It’s been 8 years since Anthrax’s last studio release. In that time they’ve been through 3 vocalists, two years of recording/production, and most recently, a string of shows alongside fellow Big 4 members Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer. The wait is finally over, as after regaining their true frontman and in the process their metal legs, in 2011’s “Season of Returns”, Anthrax have unleashed their latest studio opus, “Worship Music” upon the waiting world. It’s like they never left!
The haunting album opener “Worship” sets an almost evil overtone (similar to Slayer’s “Hell Awaits") leading into the ever thrashy “Earth On Hell” providing a real punch to the jaw for listeners. This thrash-gasmic opening is an indication that Anthrax are as good as ever, with Charlie Benante’s epic drums leading this trashy charge into combat, while the chorus provides an awesome time change, adding a progressive element to this otherwise thrashy bird. This track is almost reminiscent of the opening track of the ‘thrax’s debut album “Fistful Of Metal”, only a hell of a lot ballsier and vocally, more controlled. In short, the ‘thrax are back for us all!
The album flows pretty violently (in a good way) into tracks “The Devil You Know” and lead single “Fight ‘Em ‘Till You Can’t.” Both of these tracks sound like they were written back in the heyday of Bay Area Thrash, with modern twists added to them. “The Devil You Know”’s ferocity is contrasted by an extremely melodic and meticulous solo by lead guitarist Rob Caggiano, finally able to prove his metal after being somewhat underused on 2003’s “We’ve Come For You All”. The album’s intro/outro are reflective of a heartbeat in many ways, circulating and getting faster whilst getting the song rolling (and a fast roll at that.) “Fight ‘Em Till You Can’t” ‘s music however is also reflected in it’s lyrics, a chaotically “Metal thrashing mad” song about the Zombie Apocalypse. With the resinous opening chords being almost reflective of Armageddon , leading into a main riff that literally makes you feel like beating up zombies! (courtesy of rhythm guitarist Scott Ian.)
Vocally, this song proves that singer Joey Belladona is simply the man, and that this album could not have been done without him. The wild assault of words in the chorus, followed by the awesome melody of the words “I’ll end you” are a true indication that Belladona, is and always was Anthrax’s definitive frontman (and that’s not only because his vocals are on most of the songs that define Anthrax!)
Groovefest track “I’m Alive” is up next, and in all honesty it’s probably my favorite track on the record. From its slow building, “woah-oh” sing-a-long intro, into the song’s fist pumping groovey main riff, this is sure to be a fan favorite. Once demoed by short lived vocalist Dan Nelson under the title “Vampyres” (I know right?), this track showcases Anthrax’s ability to write anthems while keeping it in the vein of thrash; similar to songs such as “Madhouse” or “Spreading the Disease”. A track that’s sure to have audiences singing along, banging their heads, or at least tapping their feet, this groove is inescapable. Seriously, if there were a song to define “fight music” then this would be it!
In a sort of intermission, the record goes string section, with “Hymn 1”, which is fair enough considering the already awesome assault that we’ve been lead on, we’d need a chance to unwind. However, this subsequent unwinding is short lived as the album marches back to the frontlines with yet another head banger, “In The End”, from it’s slightly strange yet awesome vocal melodies, to it’s tempo change to become more of a mid tempo fist raiser, Anthrax display that they know their audience and know all too well how to toy with our minds and expectations, exceeding them continuously.
Back to some old school thrash sound (seriously, this track sounds like it was made in the 80s) with “The Giant” , before the interval of “Hymn 2”. Following this are melodic-tastic “Judas Priest” , the calm and more laid back “Crawl” (most likely the softest song vocally on the record) and the sludgingly groovery “The Constant.” Closing the record as they started it, Anthrax leave us lingering with the, and I mean THE thrashiest track on the album, “Revolution Screams”. Decorated with unexpected tempo changes, this song is most definitely assured to leave a lasting impression on all listeners.
Conversely, the one negative aspect of this record is that it gears towards a formula, which is apparent on certain songs on the record, after about the 5th groovey time change. However, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and given that this album has taken 2 years to make, and is the band’s first in 8, it’s quite a stellar achievement. Anthrax have proved that they can stand on equal ground to their Big 4 counterparts, producing probably the best thrash metal record for a while now. I’m rating Worship Music as an 8/10
As former frontman Dan Nelson once said, “Anthrax is back motherfuckeerrs!”
