CREDIT: DALILA KRIHELI
Chris Robertson, Steve 'Lipps' Kudlow and Robb Reiner are the guys who make up Anvil.

London can expect big news from veteran musicians Anvil. The boys are playing a show in London on October 11 to promote their most recent album, Hope in Hell.

Anvil is a heavy metal band hailing from Toronto. The band has been in the music scene since 1978 and has an impressive list of albums – fifteen to be exact. The band has received even more deserved attention after the release of the 2008 rockumentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil.

The three-man ensemble has managed to stick around for the past three decades despite never hitting it as big as those it inspires. Anvil is revered by groups like Metallica, Anthrax and even Guns N’ Roses.

If you’ve never heard Anvil before, think of it as if Metallica and Motörhead had a love child.

Hope in Hell, released May 2013, manages to be catchy and melodic while still sticking to Anvil’s signature dirty riffs. It starts off with a song of the same name, “Hope in Hell,” which has a doom metal feel. Like the album, the song starts off strong but almost falls flat at the end.

Hope in Hell includes both inspiring metal anthems and repetitive thrash sounding filler songs, which doesn’t make for a terrible listening experience. The songs are energetic and memorable. They manage to nicely balance dirty thrash metal with melodic riffs. Steve Kudlow on vocals and guitar never disappoints with his solos.

The song “Through With You” is possibly the best of the 13-song bonus release. It starts with an unmistakeable Deep Purple “Smoke on the Water” feel. The two bonus tracks at the end are packed with the most energy of the collection. Hope in Hell is worth listening to just for those two songs.

Everything with this album works. The boys just needed to sober up when walking the line between catchy and repetitive. It really is a timeless release. If not for the superior quality of production I could have mistaken it for something straight out of the 1980’s or ‘90s.

“The biggest part of becoming successful was finding who I was,” said lead member, Steve Kudlow. “You finally realize who and what you are and you like your style and then everyone goes, why don’t you change?”

Kudlow said the band hasn’t and isn’t going to change up their style anytime soon.

“Why would we change,” he said. “Some people have a real problem with that. I can change my jeans and my underwear, but why my song writing? I am what I am, and I write what I want to.”

There were a number of excellent songs to listen to, but a number of them did not meet my expectation. I found myself listening to the same lyrics over and over again, often times it was just the title words repeated in the choruses.

Hope in Hell is filled with contagious energy. I listened to the album at 4 a.m. before work and found myself not needing my morning coffee. However, the final few songs left me wondering if I wanted more from the boys or if the album needed more.

Let’s not forget about the cheesy album art. It’s literally an anvil dressed as a ship sailing in a lake of exploding fire. We can’t take any style points away from the trio; this is in typical over-the-top metal album art style.

Overall, Hope in Hell is not remarkable but definitely worth the buy. Let’s call it three heavy anvils out of five.

Since the release of Hope in Hell, Anvil has played more than 40 shows in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan.

“The band has probably done more touring for Hope in Hell than any album we’ve ever done,” Kudlow said. “I love to go out and play.”

“Every chance and every moment I get to do it, it’s like a celebration. So is it going to be special? Damn right!”

Active as always, the band has nearly completed their next album.

“We’re holding the grenade and not pulling the pin yet,” said Kudlow. “Let’s face it, when you’ve got 15 studio albums, there’s no big rush”

Anvil has a lot of great songs lined up for their London show.

“The longevity of the band has given us the repertoire. We cherry pick our favourite songs. We pick what sounds the best and what has the most dramatic effect when you put a show together.”

You can catch the boys on stage at 10 p.m. at Eastside Bar and Grill (750 Hamilton Rd.). Anvil will be playing with guests Rebel Few and Soulheavy.

For the latest Anvil info, check out anvilmetal.com.