Anthrax had made quite a jump in quality from their debut album “Fistful of Metal” to their follow up “Spreading the Disease”, not just from the acquisition of Joey Belladonna as lead singer, but in the refinement of their sound and the tightening of their music. On the rise at the same time as bands of their ilk like Exodus, Slayer and Metallica, you get the feeling that they were learning on the go, and by being around these bands they found a way to improve their own skills in order to get to that next level.
No doubt being asked by Metallica to support them on their European tour promoting “Master of Puppets” must have been eye opening, seeing that band as they were hitting their theoretical peak, and watching them destroy audiences night after night. And who wouldn’t have wanted to see that tour, with Anthrax thrashing serious carnage as the support act? The amount that the band must have improved on that tour is immense. And then the tragedy struck, with the bus crash that killed Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, and the shock that came with that, and how the members of Anthrax rallied around the members of Metallica in the days and weeks afterwards.
How does something like that change you? How do you cope with it? How do you move on deal with the consequences. For Anthrax, with the remainder of that tour cancelled, they entered the studio to record their follow up to “Spreading the Disease”, and the emotions that had built up over recent weeks all went in with them. But that wasn’t all. There was a fury in the new songs, something that had begun on “Spreading the Disease” but had reached a whole new level on the new album. There was fury in the guitaring and drumming and there was anger and emotion that mixed in with that as well. In a 2012 interview, Scott Ian was quoted as saying that part of the reason the album sounds so angry is because Cliff died. They’d lost a friend and it was so wrong and unfair. The album itself is dedicated to Cliff Burton’s memory, and there seems little doubt he would have been proud of what the band produced. Indeed, it became one of the greatest thrash metal albums ever released.
No doubt being asked by Metallica to support them on their European tour promoting “Master of Puppets” must have been eye opening, seeing that band as they were hitting their theoretical peak, and watching them destroy audiences night after night. And who wouldn’t have wanted to see that tour, with Anthrax thrashing serious carnage as the support act? The amount that the band must have improved on that tour is immense. And then the tragedy struck, with the bus crash that killed Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, and the shock that came with that, and how the members of Anthrax rallied around the members of Metallica in the days and weeks afterwards.
How does something like that change you? How do you cope with it? How do you move on deal with the consequences. For Anthrax, with the remainder of that tour cancelled, they entered the studio to record their follow up to “Spreading the Disease”, and the emotions that had built up over recent weeks all went in with them. But that wasn’t all. There was a fury in the new songs, something that had begun on “Spreading the Disease” but had reached a whole new level on the new album. There was fury in the guitaring and drumming and there was anger and emotion that mixed in with that as well. In a 2012 interview, Scott Ian was quoted as saying that part of the reason the album sounds so angry is because Cliff died. They’d lost a friend and it was so wrong and unfair. The album itself is dedicated to Cliff Burton’s memory, and there seems little doubt he would have been proud of what the band produced. Indeed, it became one of the greatest thrash metal albums ever released.
The more you listen to this album, and the more you break it down, the better and more impressive it becomes. Each song has its own ability to build the tension and momentum, to drive the speed of each song and to draw the listener in to participate in the while process. The way that the songs are structured lyrically are the crowning jewel of the production, because not only are they designed in a way that they become instant crowd favourites, but they utilise that to get the fan involved just by listening to the album at home, or in the car, or on their way to work. And it is literally impossible not to join in. With Joey Belladonna creating the lead vocals, and guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Frankie Bello chanting in the back up lyrics, the whole album comes across like you are listening to it in a live setting.
From the opening bars of the title track “Among the Living”, you are dragged in, and it is still an anticipatory exchange that collectively occurs as the song builds to the beginning of the vocals.
And the subject matter of the songs is just brilliant. From riffing on their love of Stephen King novels with “Among the Living”, which is based on the antagonist of The Stand, and with “A Skeleton in the Closet” which is based on the novella “Apt Pupil”, to their love of comic book literature with “I Am the Law” based on the Judge Dredd character in the graphic novels. All of this is mixed in with social conscience issues such as “Indians” which harps on the plight of the native North American Indians, to “One World” which talks about the risk of nuclear war, to NFL (Efilnikufesin) which deals with drug abuse which from a 2019 interview was inspired by the death of John Belushi. All of the lyrics are terrifically written, serious when they have to be, laced with humour when they don’t have to be. It all helps make the mixture of songs so interesting and intricate in developing the mood of the album.
