For me, of those first five albums that encompassed the decade of the 1980’s to 1990, this is the one that I still have confusion over how much I enjoy it as a whole. The debut was rough and mottled with its own charms but certainly not of legendary performance. Each of the other three albums to me are perfectly formed, filled to the brim with strong tracks and songs that are still just as brilliant today as they were when those albums were released. But there’s something about the songs on State of Euphoria that don’t always feel that same way, and it is this reason that I think it is a little maligned in comparison to those other 80’s giant Anthrax albums.
Why is this the case? Personally I think the band got a little bit ‘funky’ with their sound on this album, and it ended up being somewhere between their original thrash metal sound, the hip hop hard core sound that came with their single I'm the Man that came out around the same time, and the more mature metal sound that came with the following album Persistence of Time. While the thrash elements are still here for all to hear, the subtle change in song structure and the similarity in which some songs follow the same pattern does feel as though it comes back to haunt this album to a degree.
Listening to the album with a critical ear, there is a case to be made that many of the songs are too similar in structure and sound. That may tend to over-simplify the argument, but it is what comes across to me. Whereas the other albums mentioned here all have songs that have their own qualities and that stand on their own, there is a case to be made that the songs on State of Euphoria just roll into one another and share too much time together. I can sing the choruses of a number of the songs over other songs on the album and it all fits in to place too neatly. Is this a reason why some people find it too difficult to get into the album? Perhaps.
Having said all of that, I still love this album and I love the songs on it. That certainly comes partly from having had this album for so many years and from having listened to it so much in those late teenage years when everything becomes a part of your psyche forever. There are few better album opening tracks than “Be All, End All” which is a sign of their growing maturity as a band. The cover of Trust’s fantastic “Antisocial” is brilliant roof raiser, still as powerful today as it was when they first played it. “Finale” is a great closing track, completing the album in style. Even those songs that could be accused of being similar still have great powerful chanting lines in the best traditions of Anthrax, lines like “Now it’s dark but I can see, don’t you fuckin’ look at me!” (“Now It’s Dark”), and “You know me and I can be, a very, very vicious critic” (“Misery Loves Company”), and “Invisible could be my name, your excuses are so lame” (“Who Cares Wins”) just to name a few. And this is the main crux of any argument – for me, I love these songs and this album through weight of having grown up with it and listening to it a thousand times or more. And that’s what will colour any review of any album.
The hardline bottom line to State of Euphoria is that is doesn’t quite stack up against those other three giants that the band was able to produce during this first stage of their career, and that’s okay because those are three pretty brilliant albums. But this isn’t that far behind, and anytime I put it on I am still enamoured by its corroded ferocity and tongue firmly in cheek dark tones. I don’t know how I would react to this album if I was coming into it now, some 31 years after it was released. No doubt a lot differently than I did when I did first get it. Whereas Anthrax has other albums that are immediately lovable and relatable, State of Euphoria probably needs a little bit more time to find out how to love it.
Best songs: “Be All, End All”, “Antisocial”, “Now It’s Dark”, “Misery Loves Company”, “Finale”.
Rating: “Stand up, you know what it means, wake up, time to live your dreams”. 4/5
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