{"id":11212,"date":"2013-05-06T01:00:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T05:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=11212"},"modified":"2022-01-06T19:43:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T00:43:23","slug":"the-album-by-album-challenge-anthrax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=11212","title":{"rendered":"The Album by Album Challenge: Anthrax"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"anthrax_wallpaper\"<\/a>Welcome to another \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge.\u201d For those that are new here, the \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge\u201d is where I take a band\u2019s entire discography and listen to every album in order of release from front to back. With my unforgiving and well-aged ear, I call it how I hear it. In some cases, I find that what I once thought was good is actually pretty crappy and sometimes crap manages to age into something pretty kick ass. And in some cases, face melting is still just good ol\u2019 face melting.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This time around I found myself visiting the Anthrax discography. I’ve been an Anthrax fan for nearly 25 years but after the band ousted singer Joey Belladonna for former Armored Saint singer John Bush I just kind of lost interest. To celebrate the return of Joey Belladonna and Anthrax’s recent, and triumphant, headlining run on the Metal Alliance tour, I decided to make this my latest Album by Album Challenge. I’d love to hear everyone’s comments on this as because these are just my opinions and you know what they say…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Fistful of Metal<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> January, 1984
\nThe Good<\/strong>: Deathrider, Metal Thrashing Mad, I\u2019m Eighteen, Panic, Subjugator, Soldiers of Metal, Death From Above, Anthrax, Across the River, Howling Furies
\n The Bad:<\/strong>
\n The Indifferent:<\/strong><\/p>\n

So I can totally see how Anthrax fans would not like this album so much but goddamn do I love this album. Fistful of Metal is totally appropriate for the time that it came out. It is so over the top and singer Neil Turbin lets loose some of the most facemelting, \u201cLOL\u201d causing screams. Listening to this album reminded me just how much fun listening to thrash metal in the 80\u2019s was. It\u2019s almost as if every thrash band\u2019s debut album just took things so over the top that it was so ridiculously awesome. Just compare this one to Metallica\u2019s \u201cKill \u2018Em All\u201d or Megadeth\u2019s \u201cKilling is My Business…\u201d The one thing I can hear in this album is that I can hear more influence on some of today\u2019s bands more so than the other Anthrax albums. This album totally reminds me of Holy Grail and one can only imagine just how much Neil Turbin Holy Grail singer James Paul Luna has ingrained in his little metal cranium. While it\u2019s not Anthrax\u2019s greatest piece, it\u2019s a legendary piece of metal that helped to form and shape a genre. It\u2019s a fun listen and I have no issues whatsoever with it. There isn\u2019t a bad song on this album and every one is as ridiculous and over the top as the other which at times has you holding that mighty invisible apple. If anything, I really appreciate Turbin\u2019s over the top qualities but as we all know, sometimes to achieve greatness you have to make changes.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

\"\"Spreading the Disease<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> October 30, 1985
\nThe Good:<\/strong> A.I.R, Lone Justice, Madhouse, Stand or Fall, The Enemy, Gung Ho
\n The Bad:<\/strong>
\nThe Indifferent<\/strong>: Aftershock, Medusa<\/p>\n

The first album to feature Joey Belladonna on vocals and Frankie Bello on bass. This is where the classic Anthrax lineup would be born. This is also the first Anthrax album where the \u201cclassic\u201d songs like \u201cA.I.R\u201d, \u201cMadhouse\u201d, and \u201cMedusa\u201d that would make the band\u2019s repertoire were born. Belladonna\u2019s vocals on this album are so fucking good and I can totally see just why they went with this guy. While Turbin totally had the range, you can hear a total change in the lyrical content after Belladonna joined. How much he had to do with this I\u2019m not sure as all the songs are credited to \u201cAnthrax\u201d but I can totally hear a significant growth in not just the writing but the over all performances. The band was playing with a lot more feel and groove as opposed to breakneck speed and ridiculousness. The tempo changes, the complex but accessible song structures, and groove laden crunch riffs are the things that I\u2019ve come to associate with Anthrax and here we get to hear just where that sound was born. After listening to this album I\u2019m also aware of some amazing songs that get sadly ignored these days. \u201cStand or Fall\u201d and \u201cThe Enemy\u201d are every bit as classic as \u201cAIR\u201d and \u201cMedusa\u201d and I\u2019d love to hear those pulled out from time to time. \u201cMedusa\u201d just kind of bored me and \u201cAftershock\u201d annoyed with that annoying, horrible chant of \u201cSHOCK! SHOCK! SHOCK!\u201d That shit had me chanting \u201cSTOP! STOP! STOP!\u201d All in all, this is a great album. Only a couple of duds on this one and even those weren\u2019t horrible. This was a great start for this now classic lineup.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

