Anthrax: Fistful of Metal
1984
Megaforce Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. Deathrider 2. Metal Thrashing Mad 3. I'm Eighteen 4. Panic 5. Subjugator 6. Soldiers of Metal 7. Death from Above 8. Anthrax 9. Across the River 10. Howling Furies
Yes!!! I love that cover sooooo much! I don't know why but I looooove crude 80's metal album covers...Some people are moved to tears when they see the blazing brushstrokes Mother Nature uses to paint an Arizona sky at sunset...
...Others feel a sense of peace and spiritual oneness while gazing deep into the easy, natural lines of Andrew Wyeth's breathtaking watercolors...
Me? I feel most at ease while contemplating an especially sketchy Voivod cover...
...and "Fistful of Metal" has one of the best sketchy metal covers! My mind does gymnastics trying to work out the angle the fist is entering from...I'm still not 100% sure exactly what's being conveyed, but I think that's helped the cover maintain its mystique!
As a teenager this was far and away my least favorite Anthrax album..Sure, I whittled away many an hour mindlessly banging my head to it (which probably accounts for my current borderline brain-damaged state) but I couldn't deny this line-up was vastly inferior to the Joey Belladonna years...Neil Turbin sounded too Halford for my liking...And I liked Rob Halford! Neil's fantasy-based falsetto didn't quite mesh with the band's chugging, streetwise thrash, in my mind...When he sings the album's anthem "Metal Thashing Mad" it sounds like this...ahem..."RACING DOWN THE RO-AHHHHED! ON A STREET MACHINE OF STEEE-WOAH-HHH-AHHH!" All Advanced D&D wail...Not even the the semblance of subtlety...
But now, I kind of enjoy this album for exactly that reason...It captures that magically awkward, pimply-faced teenage metal-head feeling so effortlessly. There's no way you can be cool while listening to this, but there's no way you can't feel cool listening to this, if that makes sense...And every once in awhile Turbin can land a hook, like on "Death from Above"'s chorus. It just works...
I can only recommend this those who were there when Thrash Metal was still raging in its full-glory...Those proud few, resplendent in their jean-jackets and ripped, acid-wash Levi's will probably shed a tear while hearing "Deathrider's" sweet shredding...All the whipper-snappers will go back to their extreme-cookie-monster metal proclaiming this "corny" but we all know the whipper-snappers have got it all wrong...right?
Right.
Here's "Death From Above" by An-diddley-thrax...MOSH, DAMN YOU!!
Armed and Dangerous
1985
Megaforce Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. Armed and Dangerous 2. Raise Hell 3. God Save the Queen 4. Metal Thrashing Mad (live) 5. Panic (live)
My vinyl copy of "Fistful of Metal" is a tad rough...The record itself is beautiful...Brand-new-looking, but unfortunately it looks like someone spilled a can of pop on the bottom third of the cover, so it's a little wrinkly and mildewed...Such is the hazard of buying used...
My copy of "Armed and Dangerous" on the other hand, both the record and the cover, is immaculate...Let me tell you about this...I routinely go into Revolver Records in Tempe...I've badly picked over their backstock, so nowadays I walk straight to their "New Arrivals" section... Anyway, I went in this Sunday morning just as they were opening...The clerk was unlocking the door and he smiles at me and says, "Man, you've just hit the jackpot today..."
"Why? What's up?" I asked.
He opened the door wide and let me in, "Take a look at the New arrivals! Right before we closed last night, a guy came in with about 200 thrash and hardcore records from the 1980's...And you're getting first crack..."
Punk, 80's metal, and hardcore are my specialties, so I start digging through the pile and this stuff is unbelievable! They were in such perfect condition it looks like they were just opened for the first time and never played...Undeniably originals, since they all had the original inserts, old catalogs, etc, yet priced so resonably that I couldn't believe it! I walked up to the counter with a hefty armload of vinyl and basically handed over my wallet, as if at gunpoint...
Anyway, this is one of those acquisitions, and I'll discuss more of them as the blog stretches out over the next few years... Looking back I probably could have made better choices from a monetary standpoint (there were countless old Metallica 12 inch singles..) but screw that...I don't collect records for any sort of financial reward...I do it out of sheer, unbridled love...And I'd rather have a relatively worthless Anthrax LP that I have fond memories of than a Metallica single I'd probably rarely listen to (although I kind of wish now that I'd picked up the "Jump in the Fire" single for that great cover...)
