BACKWAXED - Album Information:
I always have to stop myself from calling "Backwaxed" a “proper” studio album, because it isn’t. It’s a compilation, dropped on April 22, 1985, on Viper/Attic, and it feels like a band (and a label) saying: “Fine. Here. Take the good stuff we didn’t file neatly the first time.”
Side One is the lure: five tracks that hadn’t been released before, pulled from earlier sessions. It’s messy in the best way — the riffs don’t politely introduce themselves, they kick the door. Then Side Two swings back to familiar territory with five already-known cuts, including "Metal on Metal" and "Jackhammer". If you’ve lived with their early records, you can hear where these songs come from without anyone drawing you a diagram.
Production credits split the work like a shared cigarette: Anvil handle some tracks themselves, and Chris Tsangarides is in the room for others. You can feel the difference — not “clean vs dirty”, more like “bare-knuckle rehearsal heat” versus “someone aimed the amp right at your teeth.” I first ran into this record as a Dutch pressing in a stack that smelled like old paper sleeves and bad decisions, and it still hits the same way: not elegant, not subtle, and absolutely not here to impress anyone who doesn’t already get it.
