Anvil ‘Legal At Last’
Album Review By Adam McCann
AFM Records/Heavy Metal
When it comes to ‘nearly’ bands, Anvil are definitely up there. Although, the Canadian band released the definitive metal album ‘Metal on Metal’ back in 1982, Anvil have generally existed on the periphery of the heavy metal world. This has never phased Anvil and because of this, the Canadian’s have stuck to their guns and delivered album after album of pure heavy metal that at times has bordered on both power and speed metal. 2020 is no different and this year has Anvil following up their 2018 album ‘Pounding the Pavement’ with ‘Legal At Last’.
One of the selling points of Anvil has always been similar to that of Motörhead and Slayer, when you buy an album, you know what you’re getting. This is a band which is not going to suddenly do something completely different and that is not a bad thing. Therefore, there is an expectation that is easily fulfilled with ‘Legal At Last’. In typical Anvil fashion, there are some very, very good songs here, songs that are memorable and thoroughly enjoyable; tracks such as ‘Nabbed In Nebraska’ and the title track show that there is plenty of juice still remaining in the Anvil barrel. However, there are still some forgettable tracks here or some that just are not as good as others; once again meaning that this is a standard Anvil album with Lips seemingly recycling riffs from Black Sabbath, with certain riffs alluding to ‘Lord of this World’ and ‘Snowblind’, for example ‘Said and Done’. This aside, Lips and company do take a small step away from songs of innuendo of sex and masturbation, continuing to explore one of wider social themes into their work seen during their last few albums; tracks such as ‘Chemtrails’, ‘Plastic in Paradise’ and ‘Gasoline’. These themes demonstrate that there is more to Anvil than just crass and lewd songs, one where Lips clearly cares about the environment enough for it to take up a significant proportion of ‘Legal At Last’.
Once again, ‘Legal At Last’ is another typical Anvil album, when its good, it is very good, but when it’s not, it is rather forgettable. Take it with a pinch of salt and listen to this album as it was intended; crank it loud and just enjoy it.
Rating : 81/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
