Anthrax Worship Music
Dear reader and loyal vinyl addicts, welcome to side 2, the
differing opinion and possibly either your voice of reason or an aggravation to
no end, but hey, that’s the beauty of musical discussion.
Late last year Anthrax, fresh off of the Sonisphere festival
with fellow Big 4 Titans Slayer, Megadeth an the almighty Metallica, released
their first studio effort since the John Bush helmed ‘We’ve Come For You
All’. Gone were the gruff vocals of
Armored Saint’s John Bush and what was that we heard? A far more high pitched and more familiar
voice belting out the opening lines of ‘Earth On Hell’ “The Kids have gone wild
in the streets!” a line harkening back to the 80’s and the metal genre that
Anthrax once championed. Yes loyal
readers, Joey Belladonna had returned to the fold to bring classic Anthrax the
sound and the fury they had been waiting for.
John is no slouch in his own right, but there is only one voice that
belongs at the forefront of tracks like ‘Indians’, ‘Be All End All’,
‘Anti-Social’ and the immortal classic ‘I am the Law’. This is a return to the band that took the
torch from the creators of thrash, Metallica, and injected skateboarding and
comic references into the music.
The album is amazing.
It never lets up from beginning to end and contains what are going to be
Anthrax classics such as ‘The Devil You Know’ and ‘Fight Em’ Til You
Can’t’. There is complete agreement
between this sites reviewers that this is indeed a stellar album and is not
only one of the best of the year 2011, it is also arguably one of the best of
Anthrax’s career.
To me, the John Bush years, were simply a different
band. Charlie Benate, Frankie Bello and
Dan Spitz, though Dan would eventually be replaced by Rob Cagiano, who, in my
opinion, began to help Anthrax feel their roots solidly in the 80’s with his
bigger than life riffing and his ability to completely follow the insane energy
of Scott Ian on rhythm Guitar. Albums
like Stomp 442 and Sound of White Noise are great records, but were formed
during a shift in the trend of metal sound and it feels as though they went for
the ride but didn’t quite fit in. Sort
of like the older brother too hip to hang with the younger kids though trying
hard to do so. Coincidently, Stomp 442
was the last Anthrax album I purchased prior to the release of Worship
Music.
With Joey back in the lineup and finally sharing the stage
with all of the other members of the Big 4, Anthrax have returned and delivered
the album they were destined to make.
Gone are the days where they try to fit the trends and sometimes hitting
it and sometimes failing. Anthrax are
best when they are innovating (I’m the Man anyone? How about Bring the Noise?) Anthrax, Slayer,
Megadeth and Metallica are the old gods.
They are to be worshipped and emulated by the young bands trying to get
a toe hold instead of the other way around.
This is evidenced by all 4 of the Big 4 bands releasing career defining
albums in the past 4 years (Death Magnetic, Th1rte3n, World Painted Blood and
now Worship Music).
This is a record that could not have been made with John
Bush. The material is too cohesive around a central
theme as opposed to an album that pulls from every direction. The central theme of Worship Music is
arguably about consumption. From the
literal sense captured in ‘Fight ‘Em Til You Can’t’ chronicling the beginning
of a zombie apocalypse to tracks such as ‘In the end’ with themes of darkness
consuming light and death consuming life. This is Joey’s deepest lyrics since
Spreading the Disease and possibly more though provoking than the Among the
Living. In contrast to my friend and
collegue, I am happy that the John Bush years are behind Anthrax. John is
a great performer and a fantastic vocalist, but to many a hardcore
Anthrax fan myself included, it was wrong.
It was like taking your buddy’s wife on a date, it was just
unthinkable. To me, I look at the John
Bush era as a different band, though this is hypocritical in many ways , since
many different bands change personnel, Megadeth being one of the biggest
offenders of this, but the voice…THE VOICE, the voice cannot and should not
change. Joey is Anthrax. Scott, Frankie, Charlie and Dan are
Anthrax. Rob is Anthrax…why can’t I see
John as Anthrax? He is the voice…He is
Armored Saint and to me always be.
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