Halfway There, But Not Living on a Prayer

They don’t sound anything like Bon Jovi, but after listening, it’s fair to say that The Anix’s sophomore double album “Sleepwalker,” proves that this band is halfway there. Although most of the songs are mediocre and fail to get stuck in your head, the overall instrumental potential and vocal prowess in the songs that do work make The Anix a band that isn’t worth giving up on just yet.

“Cry Little Sister” and the title track, “Sleepwalker” are easily the highlights of the album. Futuristic beats and creeping vocals with haunting guitar work make The Anvil a hearty combination of The Bravery, The Crystal Method and a hungry U2. The fact that a three-piece can put together such a rich and deep sound, there’s no doubt this band hasn’t reached their prime yet. In the end however, this album will serve more as a stepping-stone to a greatness that is laid in the aforementioned tracks.

In spite of the problems on the album, it must be said that the drum work of Logan Smith is undeniably ferocious. Synchronizing with the stellar keyboard and guitar work of Chris Dinger, the band has an electronic, dark and devilishly sweet sound that sets them apart from the myriad of other synth/rock bands out there. Vocalist and guitarist Brandon Smith is also eclectic and talented enough to make himself stand out in the diverse bunch as well.

When everything comes together, they’re the type of band you can blast in your car and have passer-bys wondering what hot new band is playing. At its worst though, it feels like a calamity of noise that doesn’t quite work. While it isn’t that often, the vocals are low and hard to understand as well, making the tunes feel like they’re drowning out the singing, making it hard to comprehend holistically.

The second CD, comprised of remixes by Powerman 5000, Psychopomps and Mozart & Friends has the same problems as the original tunes. While the same songs are solid, the others just don’t do anything special.

The end result is an album that isn’t a breakthrough, but one that serves to prove the band can hit the right notes when they have to. Definitely worth a few bucks on iTunes for individual downloads, The Anvil is heavy, but hasn’t dropped completely as of yet.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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