness / Love Me When I’m Dead” is enough to ensure it a photo-finish victory.

There are quite a few reasons why I am happy to see these albums being re-issued by SPV records. Apart from the fact that all three are good quality releases and that they have been long unavailable in any type of format for old and new fans alike, they document the ‘no surrender’ attitude of one of very few loyal Metal bands left – a band that was under sustained attack from the ‘dark forces’ of Grunge and an indifferent music industry.

The fact that, as you read these words, Grunge is a ghost of the past and these three albums are being reissued is a great victory for both Anvil and Metal – a victory that cannot be better celebrated than by adding them to one’s own collection!

John Stefanis

Rating:

“Strength Of Steel”: **** (4.0/5.0)
“Pound For Pound”: *** (3.0/5.0)
“Worth The Weight”: ***1/2 (3.5/5.0)

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