Strength of Steel
| Strength of Steel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anvil studio album | ||||
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Publication |
May 21, 1987 |
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admission |
1987 |
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| Label (s) | Hypnotic Records , Metal Blade | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
42:05 |
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| occupation | ||||
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Paul "The Stemmer" LaChapelle |
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Studio (s) |
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Strength of Steel is the fifth album by the Canadian heavy metal band Anvil and the first studio album the band released after four years of waiting - the longest period between two studio albums any metal band had in the 1980s. It was released on May 21, 1987 and marked a turning point in the history of the band. With the help of Paul “The Stemmer” LaChapelle as producer, the band was able to present their best production to date, which differed significantly from the rough productions of the early 80s, but at the same time a change in style was audible - the songs were in contrast to the previous albums clearly geared towards radio suitability (this was not uncommon for many older metal bands in the mid-80s), the speed was also reduced, although the hardness characteristic of the band was not completely lost. Due to this orientation, Strength of Steel has a special status in the discography of Anvil, as the music here can almost be assigned to True Metal .
To date, Strength of Steel is also the only record of the band that could achieve a placement in the US charts. It reached # 191 on the Billboard 200 charts and represented the band's debut on Metal Blade Records . The band also shot a video clip for the song Mad Dog for the first time in their career, which was financed with the help of a funding program.
publication
While the previous albums from Attic Records were heavily promoted and received favorably in the metal scene , this changed with Strength of Steel . Promotion was slow and it was difficult to find radio stations willing to play the tracks on the album. The back cover of the original vinyl edition also caused a sensation, as Lips and Robb wore a red leather outfit instead of a black one and the other musicians looked like members of a band that could be classified as glam rock . As a result, many fans and radio presenters did not even listen to the record because the photos made Anvil no longer a metal band.
Reviews
The album was released at a time when most listeners had already forgotten Anvil, because many fans had turned away from her through some, sometimes controversial concerts, at which the band played songs that sounded like radio-compatible rock. Lips told Crash magazine that the fans had definitely not forgotten Anvil. A few months later, Lips' English Metal Hammer said that Anvil would have to start from scratch and that Strength of Steel was practically the debut album . At the time of publication, there were only a few reviews of the album. However, it was received positively by magazines such as Rock Hard , as the music on Strength of Steel was much harder than the repertoire of the few concerts at the time suggested. It was celebrated by the crash editor. It is a “first-class blast” and exudes “the intensity of earlier days”. In the Horror Infernal , due to its own style of being heavy and slow-slow at the same time, it achieved 11.8 out of 15 possible points and was 6th out of 63 in the monthly table. The musical class of the albums Hard'n Heavy , Metal on Metal and Forged in Fire could not achieve Strength of Steel and even today the record is not considered a classic album. With the songs Mad Dog and Cut Loose there are two numbers that occasionally make it into the setlist of the live concerts as a tribute to the two fans of the same name.
Songs
| Track list | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | title | Songwriter | length |
| 1. | Strength of Steel | 3:30 | |
| 2. | Concrete jungle | 5:21 | |
| 3. | 9-2-5 | 2:57 | |
| 4th | I Dreamed It Was the End of the World | 4:14 | |
| 5. | Flight of the Bumble Beast | 2:25 | |
| 6th | Cut loose | 3:29 | |
| 7th | Mad Dog | 3:14 | |
| 8th. | Straight between the eyes | 3:19 | |
| 9. | Wild Eyes (The Stampeders Cover) | Rich Dodson | 3:26 |
| 10. | Kiss of Death | 5:21 | |
| 11. | Paper General | 4:49 | |
| Overall length: | 42:05 | ||
Web links
- Strength of Steel at Discogs (English)
- Strength of Steel at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Uwe Lerch: Anvil. The speed “grandpas” are back . In: Crash . July / August, 1987, p. 27 .
- ↑ Götz Kühnemund: Anvil. Back to Stay? In: Metal Hammer . November 26, 1987, p. 72 (English edition).
- ^ Jens Reimnitz: Anvil-Strength of Steel . In: Horror Infernal . No. June 10 , 1987, Sound-Check, p. 38 and 42 .