Archive for anvil this is thirteen album

METAL ODYSSEY’S HEAVY METAL HONORABLE MENTIONS OF 2009!

Posted in 1970's hard rock bands, 1970's classic rock music, 1970's heavy metal bands, 1980's heavy metal bands, 1990's heavy metal bands, Album Review, best of album lists, best of hard rock albums list, best of heavy metal albums, classic rock albums, classic rock music, cool album covers, current hard rock albums, current hard rock bands, current heavy metal albums, current heavy metal bands, extreme metal music albums, extreme music, hard rock albums 2009, hard rock bands 2009, hard rock music 2009, heavy metal album covers, heavy metal albums, heavy metal albums 2009, heavy metal bands, heavy metal bands 2009, heavy metal history, heavy metal music 2009, metal odyssey, Music, old school hard rock, old school heavy metal, rock music with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 31, 2009 by Metal Odyssey

Here are ten albums that did not make it to my Looking Back On 2009/Awards List, Top Ten Hard Rock Albums List or my Top 25 Heavy Metal Albums List. These are albums that I did buy, enjoyed, still listen to and reviewed on Metal Odyssey during 2009. They all deserve some Metal attention as well. There is no specific order of importance here, these are albums that I really want to celebrate – for their overall integrity in musicianship and songs. From the Progressive/Extreme Metal of Daath to the Hard Rock meets Heavy Metal of the ultra legendary Thin Lizzy, these 2009 albums blanket a few genres. It just wouldn’t feel right to me, not revisiting these albums one more time, in an end of year list. I put the header link below each album, so you can read the original review I posted during 2009. Enjoy or scream at this list… Happy Metal New Year too!

CHARM CITY DEVILS – LET’S ROCK AND ROLL

Charm City Devils “Let’s Rock-N-Roll” – A Charming Hard Rock Album

GREAT WHITE – RISING

Great White “Rising” rises to the top with A+ Hard Rock

CHILDREN OF BODOM – SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET

Children Of Bodom – “Skeletons In The Closet” Album Of Cover Songs Is Metal Thrashing Good

U.D.O. – DOMINATOR

U.D.O. – “DOMINATOR” Unleashes Potent Heavy Metal

ANVIL – THIS IS THIRTEEN

ANVIL – “THIS IS THIRTEEN” – THIS IS OLD SCHOOL, REAL HEAVY METAL

LAZARUS A.D. – THE ONSLAUGHT

LAZARUS A.D. “The Onslaught” – a real intense Thrash Metal invasion

RONNY MUNROE – THE FIRE WITHIN

Ronny Munroe “The Fire Within” – Metal Church vocalist roars on solo debut

SAXON – INTO THE LABYRINTH

Saxon continues to Rock with Old School Heavy Metal

DAATH – THE CONCEALERS

DAATH – “The Concealers” is a full blown Metal onslaught!

THIN LIZZY – STILL DANGEROUS

LIVE AT THE TOWER THEATRE PHILADELPHIA 1977

Thin Lizzy “Still Dangerous” reminds me Metal never ages.

Well, this will be the fourth and final list, in the Best Of 2009 Series of posts I’ve done this past week. All of my Metal accolades are out in the open for all to read and dissect. I thank any and everyone for taking the time to stop by Metal Odyssey for a visit(s) in 2009! I anticipate a tremendously Metal 2010! Let the new Hard Rock and Heavy Metal releases come! If you like, you can check out the other Metal Odyssey – Best Of 2009 posts, (there are 3 other posts), just click on the header links below:

METAL ODYSSEY’S TOP TEN HARD ROCK ALBUMS OF 2009

METAL ODYSSEY’S TOP 25 HEAVY METAL ALBUMS OF 2009

METAL ODYSSEY LOOKS BACK ON HEAVY METAL 2009… AND SOME AWARDS!

Be sure to check out the following Hard Rock and/or Heavy Metal blogs for their respective Best Of 2009 Lists as well! There were many more cool albums released in 2009 than I was able to get my hands on! These other great blogs cover a ton of ground with Hard Rock and an array of Heavy Metal genres… it is all good fun to see so many albums that I have missed and where my favorites rank with other bloggers lists.

