ANVIL: Early Albums To Be Reissued

In addition to securing the rights to the group's latest studio album, "Back To Basics", for the U.S., Screaming Ferret Wreckords will soon be releasing seven classic from veteran Canadian metallers ANVIL — discs that defined and secured the band's status in the true heavy metal elite. Titles include three currently out-of-print releases: 1987's "Strength Of Steel" (which featured such classics as "Concrete Jungle", "Straight Between The Eyes", and "Mad Dog", the song that yielded a quite humorous video that received recurrent airplay on MTV's original "Headbanger's Ball" program),1988's "Pound For Pound" (featuring "Blood On The Ice" and "Toe Jam"),1989's "Past & Present Live" (a live set capturing such seminal ANVIL anthems as "Forged In Fire", "Metal on Metal", "March of the Crabs", and "Mothra"). Screaming Ferret Wreckords is also releasing a number of titles that never received a proper United States release, including 1991's "Worth The Weight", 2001's "Plenty Of Power", 2002's "Still Going Strong", and the special 1999 "Anthology of Anvil", the perfect introductory piece to the manic, semi-insane world of ANVIL.

ANVIL frontman Lips is thrilled with this development in the band's career: "I can't believe after a quarter of a century we will finally be released to the unsuspecting American audience. I've never understood after all these years why ANVIL has done so little in the United States in the way of getting our recordings released, as well as touring. It is a true tragedy if not a crime! For those people who have never heard of us, it might be a surprise to find out we've been recording music before the existence of what was once called heavy metal, and to be more exact NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal). Our first album came out in '81, however all the tracks on it were written over a long period of time, some dating back as far as '73 or '74! This new opportunity to release new and back catalog would not have come true if it weren't for the bravery and dedication to true metal by Screaming Ferret Wreckords. We have been pleasing European audiences for years and hope with all our might that we can do the same in America."

ANVIL will soon embark on a two-month European tour and plan to perform North American shows over the summer. The first date booked is the Gates of Hell 2004 Festival on July 24 at the FunHaus in Toronto, Ontario alongside such Canadian metal legends as RAZOR and EXCITER.