PiercingMetal is giving away some tickets to the Anvil show that is happening over at the Highline Ballroom in the coming days. The giveaway comes care of our friends in the marketing department at the venue and is being held on our Official Facebook Page. Click the embedded image below to participate.
If you still haven’t given our Page a proper “Like” yet we ask that you please do that straight away because Facebook is a really important Social Network for building and engaging the website’s audience. The higher that the number of likes go the more chances there are for us to keep this kind of stuff happening. Thanks in advance.
Artist: Anvil Title: “Anthology Of Anvil” Label: Metal Blade Records Release Date: 11/21/2000 Genre: Heavy Metal Rating: 4/5
With all the hoopla that surrounded the Canadian Heavy Metal band Anvil thanks to the documentary “Anvil; The Story Of Anvil”, I was compelled to dig this release out of my personal archives and once again bring it to light for those Metal mavens of the world who might have interest in finding themselves a copy. As many fans already know, the band’s documentary was a blockbuster hit and a film that breathed some new life into their music and career as a whole. The juggernaut of a documentary took the band to the front pages of the magazines again and had the younger fans saying “oh wow, they are still together?”. After seeing it I sat in front of my own music library to see just where this release was because I was very simply dying to blast “Jackhammer” and “March Of The Crabs” at maximum volume once again. I was happy when I re-discovered it because it is one of three actual Anvil CD’s that I even own. A lot of the bands output is hard to find on CD. This was released a little over a decade ago on Metal Blade Records and gave a fantastic view of the band thanks to its eighteen tunes. Granted I was only one of the casual fans when compared to my friends but I liked what I liked and most of those tunes were on this release. For me, it was a win, win purchase. Continue reading “Anthology Of Anvil” by Anvil→
Artist: Anvil Title: “Past & Present Live” Label: Metal Mind Productions Release Date: 9/21/2009 Genre: Speed Metal/Heavy Metal Rating: 3.5/5
With all of the buzz being generated for the band Anvil based on the movie “Anvil: The Story Of Anvil”, it seemed to be only a matter of time before some of their releases made an appearance again. One such example would be the bands 1989 live recording which by the year of its performance show that the kind of music that Anvil did was already on its way out in the public eye. Yes, by this time in music history, the educated music fan will quickly realize that Metal was passé and the wonderful sound of Grunge was in full sway. Of course I am being somewhat sarcastic, for while I enjoyed some of the killer Grunge acts I saw no reason for it moving Legendary Metal bands aside. Even though this was not the best decade for Metal, we still get a rock solid performance from Anvil during this show and how could this be anything but the case – the band was still on their own quest for glory and the proper respect from the industry giants who could make them the success that was still managing to elude them. Originally released on Metal Blade Records, the album now comes to us in remastered format care of the fine folks at Metal Mind Productions and now in a slim digipak case with some expanded liner notes. Continue reading “Past & Present Live” by Anvil→
Anvil was back and riding high on the success of their documentary film “Anvil The Story Of Anvil”. The last time around that they visited, it was to present the film and then perform a few numbers for media outlets and a few select fans. It was a great time and we wished them well in recharging the batteries in their already lengthy career. Tonight the band would be touring as the sole main act and depending on where they played, an area support band would start off the fun. There would be no movie shown and that was fine by me since I’ve already seen it a few times. It would be held at the Gramercy Theatre and Long Island’s own Misery would open the show. You can check out the full concert article below.
Artist: Anvil Venue: Gramercy (New York, NY) Opener: Misery, Toothgrinder Date: 3/19/2010 Label: VH1 Classic
March Metal Madness was continuing and spring was almost in the air so you know that this brings to mind thoughts about what to do in the season and – Anvil. OK, so maybe not so much but despite this, those stars of the celluloid world were officially back in NYC and ready to kick our asses once again. You’ve most likely seen the bands documentary movie “Anvil: The Story Of Anvil” by now as it has aired on VH1 numerous times and been the topic of discussion on more Metal sites and magazines than I could possibly count. The original plan was for the band to perform after a showing of the movie, but this changed very early in the touring run and it became known how the band would instead play a full set and have local area bands leading off the night. For many people this was a better deal because the movie has been shown and promoted to death and if people want to see it at this point they are best served to buy the official DVD. This evening the gig would be started off by Toothgrinder from Asbury Park, NJ and Misery who are from a little closer to home, and sadly we would not catch more than one final song from the young Toothgrinder. I am sure that they will be back around sometime in the future and when that happens I will try to catch them. I did speak to them briefly downstairs in the venue’s lounge and they seemed to be nice guys who really want to play Metal for the world. Good luck Toothgrinder. Misery was coming up as direct support tonight and would be on in minutes it seemed. Continue reading Anvil @ Gramercy Theatre (3/19/2010)→
Artist: Various Artists Title: “We Wish You A Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year” EP Label: Armoury Records Release Date: 11/24/2009 Genre: Holiday Metal Rating: 2.5/5
This is a review of the four-song EP that is being released as a digital download only companion piece to the original release of “We Wish You A Metal X-Mas & A Headbanging New Year. Since we reviewed that recording last year, we are representing it to get you up to speed and then we shall examine the new four song EP tracks. We enjoyed that original album and gave it a ranking of 4/5. Read on.
“I’ve been a fan of the holiday juggernaut that is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra for several years now, but there was no way that my experience with that would have prepared me for how Twisted Sister would deliver their “Twisted Christmas” release. I bring them up as it originally hit me as one of the most absurd items in reviews to do pile but after several listens I found myself intrigued at just how well the conventional Metal vibe worked when crafted together with Holiday classics that they chose. It was an album that left you hungry for more and that made the arrival of the “We Wish You A Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year” release something I was eager to dig into. The players on this one are as vast as the Metal genre itself and as result finds legends like Alice Cooper and Ronnie James Dio performing along with the likes of diverse quality players like Steve Lukather and Ray Luzier and many, many more. The vibe of this release is rather heavy which was good and I admit it that it almost felt like a Motorhead track when Lemmy gave it a go at “Run Rudolph Run”. Shock master Alice Cooper and John 5 delivered the creepiest “Santa Claws Is Coming To Town” I’ve ever heard and believe me at the end of this one, the fact that he knows when you are sleeping and knows when you are awake will scare the Charles Dickens out of you. Winners come shining through during a few numbers like “Silver Bells” which has a powerful modern Metal drive to it and Geoff Tate singing and I felt the same way about the albums opening title track that gave us the magical voice of Jeff Scott Soto, a singer I have always been able to enjoy. Dio is at his ominous best with Mr. Iommi and company for “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and the best way to describe this one is as imagine the band Heaven And Hell doing the track. Weird huh, but it does work on some levels. I had to say that I was put off by the Death Metal growls of Chuck Billy and Thrash treatment given to “Silent Night”, as this is a track that I like to much to see given such a reworking. Continue reading “We Wish You A Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year” (EP) by Various Artists→
