Artist: Anvil
Album: Hope In Hell
Genre: Heavy Metal
Release Date: 24th May 2013
Label: Steamhammer / SPV
Album Review
'Hope In Hell' is Canadian heavy metal band, ANVIL's, sixteenth album to date. Originating in 1981 it is pretty impressive to see a band go for so many years and continue to be successful. The group performs a good mix of direct heavy metal in the vein of DIO and power metal as well, so by this point most who are acquainted with ANVIL know what to expect. And perhaps expectations are a bit tired now, because not much has changed for the group since the last album. The group still sticks to their “three word title” tradition and 'Hope In Hell' features plenty of really enjoyable riffs; just to hear the opening track is more than enough to let new and old fans these guys are ready to come out and play. Of course, as the album progresses, listeners will begin to hear more and harder riffs and less and less variation as the songs go along. Tracks like ‘Eat Your Words’ and ‘Pay The Toll’ have similar riff structures and focus on playing the same three riffs over and over to keep momentum going. There are a few surprises here and there such as including what sounds like cowbell on the tracks, but at the base this is pretty standard heavy metal. For ANVIL's legacy, it is great because they've been so good at the formula for years now, but most fans will probably be expecting a little bit more with the versatility of the modern age of metal.
ANVIL also seems like they have gotten a more 'in your face' attitude with their lyrics, which can be taken as good or bad. Tracks like ‘Eat Your Words’ and ‘Shut The Fuck Up’ are angry and enjoyable pieces, but some fans may consider them juvenile compared to other songs in the band's discography. In a time when nu-metal was popular and the 'rage for the sake of rage' dominated music, this would have been fine. Now, it just seems somewhat laughable despite how fun the riffs are to hear. For new listeners, some may be surprised to hear that there are no slow songs, no ballads, and no moments of softness that is part of the stereotypical heavy metal/ power metal album. This really shows that ANVIL wanted to pull out all the stops and hold nothing back in their performance on 'Hope In Hell.' In the long run, those who are already fans of ANVIL will pick this up out of loyalty to the band's sound, but those who are on the fence about them will probably feel they could have done better compared to previous albums which were much more versatile.
Tracklist
01. Hope In Hell
02. Eat Your Words
03. Through With You
04. The Fight Is Never Won
05. Pay The Toll
06. Flying
07. Call Of Duty
08. Badass Rock n’ Roll
09. Time Shows No Mercy
10. Mankind Machine
11. Shut The Fuck Up
Line-up
Lips – vocals / guitars
Robb Reiner – drums
Sal Italiano – Bass
Website
http://anvilmetal.com/ / https://www.facebook.com/anvilmetal
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 5
Sound: 5
Total: 5 / 10
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