\"\"Among The Living<\/strong>
\n Release Date<\/strong>: March 22, 1987
\nThe Good<\/strong>: Among the Living, Caught in a Mosh, I Am the Law, Efilnikufesin (NFL), Skeletons in the Closet, Indians, One World, A.D.I The Horror of it All, Imitation of Life
\nThe Bad:<\/strong>
\n The Indifferent:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I forget just how important this band is sometimes and when I hear shit like this I\u2019m reminded of that fact. Among The Living is an album that deserves as much praise as any other great album. After seeing Anthrax recently performing this album on the Metal Alliance tour, I re-visited this album with a whole new appreciation. This album also spawned most of the band\u2019s most popular songs and it doesn’t\u2019 take a genius to see why this album is so popular. It\u2019s a very easy listen and it\u2019s also one of those albums that I feel was very strategically sequenced. There\u2019s a great flow to this album and from start to finish it\u2019s a really fun listen. Among the Living also feels like the band really found their groove with Joey Belladonna. On Spreading the Disease, I felt like Belladonna might have even been trying to be a little like Neil Turbin vocally whereas on ATL he totally found his own voice and delivery which would have him becoming an iconic metal singer in his own right. All in all, there isn\u2019t a bad song on this album. It\u2019s every bit as iconic as it\u2019s made out to be and is totally worth of any and all praise it gets for being a timeless, classic metal album.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

\"\"State of Euphoria<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> September 19, 1988
\nThe Good<\/strong>: Be All End All, Out of Sight Out of Mind, Make Me Laugh, Antisocial, Who Cares Wins, Schism, Misery Loves Company, Finale
\nThe Bad:<\/strong>
\n The Indifferent:<\/strong> 13<\/p>\n

I remember liking this album a lot when it was first released in 1988 but for some reason I don\u2019t remember it making a huge impression on me. Listening to this album 25 years later has me sitting here with my fucking jaw on the floor. Holy fuck what a monstrous album. You want to talk about some serious, significant growth both lyrically and musically? Then listen to this album. \u201cBe All End All\u201d is so fucking amazing and slamming right into \u201cOut of Sight, Out of Mind\u201d completely crushed my face. Joey Belladonna at this point has shaped himself into an unstoppable force. His voice is so fucking strong and powerful and the musical arrangements are mature yet still lots of fun. Even as played out as \u201cAntisocial\u201d can be, it\u2019s still a fun listen and I really don\u2019t ever get tired of hearing it. This album also has a lot of great songs that are sadly ignored these days. Songs like \u201cNow It\u2019 Dark\u201d, \u201cSchism\u201d, and \u201cMisery Loves Company\u201d are such amazing songs. I would love to see Anthrax do a tour someday where all they play are these long, lost, and forgotten songs that are every bit as amazing if not more so than the ones that they play every fucking tour. Rediscovering State of Euphoria was a really awesome surprise for me. It\u2019s an amazing album that while it didn\u2019t connect with me as much back in \u201888 has completely connected with me and made me fan 25 years later. This just may be my new favorite Anthrax album but will it measure up as we move forward? Let\u2019s find out.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

\"\"Persistence of Time<\/strong>
\n Release Date<\/strong>: August 21, 1990
\nThe Good<\/strong>: Time, Blood, Keep It In the Family, in My World, Gridlock, Intro to Reality, Belly of the Beast, One Man Stands,
\nThe Bad:<\/strong>
\n The Indifferent<\/strong>: Got The Time, H8 Red,<\/p>\n

