Artist: Anvil
Title: “Back To Basics” (remaster)
Label: The End Records
Release Date: 8/14/2012
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 3.25/5

The mighty Canadian Metal band Anvil is in the process of re-issuing their entire back catalog on The End Records and for fans of the band this is a very good thing because many of these albums have not been available for a very long time. Having reviewed this particular release when it first came out, I am re-presenting those original thoughts with some minor edits to reflect the new issue.

When it came to getting ones fair share in terms of touring the USA, Anvil seemed to be one of those bands and with “Back To Basics” one finds them returning after a very long absence to the public eye as far as the Metal Industry is concerned. While the release is chock full of steady rolling Heavy Metal that’s presented in an Old School, there is little impact in any of the tunes when one compares to their earliest work. We don’t get anything as musically capable as we did on “Hard N Heavy” like “Metal On Metal”, “Jackhammer” or “March Of The Crabs”. We do have several decent rockers such as “Keep It Up” , “The Chainsaw” and “Bottom Feeder” however, the rest is just OK in my opinion. I guess I had expected a little more from them due to the duration in time that I have heard them doing anything. In the end I guess that it is still nice to see them able to generate a steady amount of Metal in any case. The Old School sound or “Traditional” as it is considered nowadays gets a continued life because of their efforts and we cannot complain about that.
Continue reading “Back To Basics” (remaster) by Anvil →