A Devil’s Dozen – Anthrax

Which is one of the interesting things about Anthrax… They’ve been around long enough to achieve “legend” status, and yet, it’s not without controversy. There’s always one or two voices arguing that they’re undeserving, that they don’t belong in thrash’s Big Four.

As the one who is likely Last Rites’ most vocal Anthrax supporter (or apologist, if you fall on the other side of the divide), I don’t really understand the dislike, but I’ve come to grips with it. (And sometimes, of late, I can find myself begrudgingly  agreeing — the less said the better about the honking turd ballad that the band just previewed from the soon-to-be-released For All Kings.) Maybe people hate Anthrax because, for most of their career, they were anything but serious, decked out in colorful jam shorts and Teenage Mutant Ninja shirts, their cartoon mascot declaring these Bronx-based goofballs as the epitome of suave cool… “NOT!” Or maybe it’s because of Scott Ian’s second career as a ubiquitous VH1 talking head, telling you how much he loved the 80s or whatever else they wanted to ask him… Or maybe you’re just soulless and you don’t like fun, groovy thrash about Stephen King novels…

Personally, not being soulless (shut up, Wuensch), I hold Anthrax’s run from 1985’s Spreading The Disease through the John Bush-fronted Sound Of White Noise as killer. Perhaps they’re not the genre’s finest hours, nor the fastest or the heaviest or the angriest, but yet, that five-album run stands strong and is fully deserving of the band’s status as leading lights of American thrash metal.

And hell, either way, love ’em or hate ’em, they were never better than on these thirteen tunes.

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I AM THE LAW

Never mind that it’s an ode to the most ass-kicking lawman in all of comic book history. Shit, never mind that it’s a band’s ode to their favorite comic book – “I Am The Law” is, plainly, Anthrax at their pinnacle. Taken from their most unstoppable record, released at the absolute apex of thrash’s attack, the song weaves completely unforgettable riffs with what are undoubtedly among the best hooks the band ever wrote. That signature mosh breakdown we came to know and love the band for is front and center, too. I argue that it’s the peak of the band’s catalog, hands down; “I Am the Law” is the ultimate Anthrax song. DROKK IT!

ONLY

When any band makes a significant personnel change, it is crucial to make a good first impression, and Anthrax absolutely nailed it when choosing “Only” as the first single featuring new vocalist John Bush. The track not only displays the full range of Bush’s vocal power (inarguably an upgrade), but also the band’s newfound sense of…well, pretty much everything: melody, heaviness, maturity, grit. For me, it was the moment that sold me on the band after years of being a mere curiosity. Anthrax has yet to reach this level of excellence again (and at the rate they’re going, they’re not likely to.)

METAL THRASHING MAD

Anthrax has largely abandoned Fistful of Metal, and it’s a shame, because the album contains some of the most authentically metal-as-fuck music the band has ever made. “Metal Thrashing Mad” is a prime example of such. It’s a simple, shallow, two-and-half-minute song about driving fast but, goddamn, does it ever work. The track is an almost perfect coupling of thrash’s frantic savagery and the muscular swagger of 80s Judas Priest. Neil Turbin screams his ass off, and the band cranks out some razor-sharp speed metal. It’s a shame that Turbin is such an asshole, because the world could have used a little more of this Anthrax.

NOW IT’S DARK

Yet another ‘Thrax tune based on a twisted film, “Now It’s Dark” finds inspiration in Frank Booth, portrayed by Dennis Hopper in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. While Booth’s sadistic psychosis can’t be adequately described in song — or really not terribly well in words at all — “Now It’s Dark” fits the infamous “Don’t you fuckin’ look at me!” line against a typically ‘Thrax-ian groovy riff, culminating in the offbeat but eminently singable aside “I am one fuckin’ well-dressed man!” Kick back, crank it up, crack open a beer — but not a Heineken. No, no, fuck that shit: Pabst Blue Ribbon.

IN MY WORLD

In the interest of both truth and extreme hyperbole, here we go: “In My World” is an absolute tour de force, and a pinnacle in rhythmic design and execution in thrash metal. From the outset of the spoken-word-featuring intro, Charlie Benante and the rest of the heft-drivers in Anthrax are setting the stage for the entire 6-plus minute song. First, it’s the catch-and-release of the verse, then the relentless snare punches of the pre-chorus, and every expertly placed change within the extended chorus itself. On top are some of Joey Belladonna’s most irresistible sing-along vocals (delivering some fun, swaggeriffic lyrics), and a series of perfectly simplistic, descending chord progressions. Perhaps best of all is Dan Spitz’s solo, matching the rhythms of the backing music before eventually grasping the spotlight with some high-flying shred. As successful under intense musical scrutiny as it is under the pure “fun” test.

GUNG HO

Anthrax is just a fun band. Back in yesteryear, Anthrax was the only one of the Big Four that played as if it had nothing to prove. Except, that is, to just have a good time… and to crank out some kick ass thrash in the process. The closing track on Spreading The Disease, “Gung Ho” personifies this attitude with an out-and-out corker of a song. It’s not the catchiest track on the album; it doesn’t have the best riff, but it’s the fastest and acts as the perfect closer. It’s also the perfect lead in to Speak English Or Die by S.O.D. with its jingoistic, chaotic ending.

BELLY OF THE BEAST

Anthrax seemed to sober up, slow up and grow up for Persistence of Time. Their cynical scan of humanity was as narrow-eyed as ever, but what they hollered from the bully pulpit this time around carried new weight because they weren’t smiling when they screamed it. “Belly of the Beast” may be the best of what came out of that surely reluctant maturation because it expresses in a palpable way the band’s frustration with a world in which sociopathic power players never go wanting for sheep on whom to prey, from the hypnotic (and Maidenesque) charm of the essential “Intro to Reality” through familiar but newly precise chugging riffs and ganged chorus to the immensely satisfying swell that caps it off.

A.I.R.

Its title short for “Adolesence In Red,” this opening number from Spreading The Disease deals with the time-honored metal trope of “grown-up people just don’t understand you, kid.” More importantly, it does so by rocking thoroughly, both “AIR” and Spreading splitting the difference between the Euro-trad-metal leanings of Fistful Of Metal and the full-out thrashings to come. When the groove drops into that middle section, it’s full-tilt mosh-ability, a mid-tempo stomp that Anthrax absolutely owned in their prime — and then when Joey’s scream signifies a return to head-banging thrash, well, it all just gets even better…

BLACK LODGE

Anthrax has always worn its fandom on its sleeve, enthusiastically repping passions like Stephen King, comic books, Public Enemy, and even coffee in their lyrics, sound or both.  These sorts of obsessions are often a product of the time, and in the early ‘90s when Sound of White Noise was birthed, David Lynch’s Twin Peaks was the rage.  The band was so enamored with the series and its unique score that they tapped composer Angelo Badalamenti to add his signature shimmering melodies to “Black Lodge.”  This somber desperate plea to cling to another’s secret dark half is a one of a kind Anthrax tune in both style and mood.

MEDUSA

“Medusa” is a bit of an oddity in the Anthrax catalog. Greek mythology has always been fertile ground for metal tunes, but Anthrax usually based songs in the more modern mythologies of comic books and horror novels. In straying a bit from its comfort zone, however, Anthrax created one of its most unique and memorable tracks. Built from a stomping, mid-paced riff, the track’s atypically relaxed tempo leaves plenty of room for Joey’s voice to soar in a most trad-metal fashion. The rest of the band demonstrates its mastery of the lock-step groove, by relentlessly hammering a handful of simple, but infectious riffs for all they are worth.

CAUGHT IN A MOSH