MetalSucks writer Anso DF recently interviewed ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna about his return to the band. Belladonna spoke about what it's been like to replace ex-singer John Bush and the band's plans for "Worship Music," the shelved album they recorded with ex-singer Dan Nelson. An excerpt follows:
It’s been reported that some material from theWorship Music album will feature new vocals from you, and other songs will be totally new. Is that accurate?
Yeah, there’s going to be some new songs for sure. I’m banking on all that happening. And some tweaking, re-doing, and re-structuring – anything that needs to be done. There are some songs that really are quite well done. I’ll do one [in concert on this tour]. I did my part on it. It had the outer boundaries intact, so it was just a matter of getting in there, refreshing it, and putting the stamp on it. But there are a bunch of songs like that – four, five, six – that’s alright too.
One point that gets lost in the discussion is that the changes in Anthrax aren’t limited to singers; there’s also a move back to pre-Bush Anthrax sound.
Right now, I haven’t heard a whole lot of the songs. I’ve had some stuff in the past that I’ve checked out. I wasn’t certain about what style was coming down, but yeah the approach is little older school, but definitely with some of the newer twists. You know, all of the above. I don’t know if one’s more than the other. I haven’t heard enough of it yet. We haven’t gone into too much pre-production for me to verify that.
So you haven’t heard all of what they’d finished?
No.
That’s kinda interesting. I’m surprised by that. It seems like it will be a tough record to release because it’s going to be so totally scrutinized.
Oh yeah. It’s gonna be one of those things. About your question earlier, about reservations about things – that’s the third thing. Maybe not in that order. It sucks that you’re in this line of fire where it’s like ‘He did this, he was that’ … who cares. He did that, now I’m back. I do what I do, and he did what he did. He’s different, I’m different, and that’s it. It stinks when you gotta be held to a certain standard. John might’ve had the same [experience]. I don’t know. It’s something that I really didn’t have to do early on. You are who you are. If you like the band, you like the way we do things, then cool. But now you got ‘Well, I liked it when he…’ and all that [groans]. I have to disregard a lot of it, because you know what? I can only do what I do and hopefully they dig it.
See, I’m positive John Bush went through that too, because I was among those who put him through it. It was upsetting that overnight Anthrax lost so much color. And I stood there, looking at John and thinking ‘This really isn’t the same thing.’
It wasn’t. There was no way around it. And then I come back in, and I don’t want to be that guy who has to take that spot of what you’re doing. I want to do what I did before where you let me do my thing and you dig what I do. I have a different route that I can take, a style. A different approach. The word ‘heavy’ sometimes is a little weird. What’s heavy, you know? Look how I sing – it’s melody, it’s quality, it’s range. It’s tone. There are certain things that go with vocals versus just yelling hard and screaming.
This is one awesome thrash metal supergroup. It's like a badass orchestra of badasses (and Joey Belladona...) completely slaying a badass Diamond Head song (Am I Evil.)
The video was recorded with a camera during the live screening in a cinema, so far that's the best quality available of the performance on the youtubes.
Revolver Magazine's Chris Krovatin recently caught up with Slayer's Kerry King in Austria and Megadeth's Dave Mustaine in Warsaw, Poland to get their thoughts on the current "Big Four" tour that includes, METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH, and ANTHRAX.
Excerpts from the interview can be read below:
Revolver: How did the "Big Four" tour come about?
King: It was something that was trying to be made happen, so it just took everyone signing off on it. I gotta tell you, man, I can't believe, in the 27 years since we put our first record out, that no one's tried to make this happen. Because now that it is happening, it's so cool, it's so important, that every territory in the world wants it. I don't know what took so long.
Mustaine: We had some opportunities to do these festivals, and we had been doing the Carnage dates [with SLAYER], which were of course so popular in the States and Canada. For me, personally, I didn't see it coming… Having dinner with Lars [Ulrich] the other night, he told me that he had talked to SLAYER's tour manager a year and a half ago about whether or not this was gonna happen, and I thought, God, I'm so glad I didn't know about this a year and a half ago, because I would've had to spend every day with that "I've got a big gig coming" brain.
