The Devil's Anvil was a

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the Woodstock, 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. They released one album, entitled ''Hard Rock from the Middle East'', in 1967, showcasing a mix of 1960s hard-rock sound with

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and Turkish songs and melodies.

Formation

Instrumental in the band's formation was producer

Felix Pappalardi Felix Albert Pappalardi Jr. (December 30, 1939 – April 17, 1983) was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bass violin, bassist. He is best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the band Mountain (band), Mountain, whose ...

, who helped sign them with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

Recordings

Unfortunately for The Devil's Anvil, their one and only album, ''Hard Rock from the Middle East'', was released during escalating tensions between Israel and neighboring Arab countries and the subsequent Arab–Israeli War in 1967.The Devil's Anvil
''Psyche Music''

''Hard Rock from the Middle East''

All tracks arranged by the band unless otherwise indicated.The Devil's Army: Psychedelic Psoul / Hard Rock From The Middle East
''

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

'' database # "Wala Dai" (Traditional*) # "Nahna Ou Diab" # "Karkadon" (Lebanese; composed by Abdul-Galil Wabbi, lyrics by Philimon Webbi) # "Selim Alai" (Traditional Arab*) # "Isme (El Atrash)" # "Besaha" ( Lebanese; composed by Afif Radwan, lyrics by Abdul-Galil Wabbi) # "Shisheler" (Traditional Turkish) # "Kley" (Greek; composed by

Theodorakis Theodorakis () is a Greek surname. Notable people with this surname include: * Mikis Theodorakis (1925–2021), Greek composer and politician * Maria Theodorakis, Australian actress * Stavros Theodorakis Stavros Theodorakis ( ; born 1963) is a G ...

, lyrics by Leivaditis) # "Hala Laya" (Traditional Arab*) # "Treea Pethya" (Traditional Greek) # "

Misirlou "Misirlou" ( < 'Egyptian' < ''Miṣr'' 'Egypt') is a folk song from the Eastern Mediterranean region. The song's original author is unknown, but Arabic, Greek, and Jewish musicians were playing it by the 1920s. The earliest known recordi ...

" (Traditional

Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

; composed by Leeds, Roubanis, Russell, Wise) *Arranged by Pappalardi

References

{{Reflist Musical groups established in 1966 Musical groups from New York City Psychedelic rock music groups from New York (state)