ANVIL — Metal on Metal (review)

Album · 1982 · Heavy Metal

5/5 · 2016-03-26
voila_la_scorie

This riff must be in the top something of best metal riffs ever. Certainly the top ten of the eighties. "Metal on Metal" was the first true introduction the world had to Canadian purveyors of heavy, heavy metal, Anvil. Well, there's that whole documentary about Anvil, and the one thing many can agree upon is that Anvil are the link between traditional metal like Judas Priest and thrash metal. And the title track of this album is sung with a spit and drool snarl, like a burly biker doing metal karaoke, vocals with guts. It has to be one of the great metal anthems.

The fun doesn't stop after the first track, though. Anvil take every lesson learned from Judas Priest's most intense head banging tracks between 1978 and 1980 and pump it all full throttle into "Mothra", a speedy and thunderous charger of a tune that will have you tapping your feet like a jackhammer. And heck, just to be sure, Anvil have a song on here called "Jackhammer".

The oddball of the album is "Stop Me" which is not so unusual for its acoustic intro as it is for its more standard-for-the-day hard rock/heavy metal approach. This could be Scorpions meets Raven. The chorus is almost catchy!

No fear. By "March of the Crabs" we are somewhere between Judas Priest and "Killers" Iron Maiden with the intensity factor kicked up a notch or two. If Anvil didn't write the book on metal up until 1982?! This is '82? Damn, well if they didn't write the book they they were ready by any means to rewrite it!

Do I need to do a track by track run down? How about I just summarize by saying the rest of the album is heavy, intense, fast, an onslaught of metal music. This should by all means stand out as a defining album in metal history. When things slow down it's only to be slow and heavy like steel factory machinery. Otherwise, it's never mind the bullocks and take no prisoners. If someone had said that thrash metal could never be done, someone else surely would have said, "How about Anvil?"

more than 2 years ago
Permalink
Report #319575

Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer

Please login to post a shout

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I only know two albums, siLLy puPPy, but I like most of the songs. I think compared to other bands of the time, for a couple of years anyway, the really worked hard to be as metal as metal could be. But before they really got big out there, the thrash movement swept up and made Anvil trad metal.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I liked the movie but still haven't actually heard any Anvil albums. They seem a little generic i guess

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It's funny because I had this on cassette and didn't get into it back then. But listening to it now, it seems brilliant!

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

The title of this album says it all really. Metal on Metal \m/ And I've always had a bit of a soft spot for bands like Anvil when they quickened their pace, almost hitting a thrash groove, but staying quintessentially metal. Manowar does it on occasion too.