Coming off the heels of State of Euphoria, Anthrax followed up with an album that dark, brooding, and even progressive sounding at times. Where State of Euphoria was a fun and accessible album, Persistence of Time is an album you really have to \u201clisten\u201d to. For this one, Anthrax cashed in their cartoonish and at times silly lyrics for lyrics that touched on some serious social and political consciousness. Even as a sophomore in highschool I was totally aware that this was a pretty dark fucking record and I loved it. I put this album up there with Metallica\u2019s Master of Puppets and Megadeth\u2019s Rust In Peace as this is Anthrax at their creative best. While I would personally say that this is their best album, I wouldn\u2019t say that it\u2019s my favorite. Songs like \u201cTime\u201d, \u201cBlood\u201d, and even \u201cKeep it in the Family\u201d have the accessibility that can appeal to the casual fans but songs like \u201cBelly of the Beast\u201d and even \u201cIn My World\u201d are pretty dark songs. I can remember at one time feeling that this was my favorite Anthrax album but as I said before, while I find it to be their best creative work up to this point, it\u2019s not really my favorite. Persistence of Time is a really dark, moody album and maybe it\u2019s just that up to this point Anthrax was this fun, cut loose kind of thrash band. The only points of this album that I didn\u2019t really love was \u201cH8 Red\u201d and \u201cGot the Time.\u201d As for \u201cGot the Time\u201d, I didn\u2019t like it when it was released as a single back in 1990 and even now it just sounds kind of dumb. I wish they would pull it from their live shows and give us another gem from this album like the title track or \u201cBelly of the Beast.\u201d<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

\"\"Sound of White Noise<\/strong>
\n Release Date<\/strong>: May 25, 1993
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Potter\u2019s Field, Only, Invisible, Burst, This is Not an Exit
\nThe Bad:<\/strong> Packaged Rebellion, Black Lodge, C11H17N2O2S Na,
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> Room For One More, Hy Pro Glo, 1,000 Points of Light,<\/p>\n

Wow. Listening to this album now finds me liking it even less than I did when it first came out. Being a huge \u2018thrax fan, I bought this album when it came out and went to a show on this tour and was horribly let down. I felt like the band was literally selling out and in my opinion, this album just proves it. Anthrax was desperately trying to gains some sort of modern relevence and commercial success. Instead of being the thrash legends that they were, they wanted to have hit songs and videos. They canned Joey Belladonna by phone (had their managers do it for them) and they got former Armored Saint singer John Bush. I was a huge Armored Saint fan so I was assuming this would be a monstrous album. Instead, it\u2019s an album that sounds like a thrash band trying to be an alternative, grunge band. \u201cBlack Lodge\u201d is very Alice In Chains sounding where \u201cPackaged Rebellion\u201d is as cheesy as you can get. It\u2019s a totally corny song that comes across as trying to be a really serious song. Lots of fail right there. The album has about 3 or 4 good songs and even those songs are just \u201cgood\u201d and nothing more. For the most part, this album is totally unlistenable for me. It\u2019s painful to hear them trying so hard to be something that they’re not. This is where I stopped listening to Anthrax completely until Belladonna\u2019s triumphant return for Worship Music. I\u2019m really scared for what lies ahead for me with these other John Bush albums.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

\"\"Stomp 442<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> October 24, 1995
\nThe Good:<\/strong>
\n The Bad:<\/strong> Random Acts of Senseless Violence, Fueled, King Sized, Riding Shotgun, Perpetual Motion, In A Zone, Nothing, Drop the Ball, Tester, Bare
\n The Indifferent:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The album art for this album is a giant ball of thrash.\u00a0 This is without a doubt a hint of what lies inside.\u00a0 What the hell is this crap? Man, I thought Sound of White Noise was bad. This is a fucking atrocious album. How can one band make so much shitty music? \u201cRiding Shotgun\u201d? Really? I wish John Bush would take his own advice and \u201csuck it suck it suck it.\u201d It\u2019s so sad that THIS is the music we got out of this union. Being such a big Armored Saint fan, it\u2019s just sickening to me to hear such crappy music and crappy vocal delivery from Bush and Co. \u201cIn A Zone\u201d literally had me wanting to punch my computer while yelling, \u201cSHUT THE FUCK UP JOHN! I DON\u2019T CARE IF YOU\u2019RE IN A ZONE…\u201d \u201cAmerican Pompeii\u201d. What the fuck is that? I can\u2019t even talk any more about this album. I just get more and more pissed the more I think about it. There isn\u2019t one single redeeming quality to this album. None. Act like it never happened.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

\"\"Volume 8: The Threat is Real<\/strong>
\n Release Date<\/strong>: July 21, 1998
\nThe Good:<\/strong>
\n The Bad:<\/strong> Toast to the Extras, Killing Box, Big Fat, Cupajoe, Alpha Male,
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> Crush, Catharsis, Inside Out, P&V, Born Again Idiot, Harm\u2019s Way, Hog Tied, Stealing From a Theif<\/p>\n

