Band : Anvil Chorus
Album Title : The Killing Sun
Label : Forged In Fire/ Rockadrome
Distributor : Clearspot
Release Date : December 2009
Review : CD

Hailing from San Francisco, CA,  Anvil Chorus were an outfit that existed from ‘80 to ’85, opening for many big bands such as Motorhead, Motley Crue, Y & T, … but only remained at cult status. This band should have taken the Metal world by storm in the eighties, but unfortunately they did not. The Killing Sun, the band's debut, features new, high-quality recordings of songs written and played live back in their heyday, stuff that was previously relegated to their many demos, which were heavily traded.

The sound is a tough one to describe, coming off as kind of a Maiden type of thing with Rush-like odd time signatures and beautiful vocals and twin guitarwork reminiscent of Leatherwolf and Vicious Rumours in delivery and harmony. The keyboard touch make their sound a little bit "similar" to Journey/Saga, so they have their own personality. There is always something going on whether it be lush acoustics, spacey intros, poppy bridges or riffs straight off of Lifeson’s, Schenker’s and Van Halen’s guitarbook. The opening song “Deadly weapons”  for instance is a fastastic and dynamic metal song which may become a classic. “Blue flames” and “Red skies” are quite complex, slightly progressive and manages to combine melodic efficacy with metallic heftiness, way ahead of their time..”Phase to phase”, “After time” and “Such is life” are excellent and well-structured mid-tempo tracks. The mystic key arrangements enhance the light/dark mood but the real highlights are the catchy bombastic refrains. “Once again” with its brilliant foggy atmosphere is another amazing song where Aaron Zimpel’s clear and soul-filled vocals shine bright. “Blade” is a more direct song spiced with a melodic lead guitar melody. I wish bands were still putting out music of this caliber. Each and every track on this molten power metaller is penned to complete perfection.

Anvil Chorus is/was one of the best US power metal bands around, partly because they make each song interesting in its own special way, and because they create music on a high technical level that still crawls under the skin.

Cosmicmasseur.