Anvil – Legal At Last

7/10

Really good songs – not too good lyrics. Those were the main words that popped up in my mind to sum up my first hearing of heavy metal legends Anvils 20th release Legal At Last. Sure, the lyrics aren’t the most important thing on an Anvil album, but when an album with a cover art picturing an angel smoking weed through a anvil shaped bong starts off with two mariuana praises (Legal At Last and Nabbed In Nebraska) and one song entitled Chemtrails, you probably understand why I notice them a little more than usual and also why I feel these lyrics feels more like something an 18 year old would write rather than these guys. But at the same time as I find the lyrics quite silly, I find all three songs damn catchy, and they set the mark for a really solid and well balanced album! As it turns out, all eleven songs on Legal At Last are really good, and I find it a hard time to even pick out a favourite among them. The riffs are crisp and forceful, the refrains are catchy, the sound is heavy… everything works great! If I were to pick on one thing it would perhaps be that no songs are really massive. They are all “really good”, which of course isn’t bad either, but it keeps me from giving a higher point. But no songs are even close to weak and when the lyrics do tackle subjects like surveillance (Glass House) and enviormental damage (Plastic In Paradise), they sure do work. Overall, the lyrics sticks to your mind and memory, which isn’t usually the fact with present day metal. So in the end, I must praise Anvil for really writing lyrics that sticks. I must give them that!

Overall, I really like this album, and must say they aren’t that far off from their 80’s classics Metal On Metal and Forged In Fire. If you’re looking for a classic heavy metal album from 2020, I don’t think you’re gonna hear many, if any, albums that will top this. So hats off, guys, and I will now even forgive you for nabbing a little too much from Black Sabbaths Lord Of This World for your own tune Said And Done.

Artist: Anvil
Title: Legal At Last
Label: AFM Records
Date of release: 14/2-20
Time: 50,29
Rating: 7/10
Standout track: Legal At Last