I like that demon guy! He's got a rockin' six-pack...
Anyway, "Armed and Dangerous" is the 1985 ep where the band's classic line-up solidifies...Neil Turbin and Danny Lilker are out and replaced with new vocalist Joey Belladonna and bassist Frank Bello. Joey's vocals are a huge improvement. I don't know if there's ever been another metal vocalist quite like him. His clean, non-aggressive hard-rock style isn't too far removed from, say, Steve Perry of Journey. This shouldn't work, but it does. It gives the band a relatable, everyman persona...This wasn't a band fronted by a fire-breathing demon from hell...This guy was just a regular joe! Yup, there goes Ol' Regular Joe Belladonna!
Compare the two "Fistful of Metal" re-do's from this album ("Metal Thrashing Mad" and "Panic") to the Turbin takes...Joey's versions are much easier on the ears...The only time he really blows it is the horribly irritating Sex Pistols cover, "God Save the Queen." Come to think of it, I don't know if I've ever heard a good cover of a Sex Pistols song (and that goes doubly for metal covers of Sex Pistols songs)...I think this might come down to the fact that Johnny Rotten seemed to be attempting to annoy people with his vocals, and if you imitate an irritation, you're bound to cross the line from "charmingly bratty" to "unbelievably irritating" somewhere in the process...Although to be fair, it was probably all the bad metal covers that got me into the Pistols in the first place...I can recall being vaguely wary of punk before I had heard it (not even understanding that I had already heard it) since a lot of the music journalism at the time seemed to overstate punk's white noise/poor recording quality quotient. In my mind, if I bought a punk album it was going to sound like that almost inaudible live version of "Fanatics" off the Minutemen's "The Politics of Time" album...In other words, inaudible background noise...
But I eventually picked up some punk albums and found that (for the most part) they sounded like the hard rock/heavy metal albums I'd already been used to, just the basic approach and ideology was different...So, yea, I eventually realized the slick, hard rock/metal bands were the difficult ones to listen to and this breezy, catchy punk stuff was a blast!
Wait, a Minutemen cover? I must have gotten off track somehow... Let's reign this in: The "Armed and Dangerous" ep is probably not for casual listeners, since the best thing on here (the title track) is readily available on the "Spreading the Disease" album, but it's historically significant for Anthrax fans and a pretty fun listen if you're in the mood for early thrash. I seem to remember this being a pretty popular release among metal fans back in the day, so that should count for something...
Here's "Armed and Dangerous" by freakin' Anthrax...
Anthrax: Spreading the Disease
1985
Megaforce Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. A.I.R. 2. Lone Justice 3. Madhouse 4. S.S.C./Stand or Fall 5. The Enemy 6. Aftershock 7.Armed and Dangerous 8. Medusa 9. Gung-Ho
If you would have asked me back in 1991 to rank the "Big Four of Thrash," this would have likely been the order I would have given you:
1. Megadeth
2 Metallica
3.Anthrax
4. Slayer
But now that I'm a mature man with a suit and tie and 9 illegitimate children, my ranking has changed almost completely:
1. Slayer
2.Anthrax
3.Megadeth
4.Metallica
Metallica kind of whined their way out of the top and it would soon become apparent that Megadeth had undeniably peaked on "Rust in Peace." However, Slayer and Anthrax kept sounding better and better to me as time wore on and my tastes changed...
To be brutally honest, I think I still secretly resent Metallica for not participating in the "Clash of the Titans" tour...The good news is that "Bang Tango Is Back For More!" Call the RIP 900-line for details...Oh yea, and when I was talking about "music journalism" earlier, I was talking about RIP magazine...lol...
I dug this copy of "Spreading the Disease" out of my closet a year or so ago while I was looking through a box of old stuff and came across a pile of Cd's...In addition to "Spreading the Disease," I found "Persistence of Time" and a few Overkill discs that I'll get to someday...
I originally received this tape as a gift during the Christmas of 1990, which I think I've covered before...I can recall the tape itself being particularly white...