And that mood? Well, it is fast, furious and generally without a resting point. “Among the Living” kicks it off in style, scintillating guitars and Charlie Benante’s hard hitting drum beats. And there is no way you can’t chant along to “I’m the Walkin’ Dude!, I can see all the world”, and the at the end once Joey has said “follow me or die”, and Scott and Frankie chant along “Among! Among! Among! Among!” through to the song's conclusion. Truly awesome. This is then followed by the headbangers anthem “Caught in a Mosh” which takes this to a different level. Frank’s brilliant solo bass riff into the main guitar riffs, before Charlie’s solo drum smashing launches the song proper is a fantastic way to give every member of the band a piece of the action so early in the album. And of course, the chorus again unleashes the crowd participation chanting with the duelling vocals of “Ain’t gonna live my life this way” and “STOMP STOMP STOMP!”, before the chorus of “What is it?” “Caught in a mosh”. Brilliant. And we leap into the opening riff of “I Am the Law” which again showcases everything the band has to offer and the crowd surfing chants and lyrics again enhance the song from the outset.
“NFL (Efilnikufesin)”, apart from hilariously having some people believe it is a song about American Football, and “A Skeleton in the Closet” both close out the first side of the album superbly, ripping lyrics that confused those that believed all heavy metal music was about the devil, instead being thoughtful, provocative and meaningful while the music was fast and thrashing.
“Indians” opens the second half of the album and is probably the least thrash song on the album but one where the heart is the lyrics. And then you get to the middle of the song, and Scott Ian starts stomping along to the drums and cries out “WAR DANCE!” and the song leaps to another level. Charlie’s drumming throughout this song is also just superb, it truly sets the mood perfectly for the subject matter at hand. And it doesn’t let up there. “One World” is ridiculously thrashing, and then climbs into “Horror of it All”, which was written about Cliff Burton, and having to deal with his death, before “Imitation of Life” concludes an album that, even for 1987, was an absolute triumph.
From the opening bars of the title track “Among the Living”, you are dragged in, and it is still an anticipatory exchange that collectively occurs as the song builds to the beginning of the vocals.
And the subject matter of the songs is just brilliant. From riffing on their love of Stephen King novels with “Among the Living”, which is based on the antagonist of The Stand, and with “A Skeleton in the Closet” which is based on the novella “Apt Pupil”, to their love of comic book literature with “I Am the Law” based on the Judge Dredd character in the graphic novels. All of this is mixed in with social conscience issues such as “Indians” which harps on the plight of the native North American Indians, to “One World” which talks about the risk of nuclear war, to NFL (Efilnikufesin) which deals with drug abuse which from a 2019 interview was inspired by the death of John Belushi. All of the lyrics are terrifically written, serious when they have to be, laced with humour when they don’t have to be. It all helps make the mixture of songs so interesting and intricate in developing the mood of the album.
And that mood? Well, it is fast, furious and generally without a resting point. “Among the Living” kicks it off in style, scintillating guitars and Charlie Benante’s hard hitting drum beats. And there is no way you can’t chant along to “I’m the Walkin’ Dude!, I can see all the world”, and the at the end once Joey has said “follow me or die”, and Scott and Frankie chant along “Among! Among! Among! Among!” through to the song's conclusion. Truly awesome. This is then followed by the headbangers anthem “Caught in a Mosh” which takes this to a different level. Frank’s brilliant solo bass riff into the main guitar riffs, before Charlie’s solo drum smashing launches the song proper is a fantastic way to give every member of the band a piece of the action so early in the album. And of course, the chorus again unleashes the crowd participation chanting with the duelling vocals of “Ain’t gonna live my life this way” and “STOMP STOMP STOMP!”, before the chorus of “What is it?” “Caught in a mosh”. Brilliant. And we leap into the opening riff of “I Am the Law” which again showcases everything the band has to offer and the crowd surfing chants and lyrics again enhance the song from the outset.
