Of course there are bands that have garnered higher chart positions, sold more albums and filled bigger venues than Anvil. Yet there are few metal acts that have earned as much respect from their colleagues as the Canadian act surrounding vocalist/guitarist Steve ´Lips` Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner.
The most renowned Anvil aficionados include, among others, international stars such as Metallica and the late Lemmy of Motorhead, who have expressed their unreserved admiration time and again. The reasons for this evident respect are obvious: since 1978, Anvil have been the epitome of a passionate heavy metal band that refuses to be thrown off course by setbacks, adverse conditions and inconsistencies on the business side of things. Their latest album Pounding The Pavement proves their impressive stamina: never before have Anvil sounded as diverse, determined and inspiring.
Why has Pounding The Pavement turned into such an awesome offering? Kudlow's explanation is simple: 'The songwriting process started immediately after the work on our previous album, Anvil Is Anvil, had been completed,' he says. 'So our thoughts instantly turned to the future again. After Anvil Is Anvil had been cut, everybody knew what we had just delivered and what Anvil's future should sound like.' Despite the diverse range of their ideas, Kudlow, Reiner and their bassist Chris Robertson have succeeded in filling the typical trademarks of this unusual band with life once again – which is an important aspect for every Annvil release, after all tradition and reliability play an essential role in this group. Kudlow: 'Of course we always allow inspirations from earlier recordings to seep in, but always with an emphasis on evolving the characteristic Anvil sound. Lots of fans keep asking us to play the way we did in the so-called good old days. That's why I try from time to time to pick up on that exciting feel of our older material. Mind you, it's always exclusively about the basic atmosphere of that time, never about copying an older song.'
Pounding The Pavement was produced at the Soundlodge studios in Rhauderfehn in the northwest of Germany, where Anvil found not only the necessary peace and seclusion to concentrate on their recordings, but also met in studio owner Jorg Uken the ideal producer for their ambitioned work. Talking of which: the programmatic album title Pounding The Pavement is a synonym for the consistently serious challenge of ensuring Anvil's financial survival. Kudlow: 'I feel nothing could describe the way we've been working for the past forty years better than Pounding The Pavement: Anvil have tried for four decades to earn enough money to survive and continue to make music.'
