ANVIL – New Studio Album POUNDING THE PAVEMENT Released January 19th on SPV

Legendary Canadian Heavy Metal trio Anvil have lined up the release of their monumental new studio album ‘Pounding The Pavement’ on January 19th on Steamhammer /SPV as a Digipak CD, (containing a bonus track + poster), double gatefold white (with black swirls) vinyl LP (+ CD in paper sleeve), download, and stream.

Anvil then set off around the UK & Ireland headlining the following shows:-

6th February London – Underworld
7th February Stoke – Eleven Music
8th February Newcastle – Trillians
9th February Grimsby – Yardbirds
10th February Glasgow – Cathouse
11th February Wigan – Pure
13th February Belfast – The Limelight
14th February Dublin – The Academy
16th February Buckley – Tivoli
17th February Bridgend – Hobos
18th February Brighton – Green Door Store
20th February Bilston – Robin 2
21st February York – Fibbers
22nd February Evesham – Iron Road
23rd February Weston – The Bear

‘Pounding The Pavement, Anvil’s 17th studio album, while still an unmistakably Anvil long player, is an even more diverse, inspired and vital metal opus than 2016’s universally acclaimed predecessor ‘Anvil Is Anvil’.

‘Anvil Is Anvil’ was rated 9/10 in Powerplay by Andrew Hawnt, who raved ‘This is Anvil firing on all cylinders and adding more cylinders for good measure’ in the magazine’s March 2016 issue. Classic Rock’s Jon Hotten stated in April 2016’s magazine that “Anvil offer comprehensive evidence that they remain heavy metal’s most lovable band… They’re on rollicking form here, mainman Lips playing several face-melting solos and tackling zombies and runaway trains. 7/10”

Elucidating why ‘Pounding The Pavement’ turned into such an awesome body of work, vocalist / guitarist Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow recalls that “The songwriting process started immediately after the work on our previous album had been completed. 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. 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’ contains typical Anvil steam hammers such as ‘Smash Your Face’, ‘Rock That Shit’ and ‘Ego’, but there are also unusual numbers such as ‘Warming Up’, which sees Anvil transport a kind of swing jazz style into the world of rock and metal. The most surprising track, however, is ‘Nanook Of The North’ with lyrics about the fate of the Inuit: “As a Canadian band, we wanted to focus on more Canadian topics,” Kudlow explains; “I remembered a course at the College of Movie History, where I saw one of the first TV documentaries ever. I did some research on the internet and came across that strange overtone singing the Inuit do. I was totally awed and knew immediately what I had to do: write a song with that typical tribal feel. That college documentary was made some time during the 1920s and is called ‘Nanook Of The North’, named after the protagonist of the documentary. So I had found my title and the subject of the song.”

‘Pounding The Pavement’ was put down at the Soundlodge studios in Rhauderfehn in the northwest of Germany, where Anvil found not only the necessary peace and seclusion to totally concentrate on the recordings, but also met in studio owner Jörg Uken the ideal producer of their dynamic new work.

The album title reflects 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.”

Anvil have, however, succeeded – as expressed on the song ‘Doing What I Want’ – in not having to pander to anyone’s taste artistically: “Despite all adversities that the life of a musician entails, we still find ourselves in a very privileged position. We can basically do what we want to do. Nobody interferes, nobody tries to steer us in one direction or the other. Which other artists can say that of themselves? Even the biggest bands in the world envy us and tell us: ‘You damn bastards have always been able to do what you want.’ And that’s precisely what we’ve done again on ‘Pounding The Pavement’.