Demo

The truth is this four-tracker is better than average (and surprisingly so in hindsight view), so yeah, I probably would’ve thrown Anvil Bitch a small contract based on this demo too, however it would’ve been in the hopes that Capriotti would keep his wobbly wails to a minimum, ‘cuz that’s easily the low hand here, and as we know, there are some fairly crappy cards being played on their debut.

Some decent if not adequately ordinary ideas roll around the barrel here. While “Neckbreaker”, “Time to Die” and “To the Grave” (renamed “Life After Death”) all made it to the big show, one of their most unruly and ruthless tracks, “Apostle of Hell”, somehow found its way off Rise to Offend. All I can do is shake my head and wonder about the thought process. Granted, there’s really nothing wrong with the three that made the journey over, but really, “Time to Die” could’ve taken a hike in lieu of "AOH". The song is a lot of what Anvil Bitch needed - what the album needed - to keep it from falling off the cliff. It’s frantic, yet tight. There’s ample breakdown latitude. Capriotti is way less annoying than usual and actually sounds somewhat devious. Hell, there’s even some playful bass hi-jinx during a lull moment. Sorry sir Apostle, to the lions you go.

Inexplicably, these songs just sound better here. Probably 'cuz there’s less to choose from, the solos seem a little tighter, and the production’s much better than the cover art.