“The Threat is Real” alright. The threat of having to sit through another shitty Bushtrax album is VERY real. Once again, I\u2019m just not sure what Anthrax was going for on this album. While most of the songs aren\u2019t nearly as bad as the songs on Stomp 442, they are still mediocre at best. The first song that had me making a shit face was \u201cToast to the Extras.\u201d Was this Anthrax\u2019s attempt to get back to being \u201csilly\u201d? It\u2019s a fucking country song and it sucks beyond any level of suckiness I can imagine. \u201cCupajoe\u201d was supposed to be \u201cfunny\u201d but on an album full of seriously shitty songs, the humor was totally missed here and it just added fuel to the fire. Volume 8 is not as flat out horrible as Stomp 442 but it\u2019s still a pretty shitty record. Volume 8 sounds like Anthrax\u2019s desperate attempt to try and modernize their sound. I totally hear elements of Pantera in here which I fucking hated hearing. Why would you try and sound like a band that you influenced? The fact that they just couldn\u2019t stick to their guns and just be themselves is painfully obvious with every Bush era album they released.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

\"\"We\u2019ve Come for You All<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> May 6, 2003
\nThe Good:<\/strong> What Doesn\u2019t Die,
\nThe Bad:<\/strong> Safe Home, Cadillac Rock Box, Think About an End, W.C.F.Y.A,
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> Superhero, Refuse to Be Denied, Any Place but Here, Taking the Music Back,<\/p>\n

Wow. This album couldn\u2019t be over any sooner. This one was so fucking bad I literally had to take a break 1\/2 way through it, get a snack, clean my office a little bit, and then listen to another album just to clear my head. I cannot even wrap my head around just how horrible these songs are. The album actually started off promising with \u201cWhat Doesn\u2019t Die\u201d but then somewhere along the line it just took a nose dive into the Shitlantic Ocean. \u201cOoo, Diamond Darrell plays on this album.\u201d Big fucking deal. Hell, one of the songs he plays on is one of three songs that sound like fucking NICKELBACK. Yes, you heard me right… FUCKING NICKELBACK! Jesus H. Chizzist, I felt the anger in me brewing up just having to remember that shit. I sure am glad I did this challenge because now I know I have ZERO reasons to ever go back and re-listen to anything that John Bush sang on period. Thank god this chapter is over and done with. I need a drink now.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

\"\"Worship Music<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> September 12, 2011
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Earth on Hell, The Devil You Know, Fight \u2018Em Till You Can\u2019t, I\u2019m Alive, In The End, The Giant, Judas Priest, Crawl, The Constant, Revolution Screams
\nThe Bad:<\/strong>
\n The Indifferent:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Holy fucking thrash Batman! ANTHRAX IS BACK! So while I know that this album was written before they even decided to get Joey Belladonna back in the band, I can\u2019t help but hear and feel the power of his presence and influence on this album. Everything about this album is what I loved about Anthrax from the get go. This album very well could have been the follow up to Persistence of Time. I feel like Worship Music is a perfect mix of the accessibility of State of Euphoria and the serious and at times social\/political consciousness of Persistence of Time. There is a very damn good reason why this album got all of fan and critical acclaim that it got. Just fucking listen to it. Just in the first three songs I can hear and feel that hunger, anger, and perseverance of a band that just decided it was tired of going with the grain for so many years. \u201cIn the End\u201d just may be one of Anthrax\u2019s greatest songs. This very fitting tribute to the late, great Ronnie James Dio has become a staple of their live performances and it\u2019s a moving and intense tribute to say the least. I cannot even begin to praise this album any more than I already have. There isn\u2019t one fucking song on this album that you could skip past. Every song is as good if not better than the one before it. Worship Music has a flow to it that creates a really awesome listening experience. This is not an album by a tired band or a band that is tapping out. As far as I\u2019m concerned, this is a new beginning for Anthrax and I cannot wait to see just where they go from here.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge.\u201d For those that are new here, the \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge\u201d is where I take a band\u2019s entire discography and listen to every album in order of release from front to back. With my unforgiving and well-aged ear, I call it how I hear it. In some cases, I find that what I once thought was good is actually pretty crappy and sometimes crap manages to age into something pretty kick ass. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[711,277],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-11212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-by-album-challenge","category-music-news","tag-anthrax"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19550,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11212\/revisions\/19550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}