Anvil - Hard 'n' Heavy
#202
By Jon Rosenberg
May 25 1981
Anvil
Hard ‘N’ Heavy
Genre: Canadian Metal, eh?
Allen’s rating: 4 out of 5
Jon’s Rating: 1.75 out of 5
Highlights:
Oh Jane
Paint It Black
I had never even heard of Canadian metal band Anvil until I saw the documentary about them called “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” a decade or so ago. It’s a great rock-doc that has been compared to a real-life “This is Spinal Tap,” a comparison made all the more amusing by the fact that Anvil’s drummer is named Robb Reiner!
Anyway, full disclosure: I’m not much into metal. But I did request this album to review out of curiosity. So, if you’re a big metal-head, feel free to add a couple of points to my rating.
Hard ‘N’ Heavy was Anvil’s debut album. Apparently, it had been previously released under the band’s original name, Lips – which is also the nickname of singer/guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow. Maybe someone thought Lips sounded too much like Kiss? So they named themselves after the most heavy metal thing they could think of: a big, heavy piece of metal.
This isn’t a great album, but it’s not terrible either. It just struck me as rather pedestrian, really. No memorable riffs to speak of at all. It is pretty damn ballsy to title a song on your debut “AC/DC,” and it’s one of the better songs here. Though all it did is make me want to listen to an actual AC/DC album. The “Paint It Black” cover isn’t bad, but hardly worth the price of admission. Honestly, the only song that stuck with me at all is “Oh Jane,” which has an almost grungy, Neil Young groove to it, with the added attraction of some tasteful cowbell. Everything else I had completely forgotten five minutes after the album ended.
But who cares what I think? Anvil released their 18th studio album in February of 2020!
https://open.spotify.com/album/4NCuKI3wmtygdlouv7PPNv?si=8B4TbhZVRwqSNRzbHO2Whw
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