One of the things which all the reunions, retro-thrash and now the new wave of traditional metal has done (apart from cluttering the field) is give bands overlooked (or more likely, never with it enough the first time around to finally get something to the public. The Internet helps, as bands that conquered their region, yet struggled for column space in limited publications, or ridiculous limitations (time/money) in spreading the word via tape-trading, now have enumerable outlets to be heard, reviewed or discussed, for virtually no expense!

Case in point the San Fran Bay area’s Anvil Chorus, a name bandied about back in the 80s, but never got beyond releasing the ‘Blondes In Black’ single. Guitarist Thaen Rasmunssen (ex-Vicious Rumors) was a founding member and appears on these re-recorded oldies. Despite the locale, the sound really captures the days of yore, especially the genre-defying mix (clean throated, old school NWOBHM inspired metal with proto-Metallica thrash: swirling twin leads of ‘Blue Flame’). ‘After Time’ possesses a more 70s prog quality about it, less about guitar, but the lone such toe stubber. Early 80s Rush freaks should check out the start to ‘Death Of A Dream’ and ‘Tales’ could have come off a TSO platter.

While not everyone would agree, I’m sorry this didn’t reach my ears earlier in the year, as it might have made it onto the annual "best of" list.