“NFL (Efilnikufesin)”, apart from hilariously having some people believe it is a song about American Football, and “A Skeleton in the Closet” both close out the first side of the album superbly, ripping lyrics that confused those that believed all heavy metal music was about the devil, instead being thoughtful, provocative and meaningful while the music was fast and thrashing.
“Indians” opens the second half of the album and is probably the least thrash song on the album but one where the heart is the lyrics. And then you get to the middle of the song, and Scott Ian starts stomping along to the drums and cries out “WAR DANCE!” and the song leaps to another level. Charlie’s drumming throughout this song is also just superb, it truly sets the mood perfectly for the subject matter at hand. And it doesn’t let up there. “One World” is ridiculously thrashing, and then climbs into “Horror of it All”, which was written about Cliff Burton, and having to deal with his death, before “Imitation of Life” concludes an album that, even for 1987, was an absolute triumph.
It will forever be one of those dark questions that hangs over my head until it is my time to leave this existence as to how I did not find either this band or this album until about 18 months after this had been released. 1987 was my final year of high school and it was during this and the preceding year that I had been exposed to and experience so many new and exciting bands and albums, that it is really quite remarkable that Anthrax and “Among the Living” was not one of them. And I often wonder to myself just how much that final year of high school would have been significantly improved if I HAD had that album to help me through those final few months.
Instead, it wasn’t until mid the following year that I bought my first Anthrax album (which happened to be ‘Spreading the Disease’) before picking up this album after that. And to say that I had my mind blown would be an understatement. At that point in time the peak of thrash for me had been Metallica, but this just went way beyond that. Songs such as “Caught in a Mosh” and “Skeleton in the Closet” and “Horror of it All” were just amazing, there is no restraint, those drums just fly and drag the guitars along with them, and somehow Joey not only has to keep up, but then hit those high notes in the same instance. I still can’t get over “Horror of it All”, it is just an amazing song.
And like I said, the ability of these songs to draw out crowd participation is immense. Driving to Sydney or just around our hometown with four people in the car, singing these at the top of our voices, is still such a strong memory, as well as seeing the band for the first time at the Hordern Pavilion in 1990 and jumping around like madmen at these songs.
All five members star on this album. It is still incredible at times to think that Charlie not only plays the drums as amazingly as he does, but creates the guitar riff and melodies as well for the majority of Anthrax’s songs.
As with the majority of bands who were labelled as thrash metal in the early to mid-1980's, Anthrax’s sound did revert to a more traditional heavy metal appearance over time. But this album, this moment in time, when they were on the ascendancy and when they were firing and when they had fury and anger to deal with, stands as a testament to the greatness of the band and the joy of thrash metal. Because this is pure unadulterated genius, where the combination of live interaction onto a studio album to create a perfect moment in time cannot be faulted. Except that I didn’t discover it until 18 months later.
Instead, it wasn’t until mid the following year that I bought my first Anthrax album (which happened to be ‘Spreading the Disease’) before picking up this album after that. And to say that I had my mind blown would be an understatement. At that point in time the peak of thrash for me had been Metallica, but this just went way beyond that. Songs such as “Caught in a Mosh” and “Skeleton in the Closet” and “Horror of it All” were just amazing, there is no restraint, those drums just fly and drag the guitars along with them, and somehow Joey not only has to keep up, but then hit those high notes in the same instance. I still can’t get over “Horror of it All”, it is just an amazing song.
And like I said, the ability of these songs to draw out crowd participation is immense. Driving to Sydney or just around our hometown with four people in the car, singing these at the top of our voices, is still such a strong memory, as well as seeing the band for the first time at the Hordern Pavilion in 1990 and jumping around like madmen at these songs.
All five members star on this album. It is still incredible at times to think that Charlie not only plays the drums as amazingly as he does, but creates the guitar riff and melodies as well for the majority of Anthrax’s songs.
As with the majority of bands who were labelled as thrash metal in the early to mid-1980's, Anthrax’s sound did revert to a more traditional heavy metal appearance over time. But this album, this moment in time, when they were on the ascendancy and when they were firing and when they had fury and anger to deal with, stands as a testament to the greatness of the band and the joy of thrash metal. Because this is pure unadulterated genius, where the combination of live interaction onto a studio album to create a perfect moment in time cannot be faulted. Except that I didn’t discover it until 18 months later.
No comments:
Post a Comment