ANVIL — Impact Is Imminent (review)

Album · 2022 · Heavy Metal

3.5/5 · 2022-12-16
voila_la_scorie

I hadn't bought any Anvil albums since Metal on Metal and Forged in Fire, and aside from these two, I had no idea of what the band had been doing all these years until that movie about them came out. I thought about buying a newer Anvil album at the time, but it never became a priority until this year when I heard there was another new album coming out. After a few months, I finally got it.

After ordering it, I checked a review on Angry Metal Guy that said it was a bit better than their last few albums. Anvil are known for being one of those bands that stick with one formula and every album adheres to it. Anvil are a core old school metal band, and all of their albums don't deviate except where some albums might feature more speed metal and others might have more connection to metal's hard rock and blues-based roots. As one reviewer on Rate Your Music said, all the albums are pretty much the same, so comparisons will mostly be about production value and song-writing.

I was pleasantly surprised. No, there was nothing unexpected, but right from the get go I noticed the excellent sound quality. Metal albums can suffer various production problems such as dense or muddy sound quality, lackluster drum or vocal recording quality, tinny guitar sounds, or overly compressed sound. This album is very rich and clean with all instruments clear in the mix. The bass might seem in the background a bit, but if you listen for it, it's right in there providing the weight for the guitar riffs and adding some accent points here and there.

The songs are mostly quite fun (the "Lockdown" song about COVID-19 runs dry because of the theme, I find), and there are a few tracks that perk up my ears with each listen such as "Ghost Shadow" and "Gunfight". Lips sounds very gruff and tough. His vocals aren't a winner for everyone, and I've read a few criticisms about them on older albums. But for me, he does a fine job for the music on this album. Actually, I find it impressive knowing the age of both Lips and Rob because this album is full of energy!

I have since picked up a few older albums and I can say that Impact Is Imminent is not as intense as some, e.g. Plugged In Permanent. But as an album with which to become reacquainted with Anvil, I think it's certainly good enough. Rather than a tepid response, I am inspired to hear more, so that's a plus sign.

Reviews of this album generally fall between the Angry Metal Guy view of not a great album, no reinventing of the wheel, but at least somewhat interesting to a rather impressive piece of work for a band's 19th studio release.

I watched a podcast interview with Lips and Rob and Sacha Gervasi, who made the Anvil movie, and I learned that the two instrumental tracks on the album, "Teabag" and "Gomez" are both nicknames for Sacha. When he was fifteen, Sacha got himself invited to work as a drum tech for Anvil for three weeks during his summer holiday, and being English, he was given the nickname. Later on he earned the nickname "Gomez" when he announced that he had the best train set in Hollywood, and Lips and Rob said he was like Gomez Adams.

Impact Is Imminent might not exactly be a must have album for everyone, but Anvil fans shouldn't miss it and for those who has a casual acquaintance with the band's music should at least check it out.