Eventually, I would make it to school and take the tape out of the car stereo, put it back in the case and place it in the inside pocket of my jacket...I would proceed to stare longingly at the cover during class, oblivious to my surroundings..That's why to this day I'm still not really sure who discovered America...
And what's this long division shit I keep hearing about? It's fucken brutal, but it's not metal!!!!!!!!
After re-listening to all my Anthrax albums in a row, I'm singling this one out as my personal favorite...I just hits the perfect balance between traditional power metal and 80's thrash for me... The leap in quality from "Fistful of Metal"/"Armed and Dangerous" is humongous...
The shining moment that everybody points to on this album is "Madhouse." I few years back, I was super surprised at how many people in my everyday life suddenly started to tell me how it was the best song ever...I started wondering, "Why do all these yuppies and teenage kids suddenly like 'Madhouse' so much?" Then one day I was fired up the PS2 and got my answer...
...They used it in a "Guitar Hero" game, which was a huge phenomenon at the time...The new "classic rock radio" really...As a result, "Madhouse" was canonized as one of the all time great tracks of the thrash era. Although, I don't think the song needed to be used in a video game to earn that honor. It ruled anyway...
As much as I like "Madhouse," it comes in second to "Medusa" for me. I don't really understand it..."Medusa: is unquestionably the corniest moment on the album, but its unbridled dorkery makes it so transcendent for me...Not to mention, it's so catchy! That opening riff, man...That opening riff! It's one of those songs that as soon as I heard it, everything in the universe quietly clicked and fell into place...A radiant moment, if you will...and it was about goddamn Medusa, of all people!
You heard me, I consider Medusa to be a person!!! And I consider the song "Medusa" to be a metal classic! I posted a video of it below, but you won't be able to watch it, cos you looked at that picture of Medusa above and now you've turned to stone...
Anthrax: State of Euphoria
1988
Megaforce Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. Be All, End All 2. Out of Sight, Out of Mind 3. Make Me Laugh 4. Antisocial 5. Who Cares Wins 6. Now It's Dark 7. Schism 8. Misery Loves Company 9. 13 14. Finale
This was another Revolver records acquisition. So mint, that it practically sparkles when I pull it out of the plastic sleeve...
(Oh yea, it just struck me that I have this big pile of Anthrax albums but I don't have what is often considered their peak, 1987's "Among the Living."
I haven't heard that album in decades, but I can tell you there was a time period where I listened to it non-stop as a young teenager...It's one of those albums I've heard so many times that I never need to hear it again, because I can just sit there and play every note in my head....Maybe I'll keep my eyes peeled for a copy and go over that one in a separate post...)
I can remember "State of Euphoria" was the last of the classic-era Anthrax albums that I picked up...For the longest time, I just couldn't get my hands on a copy! I'd see that bright yellow cover in the metal magazines and it would just drive me nuts! I wanted it so bad...Eventually (early 1991) I finally snagged the album, and the sweet payoff of that endless quest probably colors my opinion of the album somewhat...
I always hear people say this was the only misstep of the classic era; that it was some sort of sell-out...But I don't really hear it...I think a lot of the critics were blinded by the band's bright-ass shorts...
It sounds fine to me...Very similar to "Among the Living"'s tight, technical thrash, but with slightly stickier melodies...Maybe that's it...Maybe metal-heads have some aversion to pop melodies...Maybe that's "hair metal shit." Man, fuck off...
My only real criticism is the lyrics are maybe a little lazy...Not that they're badly written at all (their writing is very good, actually), it's just the endless rehashing of movie and book plots...They take the whole Misfits "reading the synopsis off the back of the video cassette box" approach, but Stephen King and David Lynch aren't as lyrically compelling as Z-Grade monster movies...
Another thing that is often brought up as a negative, is the fact that the album's best song is a cover of Trust's "Antisocial." But I don't necessarily see it as minus...There's an art to picking out a cover song so perfectly suited to your sound that everyone just assumes you wrote it... And I'm telling you, Trust's street-level punk-metal was a brilliant choice. Anthrax uses the English lyrics from the 1980 English-language version of "Repression"
But to find out what the band was really all about, check out a translation of the original French lyrics sometime...Way more raw and brutal...
