Anvil

Toronto, Canada's Anvil were one of the first North American bands to push the sound and style of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal one step further. Indebted to the likes of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and many others from across the Atlantic, Anvil nonetheless played louder, faster, and heavier than their heroes, in the process laying the groundwork for the thrash movement that took over heavy metal's underground in the '80s. Anvil's second and third albums, Metal on Metal and Forged in Fire, made significant waves in the metal community in 1982 and 1983, but despite the respect of musicians and metalheads alike, stardom was not to be theirs. Geographic isolation, label and management difficulties, and shifting musical trends all conspired against them, leaving them largely the province of cultists and collectors just a few short years later. Undaunted, Anvil soldiered on, continuing to record and tour whenever possible. In 2009, a documentary film by the band's former teenage roadie helped break them to the broader audience they never found in their prime. The tenacious metallers issued their 19th studio album, Impact Is Imminent, in 2022.