• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Pounding the Pavement is the 17th full-length album from Canada's Anvil, an amazing accomplishment for any band. Like Motörhead before them, Anvil have found a formula that works and has polished it like a gemstone, something that has its ups and downs.

The ups – Every two years or so we get treated to Lips frenzied guitars and unique vocals along with Robb Reiner's pounding drum clinics. Bass, the real-life Spinal Tap drummer position in Anvil, is capably handled by Chris Robertson (the band's fifth bassist). Anvil is known for mid-paced, anthemic heavy metal and songs like "Let it go," with Lips signature solos filling the void when he isn't singing, the speedy "Black Smoke" and the smoldering "Smash Your Face" are pure Anvil through and through. The last song will have you thinking "Metal on Metal" in no time. These are the songs Anvil's career is built on and the ones you'll want to hear live.

The downs – I don't know if it is Anvil honoring their heroes or perhaps it is some lazy songwriting but the riff on "World of Tomorrow" sounds a lot like Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf," Reiner's drum pattern on "Warming Up" is borrowed liberally from Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz," albeit faster, and in the blatantly bluesy hard rock "Rock that Shit" Lips quotes Danny and the Juniors 1958 hit "Let's Go to the Hop." Yup, just like on Motörhead's last few albums, Anvil drifts into hard rock on occasion.

There you have it; Pounding the Pavement is a solid, if typical, Anvil release with some of the great heavy metal that made this band legendary along with some stuff that is less inspired. To get the full effect, you have to back to Metal on Metal and Forged in Fire, but I'll never turn down a classic band that still gives me a reason to break out the air guitar, even if it isn't on every track.