If goodwill alone careers made, then lovable heavy metal losers, Anvil, would be topping charts across the globe, headlining stadiums, and rolling joints with $100 bills these days, following the massive acclaim achieved by their profile-reviving documentary, Anvil! The Story of Anvil. Indeed, the cover art chosen for the group's fourteenth studio album, Juggernaut of Justice, depicts a giant representation of their namesake parting the seas like Moses himself, and suggesting that nothing can stop the band now that they're on a mission from Gaahd. But, all messianic posturing aside, Juggernaut of Justice boasts nothing more ambitious than the familiar mixture of trad, speed, and power metal that the scrappy Canadians have been peddling almost without interruption for 30 years, albeit garnished with one of the best production jobs of their entire career. Not even this last detail can thwart Anvil's everyman appeal, though, as guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow, drummer Robb Reiner, and bassist Glen Gyorffy take listeners down the crooked path between divine inspiration and all-too-human imperfection known to us all, and Anvil, in particular. Nowhere is this more perfectly illustrated than with the back-to-back sequencing of a top-notch thrasher like "When Hell Breaks Loose" and a slow march worthy of Spinal Tap idiot savant-ness like "New Orleans Voo Doo," but ensuing high- and low-water marks like the title cut, "Running," "Conspiracy," and "Paranormal" come damn close. Once again though, this pattern is all too faithful, for better and for worse, to Anvil's long-established template, so no one can accuse the group of selling out, post-documentary fame. And amidst these qualitative polar opposites, the trio delivers a few more very entertaining cuts, including anthemic heavy rockers harking back to their earliest days ("On Fire," "Turn It Up"), and then invites fans to have (yet another) good laugh at their Canadian expense with "Fuken Eh!," and the closing jazz-metal goof-off "Swing Thing." All of which may seem like a circuitous way of stating that only dishonestly rose-colored glasses could pass Anvil off as anything more than what Juggernaut of Justice and their heartwarming documentary both showed: a good, not great, heavy metal band. But would we want them any other way? Nah, don't think so.
© Eduardo Rivadavia /TiVo