Anvil – Juggernaut of Justice (2011)
By Benjamin Zimmermann

The 17th album of the Canadian heavy metal band Anvil, called “Juggernaut of Justice”, is a heavy-metally kick in the balls, that you won’t regret.

The album has twelve tracks, and nearly all of them convinced me. The speed of the songs goes from fast - listen to the crashing “When Hell Breaks Lose” and “On Fire” - to slow with a progression to mid speed - like the song “New Orleans Voodoo”. The slower songs, I think, are a bit boring sometimes, but that could be a matter of taste.

The instruments have a clear sound and are mixed really well. Even when a keyboard joins, like in the song “This Ride”, it doesn’t sound sluggish or overloaded. I especially like that you can really hear the bass and you can hear that the bass player doesn’t only play the rhythm but also likes to play the odd melody line or another. In other respects, every song convinces me with a great melody, good solos and variety, without seeming too progressive. The music just really rocks! And regarding the singing: both the rougher and the clean parts are sung vibrantly and fit in well with the instrumentalization. There’s an extra “thumps-up” for the instrumental “Swing Thing” that puts you into a great mood with its swing character. Trumpets improve the sound accordingly!

Lyric-wise, Anvil doesn’t deal with a certain topic. The title song describes the band themselves as something unstoppable of justice, that makes its way through everything. The slow song “Paranormal” deals with something invisible that follows you but that you shouldn’t be afraid of, because whatever will happen, was predestined to happen. Like the instruments, the melodies as well have awesome melodies that will get stuck in your head easily.

The artwork of the cover confused me a bit in the beginning, because there is a crowd that cheers towards the anvil and at first I thought I was holding a live CD, which of course wasn’t true. To be honest, I still don’t know what is supposed to be next to the crowd, but in the end that’s not the most important part of a CD.

The inner part of the booklet is up to my standards in a minimalistic, but good design. The lyrics are easy to read. In addition there’s a portrait photo of every band member. In the end you don’t need more, and Anvil doesn’t risk an overloaded booklet.

My conclusion for this CD is that every Anvil fan should help themself to a CD. But furthermore, other heavy metal fans might also like this album. If you don’t know Anvil, this could be your start with the band. At least that has been the case for me and I’m already looking forward to the next album!

Line Up:
Lips                             Lead Guitar, Vocals
Robb Reiner                Drums
Glenn Five                   Bass Guitar, Vocals

sound quality: 10/10                variation: 10/10                       cover: 7,0/10        booklet: 9/10
total: 9.0