Some more thrash, with Anthrax missing out on the annus miribalis of thrash that was 1986 by a few months (this was released in March 1987). As such, although they could arguably be held up as the fourth pillar of classic thrash, they also feel a little late to the party.
I’d say that what discerns Anthrax from Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer are the combination of the insanely fast drumming of Charlie Bennante (pioneering the use of having two bass pedals) and the wit and verve of their lyrics, delivered by Joey Belladonna. Anthrax follow the thrash standard of two guitarists – Dan Spitz and Scott Ian, with Spitz given the opportunity for some widdly-diddly soloing throughout while Ian lays down a wall of noise with bassist Frank Bello.
They lay down their geeky credentials with a track about Judge Dredd called I Am The Law -
“I judge the rich, I judge the poor - I AM THE LAW
Commit a crime I'll lock the door - I AM THE LAW
Because in Mega-City... I AM THE LAW”
Great fun. And unlike, say, Slayer, Anthrax tend towards quite positive themes in their lyrics. For a band named after a Group IV infectious organism, they sing about things like world peace and avoiding drugs. One World, for example, takes to task warmongers and polluters:
“You pushed a button, that's all you did
It's much harder to kill a man
If you've seen pictures of his kids
Responsibility and what are all our lives worth?
What kind of sentence would you serve
For killing the earth”
Efilnikufecin (NFL) is inspired by the death of John Belushi to parody drug abuse, while Indians is the, what, fourth? Fifth? Song in this list about the treatment of Native Americans.
Yes, as with all of the thrash so far, the effect begins to wear off towards the end of the album, but it’s nice that the four thrash groups so far are at least different enough that it isn’t just yet more of the same kind of noise.
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