When one thinks of black metal, images of full moons, forests, and frostbitten Norwegian landcapes are what usually comes to mind and not scenes from a New York City skyline, which is fair enough. After all, I’ve never heard any black metal on a Scorsese soundtrack.
All that aside, New York City’s Black Anvil certainly seems to take pride in the fact that they hail from NYC, with the band mentioning it a few times during their set at The Opera House on Saturday night. And with their amps and merchandise showing off their NYBM logo (a clever take on the NYHC logo with with 2 scythes crossed over one another rather than the usual ‘X’), it’s clear that being New Yorkers is a significant enough part of this band’s identity.
And probably rightly so, as the band seems to have taken black metal and put their own spin on it, one which gives it enough of its own style and personality to differentiate it from other variants. Similar to how New York style pizza is its own thing, the fact that Black Anvil are from New York would seem to have played some part in shaping their sound. And as their latest release Regenesis demonstrates, it’s a fairly dynamic sound, one which adds a lot of different elements beyond just standard black metal into the mix.
Live, Black Anvil put on a fairly impressive show, playing a 30 minute set of tracks off the new album, with “NYC Nightmares”, “8-bit Terror” and “In Two” all standing out as highlights.
Being the first of three bands on the bill (alongside Insomnium and headliners Enslaved), Black Anvil may not have been given as much time as the other acts, but they certainly made the most of it, making a strong impression during their time onstage.