Revolver: For a long time, it seemed like there was bad blood between you guys, specifically between SLAYER and MEGADETH, and MEGADETH and METALLICA. What squashed that beef?
King: Before we did the Australian and Japanese run with MEGADETH, I was reading the Revolver SLAYER issue, and reading this interview we did with Dave. And I just couldn't remember why I wasn't friends with this dude anymore — I could not remember what I was upset about. So we get to the airport, and I saw him coming out of the lounge, and I came up, shook his hand, and said, "Hey, dude, I don't think I've talked to you in about 15 years!" We have a shitload of dates coming up, and honestly, when I've talked to him, I remember the guy I dug 25 years ago.
Mustaine: We've just learned how to step back see what we stand for in the world, the "Big Four," and how each band has contributed to that in its own way. I had a huge turnaround on my whole outlook at life walking into this tour, these dates, with just a brand new relationship. The first person I talked to was [METALLICA guitarist] Kirk [Hammett]. We talked for a while, and then at dinner, I sat next to James [Hetfield] and Lars, and it was cool to look at it — just how much we changed the world… Twenty years ago, this tour probably wouldn't have happened — we were all young, and we weren't dealing with the fame too well.
Revolver: What do SLAYER represent in the "Big Four?"
King: We represent all that is evil in the "Big Four," and historically, I think we've represented thrash the best, but it's funny, just how these four bands from this same movement went off to become different entities.
Revolver: What about MEGADETH?
Mustaine: Our lyrics are a little deeper than some of the others, but we're each different in that way — SLAYER's lyrics are really different from ANTHRAX's. We're really just like a four-paned window, you know — four different vantage points, all getting across that same message.
Revolver: Since METALLICA is headlining these shows, Kerry, should they be worried about getting blown off the stage by one of you?
King: The one thing I'm not happy about — and we didn't know this until we got here — is that it's not always the "Big Four" in a row. Some days, there are bands in between us, and that's kind of a bummer. A night ending with ANTHRAX, MEGADETH, and SLAYER would be brutal. I have nothing against those other bands, but I didn't know about that. But yeah, we open for METALLICA some nights. I've seen METALLICA twice on this tour, and they may not have all the spiel and bells and whistles they had in the States, but they've been killing it. They're pros, man, they'll have no problem. That said, man, our set's brutal, and it ain't there to make friends.
So it's really happening. Thrash Metal's "Big Four," Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax will in fact be performing on the same bill as part of this year's installment of Sonisphere Festival in Bulgaria.
The show will be airing live around the world in select cinemas.Metal Hammer UKannounced earlier today the full list of cinemas around the U.K. that will be airing the show:
"Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax are to have their show in Bulgaria on June 22nd broadcast to cinemas all over the world. A statement from the bands reads: “For one night only, metalheads around the world can experience history: On Tuesday, June 22, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax perform on one stage together, and through the wonders of satellite technology, you can be part of this historic concert event, broadcast exclusively to select movie theatres around the world. Beyond the limited European festival dates, there are not additional tour dates planned for this extraordinary line-up.”
It makes it a little clear why Anthrax had to rush back to Joey Belladonna, since touring is not in John Bush's heart anymore, and he wanted to keep his artistic integrity by not re-recording some other dude's material for the next Anthrax album, I applaud John for his decision.
I also hope that backstage footage from the show, would be made available. Because with Lars, Kerry King, and Dave Mustaine's cocks egos in the same venue, only the skies the limit for hilarity.
Last year, Anthrax had a butt load of drama circulating around their front man position, after Dan Nelson and the band went their separate ways, former vocalist John Bush stepped in to help the band finish up their dates for the remaining part of 2009 and stuck around till March of this year.
Now, the band have announced that former front man Joey Belladona (1985 - 1992) has rejoined the fold, as a permanent member (but, for how long?), and that the band will be re-recording, as well as writing new material with Joey, and expect to have it out by early 2011.
Metalsuckshave a great post up, where they jokingly predict Joey Belladona's contemplation of re-rejoining the band, in which "he" makes some valid points. An excerpt follows:
"Okay, Joey. Now, let’s be rational. Let’s think this all the way through. Let’s not make any brash decisions this time.