Anyway, here's Trust's English version of "Antisocial" in case you haven't heard it...
...and here's the Anthrax take, for comparison....
Besides, there are a couple of other songs on here that I like just as much as "Antisocial," "Finale" is one of my favorite Anthrax songs...one of the catchiest tracks to come out of the 80's thrash scene...Super fun and ridiculously underrated...Same goes for the grand opener "Be All, End All," although I prefer J.J's version...
Here's the original, non-JJ version for reference...
In the end, I'll defend "State of Euphoria" and this temporarily bright & shiny Anthrax. I guess if I had to rank Anthrax albums from best to worst, this would probably go on the bottom, but not because it's bad, but because the other albums were so high-quality...The difference between this and "Among the Living" is minuscule in my eyes..
Here's "Finale" by Anthrax...Eat it...
Anthrax: Persistence of Time
1990
Megaforce, Island
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Time 2. Blood 3. Keep It in the Family 4. In My World 5. Gridlock 6. Intro to Reality 7. Belly of the Beast 8. Got the Time 9. H8 Red 10. One Man Stands 11. Discharge
"Persistence of Time" was a real lawn-mower album for me...I did various odd-jobs saving up the $8.99 so I could buy the cassette...
...and I can tell you, this album made all that time spent on lawn-care and baby-sitting worth it...I was at the peak of my heavy metal obsession back in '91 and this squarely hit the spot...
The band seems to have renewed its purpose after the perceived failure of "State of Euphoria" and get much darker and heavier than they had ever been...The lyrics mostly drop the TV/Stephen King lyrical concerns and focus on social consciousness, the only exception I can pinpoint is "Belly of the Beast," which rehashes the plot of an old Twilight Zone episode, but it was an especially pitch-black Twilight Zone episode that takes place in a Dachau concentration camp, so it still works...
As I re-listen to this, it suddenly strikes me how damn long these songs are... Longer than Scott Ian's goatee...
The first four in particular, hover around the 7-minute mark, but ultimately it's not a problem because it's all so well-constructed...Each song contains multiple, complex passages that flow seamlessly into one another, so it's not like they're endlessly vamping on a single riff or something...and in the end, there's not a truly weak moment...
If I had to pick my least favorite, I'd probably go for their cover of Joe Jackson's "Got the Time," if only because they play it so close to the original that it seems redundant other than highlighting the connection between metal and punk that everyone was already aware of in the first place...Although, come to think of it, I guess it does fit in nicely with the album's overarching concept, so screw it...The whole thing works...Don't change a thing...
Oh yea, I can remember watching Headbanger's Ball around this time and they did an on-the-set piece about Anthrax's upcoming appearance on "Married...With Children."I couldn't have been more stoked! I have fond memories of watching the episode and thrilling at the band's performance of "In My World." Here's the appearance...
I think "Persistence of Time" holds up as one of their best albums. If someone wanted to know what the band was about, I would point them to this and "Among the Living." The band matured without going soft... Here's "Time" for proof...Enjoy...
Anthrax went on to release plenty more albums after "Persistence of Time," I just don't happen to own any of them...After an entertaining "B-Sides" collection, the group hired new vocalist, John Bush of Armored Saint, and changed direction into more of a Alice In Chains/Pantera groove metal thing...I remember liking the first of these albums, "The Sound of White Noise"...
...but I jumped off board with the release of "Stomp 442" which was so mind-numblingly boring that I just couldn't take it anymore...To be fair, I haven't listened to the album since 1995, but I suspect my opinion wouldn't change much...Groove Metal has aged very poorly for me...I strongly detest that tough-guy, MMA bullshit attitude that groove metal introduced to the genre...It went from being a thing for pimply fantasy geeks and drop-outs to a scene of meat-headed bullies...God bless the stoner rock and retro metal genres, which are really my only outlet for quality hard rock anymore, besides turning to the old classics from the 70's, 80's and early 90's...Metal is dead, long live metal...
Although, in retrospect, I might have just gotten tired of staring at the dude's ass on the cover...I have this same problem with "Going for the One" by Yes...
...and Rush's bare-buttocked breakthrough"Hemispheres"...
Okay, as much fun as I'm having naming every album that has a man-ass on the cover, I think it's about time to pull the plug on this entry...
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