The real story here is that Steve Kudlow and Robb Reiner are celebrating the big 2-0 with Anvil’s twentieth album.
Everything they’ve done since 2008 has been entwined with the must-watch The Story Of Anvil rockumentary, in which the band’s real-life Spinal Tap credentials are laid bare, and if you’ve seen it you’ll know that it’s something of a miracle that the Canadian metallers are still plugging away in 2024.
And there’s plenty of gusto on One And Only, but why Fight For Your Rights doesn’t open the record is a mystery. Its machine gun drums and ripping lead breaks are poles apart from the lumpen title track.
Lead single Feed Your Fantasy rumbles along with riff-happy zeal. Run Away is catchy as hell, and Kudlow’s clunky, comic-book vocals are part of his charm. Five decades in, the metal going is still good for Anvil.