Heavy Metal Addiction – http://heavymetaladdiction.com/

All Metal Resource – http://allmetalresource.com/

Bring Back Glam – http://bringbackglam.squarespace.com/

Hair Metal Mansion – http://hairbangersradio.ning.com/

Hard Rock Hideout – http://hardrockhideout.com/

Heavy Metal Time Machine – http://metalmark.blogspot.com/

Imagine Echoes – http://www.imagineechoes.com/

Layla’s Classic Rock – http://laylasclassicrock.blogspot.com/

Metal Excess – http://metalexcess.com/

The Metal Minute – http://rayvanhornjr.blogspot.com/

Rock Of Ages – http://rockofages.wordpress.com/

The Ripple Effect – http://www.ripplemusic.blogspot.com/

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ANVIL – “THIS IS THIRTEEN” – THIS IS OLD SCHOOL, REAL HEAVY METAL

Posted in 1980's heavy metal albums, 1980's thrash metal bands, 1980's thrash metal music, 1980's heavy metal bands, 1980's heavy metal music, 1980's heavy metal songs, 1980's metal music, 1990's heavy metal bands, 1990's heavy metal music, Album Review, canadian heavy metal bands, classic metal, collecting rock music, cool album covers, current heavy metal albums, current heavy metal music, current metal albums, current thrash metal, current thrash metal albums, essential heavy metal albums, essential thrash metal albums, heavy metal album covers, heavy metal album reissued, heavy metal album review, heavy metal albums, heavy metal albums 2009, heavy metal bands from canada, heavy metal bands this decade, heavy metal drummers, heavy metal music, heavy metal music 2009, Heavy Metal Reviews, heavy metal songs 2009, heavy metal vocalists, Metal, metal music, metal odyssey, Metal Reviews, Music, old school heavy metal, old school thrash metal music, rock music, spooky metal album covers, vintage heavy metal albums, vintage heavy metal bands with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 8, 2009 by Metal Odyssey

Anvil "This Is Thirteen" small album picANVIL. Blue collar Heavy Metal personified. No pretentious attitude or pompousness with this band, just a working man’s ethic and never say die mantra that has led them up to 2009, with VH1 Classic Records picking up and reissuing their self funded album This Is Thirteen. (Good Metal move there, VH1 Classic Records). Unless you have been living underneath the remnants of a crashed UFO for the last six months, Anvil is back. Well, they never really went away for any real measurable length of time. Unlike a throng of prima donna Heavy Metal Bands out there who have taken the sabbatical and returned, expecting rose petals to be thrown everywhere they walk, Anvil is just doing what they always have done… play damn good Heavy Metal Music for anyone who will listen. I am listening, I listened to Anvil in the early ’80’s, their Metal has never left my collection since. Hell, I still have Anvil’s first three – Hard N’ Heavy, Metal On Metal and Forged In Fire on cassette – I could never bring myself to part with them. Anvil has stayed true to themselves and cool Metal things come to those Metal bands who wait. Without getting too deep into this bands history… the best way for anyone unfamiliar with Anvil is to watch or buy their newly released DVD – ANVIL – The Story of ANVIL.

I would have bought this great DVD today, yet my Super Walmart never put it out for sale along with any other newly released CD’s or DVD’s… and that was at 9:30 a.m. EST on October 6th when I left that store today. I did not have time to drive around to other stores for this Anvil DVD today, thanks for nothing Super Walmart. I will make certain to buy the Anvil DVD at f.y.e. now, you better Metal believe it. Ha, Ha, Super Walmart… you lost a sale on that one.

What a perfect segue for the first song I will mention from This Is Thirteen… Big Business. I like this one a Metal ton, a straight on anti-corporate song if there ever was! Anvil’s lyrics are not overdone, they are not out to impress any Rhodes Scholars, ya’ know? Anvil impressed me with Big Business, reminding me that nothing is free and rising fees… oh how true it is. The album opener is This Is Thirteen, with doom laden riffs, my Metal mind wanders over to vintage Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath here. Combined with the slowed down rhythm section here, this song really does take me back to 1982 and I am proud to say that. Bombs Away has Anvil shredding their brand of Thrash, Lips on guitar is not just fundamentally sound, he is Metal be damned… a great guitarist. As a vocalist, Lips never shies away from a bit of diversity, he isn’t fancy yet he is real – I’ll take him over a bushel load of Metal singers I have listened to over the decades. Should’ A Would’ A Could’ A has become my favorite song on This Is Thirteen. Lyrically, this song is right on the Metal money in describing the game of life. Take chances, no regrets, know your enemies, strength to survive and righting a wrong are all covered on Should’ A Would’ A Could’ A, plus it grooves like there is no tomorrow. Game Over, in my Metal opinion, is the heaviest and fastest song on this album… real good. Anvil took out some cool aggression on Game Over, lyrically comparing life to playing a Game Boy game.

Thumb Hang, (the bonus track), has similar, trudging riffs as the opening track This Is Thirteen. Another fine example of a song, that Anvil is not buying into any current trends of Metal anytime soon. Thank God for that. Robb Reiner on drums… what can I say other than he has been damn good his entire career and makes himself heard quite well on this album. Glenn Five makes for more than a Metal compliment on bass guitar, rounding out this trio the outside world is just now embracing as Anvil. In a Metal nutshell, Anvil created fourteen songs that are missing the over produced sheen and gleam of many of today’s Metal albums. There is that blanket of rawness to this album, then again, Anvil was never about being commercially polished anyways. Thank God for that. This is why I always dug the Metal that Anvil has put out over the last three decades. Anvil did not need a billion dollar producer to waltz in the studio and dictate how it’s done… Anvil (and producer Chris Tsangarides) knew what to do all along with This Is Thirteen, one listen through proves it – in my Metal opinion.

Anvil "This Is Thirteen" large album pic

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