Anvil - Hope In Hell

Published May 17 2013

*=Staff's pick	Hope In Hell Eat Your Words* Through With You The Fight Is Never Won* Pay The Toll Flying Call Of Duty Bad Ass Rock 'N' Roll Time Shows No Mercy Mankind Machine Shut The Fuck Up* Hard Wired (bonus track) Fire At Will (bonus track)*

Genre	Heavy Metal	Steve 'Lips' Kudlow	Vocals
Tracks	13	Steve 'Lips' Kudlow	Guitar
Running time	53 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Steamhammer/SPV	Sal Italiano	Bass
Release	27 May 2013	Robb Reiner	Drums
Country	Canada	-	Keyboard
Producer	Bob Marlette
Similar artists	---

Anvil, the hard working band that sacrificed pretty much all they had, but never got that big break and truth be told, there were other bands who had success simply because they were better than this three-piece. Anvil, or to be more precise guitarist and vocalist Lips and drummer Robb Reiner, never gave up their quest for fame and even if they still to this day don't have a massive fanbase, most people into metal knows something about this combo. After parting ways on a heavy dispute last year with long-time bassplayer Glenn Five, Sal Italiano has joined the ranks of the Canadian veterans.

To no surprise and guaranteed, this release is yet another from the backbone heavy metal album. It's energetic and the flag of metal is raised to the top. Hope In Hell shows a somewhat timeless metal if seeing it from today's point of view, yet with slightly better sound quality than on their earlier albums naturally. No compromises, taking no shit and no greasy ballads. What more to ask for?

With this solid background, indeed I want to totally sell my soul and dig this effort to infinity, but the lack of good songwriting is truly evident and it never gets past decent. The lack of this most important ability is clear throughout almost the entire record. Some of the songs are all but good and only a few, like Eat Your Words, The Fight Is Never Won and ironically the bonus track Fire At Will, sets my body and neck muscles in motion. I've only listened to Hope In Hell six or seven times, but I can't see no opening to make this album grand eventually.

I know there are die hard Anvil fans out there who will see this album as another true masterpiece and question my hearing and see me as tone deaf, but to me, this is just a release in the immensely huge jungle of metal music that grows on trees. It's not striking me at all and I quickly lose interest. 3 chalices is all I can hand out to the Canadians' new effort.

See also review of: Pounding The Pavement , Anvil Is Anvil , Still Going Strong , Back To Basics

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
6	5	5	4	3

Summary
3 chalices of 10 - Tobbe