I mean, these dudes have not been cool to me. Remember when they fired me in 1992 for no apparent reason? And they hired me back to do that reunion tour. And then they, uh, y’know. Fired me again. And this time, I found out about it over the internet. They weren’t even good enough to give me a phone call! And then Scott and Charlie talked an awful lot of shit about me in the press, and said that I should “Grow up and be a man. Take responsibility for your life.” And I had, like, no idea what they were talking about. Just a couple of months ago, Scott made fun of me on television! I kinda think it might be because the reunion was less financially successful than we’d hoped. But I don’t really know, ’cause I never actually spoke to them about it."click here to read the entire post
LOS ANGELES, CA - MONDAY, May 10, 2010 -- With rumors swirling since Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante and bassist Frank Bello were seen together with former Anthrax vocalist Joey Belladonna late last month in New York, the band - Benante, Bello, and guitarists Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano - is elated to announce that Belladonna has officially rejoined the band. In his once and current capacity, Belladonna will make his first appearance with Anthrax this summer when the band joins Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth - The Big Four founding bands of the thrash genre - to co-headline a series of Sonisphere Festivals in ten European cities, as well as playing a handful of Anthrax-headlined shows (itinerary is below).
"I am super excited about this," said Scott Ian. "Joey and the rest of the band came to see me play at a club in New York, I hadn't seen Joey for years, since the end of the reunion tour. Joey taps me on the shoulder, instant big hug, it felt like no time had gone by. The band dynamic is an interesting one - in Anthrax, Joey and I spent so many years of our lives together, we grew up together, we know each other so well, so it was like no time was lost."
Belladonna, an essential part of Anthrax's lineup from 1985 to 1992, sang on some of the band's most popular albums including Spreading the Disease, Among the Living and Persistence of Time. He had reunited with original members of Anthrax for the 2005 - 2007 "Among the Living Tour," but this situation is different. Explained Belladonna, "I had been in touch with Charlie and Frank, then I got a call from their manager who said that everyone wanted me back in the band. I thought, 'are you guys for real? You want me up there, fronting the band like it was before?' I was thrilled. We've already started to reconnect with the old ways of having conversations. Everything is easy going and feels really good."
"We're going to do these summer shows and gel as a band," explained Charlie Benante, "get comfortable playing with each other again, and the energy from that should go right into making new music."
Immediately following the final Sonisphere festival in early August, the band will fly back to the U.S. and begin writing and rehearsing for a new album that's expected to be out in early 2011.
"We've got an unusual luxury of hindsight," added Ian. "We finished an album a year ago, we've lived with those 12 songs since then, and we can look back on them and see what we really love and what we can make even better, especially with Joey back in the fold."
Added Benante, "There are five or six songs from a year ago that we don't want to change, we love them the way they are, other than having Joey making them his own with his vocals. Then there's another five or six that we may want to rework, and then there are a bunch of other tunes that are still in the early stages, that we want to finish.
"The band has been on an emotional roller coaster since last summer," Benante continued, "but I think everything that we've had to deal with during that time was pushing us toward this, to Joey being back in Anthrax, and the timing couldn't be more perfect or appropriate. To have Joey with us playing these shows with Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth is the way it should be - as Anthrax's vocalist from '85 to '92, he was part of 'The Big Four.'"
"John was a real stand up guy about the situation," said Ian, about John Bush, Anthrax's vocalist from '92 - '05. "He knew we wanted to move forward at full speed, that we needed a total commitment to Anthrax, and he knew that wasn't what he wanted. We certainly wish John well. We've had so many great times with him, and we appreciate his stepping in last summer at the last minute, and performing with us since then. He will always be an integral part of the Anthrax family."
Stand up comedian and metal maniac Brian Posehn released his second metal comedy album titled "Farts And Wiener Jokes" on April 27th, via Relapse Records and premiered his first video/single from the album for the song "More Metal Then You" exclusively onMyspace.comlast week.
The fully animated video was developed by Brian Musikoff (Manual Comics) and John Kuramoto (Phoobis) and features guest musicians such as Scott Ian (ANTHRAX), Joey Vera (ARMORED SAINT, FATES WARNING), John Tempesta (EXODUS, ROB ZOMBIE), Mark Osegueda (DEATH ANGEL), Brett Anderson (THE DONNAS), Brendon Small (DETHKLOK), and Mark Morton (LAMB OF GOD), which can be viewed below:
Genre: Thrash Metal
