Jackhammers and concrete bashers, it’s the stuff of heavy metal legends right?, with a band like Anvil and some thirty seven years in, and seventeen albums later, you would surely think so.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Anvil
ALBUM: Pounding The Pavement
LABEL: SPV/Steamhammer
SERIAL: SPV 285030 CD
YEAR: 2018
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
LINEUP: Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow – vocals, guitars, lyrics, songwriting * Chris Robertson – bass, backing vocals * Robb Reiner – drums, songwriting
TRACK LISTING: 01 Bitch In The Box * 02 Ego * 03 Doing What I Want * 04 Smash Your Face * 05 Pounding The Pavement * 06 Rock That Shit * 07 Let It Go * 08 Nanook Of The North * 09 Black Smoke * 10 World Of Tomorrow * 11 Warming Up * 12 Don’t Tell Me (Bonus Track)
RATING: 80/100
WEBLINKS: Wikipedia Page
Background
It wasn’t long ago we reviewed 2016’s ‘Anvil Is Anvil’ album. Nearly a year later, they hit the mailbox with their follow-up ‘Pounding The Pavement’, which is more shenanigans for those who like a bit of gonzo about their metal.
It’s good that the term ‘gonzo’ can still be applied in the metal realm, considering the chief-architect of the term Ted Nugent has pussied out to become a mouth-piece of the NRA, and a vocal critic of Florida high-school students.
Obviously the numbers of wild boar running around the Michigan countryside must be at extinction levels if Nugent has nothing better to do. Unlike messrs Kudlow, Reiner and Robertson, who are out delivering metal on a platter as if they were care packages for the needy.
The Songs
You won’t find anything too radical from the manic Canucks, but the lyrical content is definitely ‘out there’. Check out ‘Bitch In The Box’, which is all about the perils of dealing with a GPS system in the car. The finale section featuring a robotic female voice ‘recalculating’ is hilarious. Haven’t we heard that before?
Second up is ‘Ego’, a frantic blast in the vein of the late great Motorhead. ‘Doing What I Want’ features a load of industrial strength chugging guitar work and some rampant drum work. The title track is pretty heavy for an instrumental, and it’s one of the best tracks here.
For something different, ‘Rock This Shit’ and ‘Warming Up’ add interesting style changes, like very heavy blues riffing from Euro bands mixing blues and metal back in the 80’s. I’m thinking of bands like Bodine and Split Crow.
There are a couple of tracks you just have to say to yourself ‘what the hell?’ What is ‘Nanook Of The North’ all about? Then there’s the equally pointless ‘Smash Your Face’. I know Anvil take the piss mostly, but this takes the cake.
In Summary
The album cover reminds me of that one-off Vendetta album back in 1982, the band of the mighty Nikki Buzz. Jackhammers and concrete bashers, it’s the stuff of heavy metal legends right?
Thirty seven years in, and seventeen albums later, you would surely think so. Like all the recent Anvil albums, there’s a mix of great songs and not so great. It’s good that we still keep writing about these guys, and that labels like SPV keep supporting them.
Anvil on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
