Anvil - Metal on Metal (1982)^{Release ID: 5823}

I wasn't very impressed with the 1981 debut album from Canadian heavy metallers Anvil entitled “Hard ‘n’ Heavy”. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it was probably the weakest metal-related release of 1981. But let’s not let that discourage us as the band was about to take some positive steps with their follow-up album “Metal On Metal” which was released a year later in April 1982.

The debut album was a self-financed & produced effort however “Metal On Metal” sees the band teaming up with producer Chris Tsangarides who would later go on to a great career working on heavy albums like Judas Priest’s “Painkiller”, Thin Lizzy’s “Thunder & Lightning” & Bruce Dickinson’s “Tattooed Millionaire” as well as a host of other more commercial ventures. And the result is a much more powerful & punchy production job. The drum sound in particular is a much better platform to showcase Robb Reiner’s skills. But that’s not the only obvious difference from Anvil’s debut as it’s amazing just how far the band have come musically in only a single year.

The cheesy commercial hard rock croonings of the debut are nowhere to be found here & we now have a genuine heavy metal sound & one that’s up there with the most intense ever released to that time. Now many people may scoff at the idea that Anvil paved the way for the thrash metal movement & never received the rewards they were due however those people should really give “Metal On Metal” a listen before making those statements because, love it or hate it, it’s hard to deny the obvious hints towards a thrashier sound here. The Judas Priest influence has increased ten fold from the last album & we often see some not so subtle tributes to the mighty Priest. Especially so in Steve “Lips” Kudlow’s vocal performance on a couple of tracks where he’s clearly trying to channel the vocal prowess of Rob Halford. And with fairly minimal success it has to be said.

The musicianship on display is top notch throughout though with Rob Reiner’s drumming being the clear highlight. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t a major influence on the early thrash metal drummers & I’ve read that this was the case for people like Metallica’s Lars Ulrich & Gene Hoglan who would go on to play for virtually every great metal band ever. The twin guitar attack is very effective with Steve contributing some great lead solo work throughout. My major concern though is still his vocals. I just don’t think that Lips is up to the task of fronting a tier one metal band. It’s not that he can’t hold a tune because he certainly can but he still sounds like a complete amateur to my ears & it’s my firm opinion that this is the thing that has held Anvil back from the sort of success that other bands could achieve with an equally strong instrumental approach. The cheesy lyrics about girls are still in full effect here too which doesn’t help. It wouldn’t be a show stopper though if the song-writing were top notch. Unfortunately though, while there are plenty of great riffs here, I can’t say that many of the songs meet the mark as a complete package. It’s proof that you can make a pretty darn heavy metal record but if the song-writing is flat then the album won’t be engaging over the long-term.

Regardless, “Metal On Metal” is still Anvil’s most popular release & the title track is the band’s undisputed anthem. Personally, I’ve never liked it. It’s not horrible but just sounds kinda dumb to my ears. There are three standout tracks on the album that I really enjoy while the rest does very little for me. The Dave Allison fronted commercial rock ballad “Stop Me” is probably the low point but there are a couple of other tracks on the B side that I genuinely hate like “Scenery” which blatantly steals one of the main riffs from Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train”. I don’t think it’s any surprise that my album highlight track  is also an instrumental though with the short two & a half minute “March Of The Crabs” being quite a thrashy & impressive musical excursion with some exciting lead guitar work. “Metal On Metal” also finishes with two pretty strong numbers in “Tease Me, Please Me” (yeah metal as fuck song title I know) & the particularly intense “666”. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that “666” is a genuine thrash metal outing. Perhaps the earliest ever recorded.

So I can see why “Metal On Metal” was an important release for the maturity of thrash metal but it still doesn’t make for an enjoyable listen for me. Perhaps Anvil are just one of those bands that I’ll never understand.