Anthrax: WORSHIP MUSIC

As published in Rukus magazine:

http://www.rukusmag.com/2011/1011/album_review_anthrax.html

Anthrax

Worship Music

RELEASE DATE: September 13, 2011

STARS: 3/5

LABEL: Megaforce

REVIEW BY:  Paul Lyons

WEBSITE: http://anthrax.com/

A lot can happen in eight years.  In 2003, thrash-metal gurus Anthrax released their triumphant comeback album We’ve Come For You All.  It was a return to form for founding member and rhythm guitarist, Scott Ian, new lead guitarist Rob Caggiano, bassist Frank Bello, drummer/guitarist Charlie Benante, and longtime singer John Bush.  Yet just when things began to go right for Anthrax, everything started to go wrong…

First, Frank Bello left the band, then in 2005, Anthrax decided to bring back former lead vocalist Joey Belladonna, Frank Bello, and lead guitarist Dan Spitz for a reunion tour of their 1984-1992 line-up.  After the tour was over, Joey Belladonna decided he wanted to leave the band again, so they hired Devilsize singer Dan Nelson to sing, re-hired Rob Caggiano on lead guitar, and started work on a new studio album.  Yet in 2009, Dan Nelson was let go, so they brought back John Bush on vocals.  A year later, John Bush was out…and none other than Joey Belladonna was back on lead vocals once again.  With seven years of musical chairs behind them (for now), the band went back into the studio to finally complete their (three years-in-the-making) brand new studio album, which features the pun-in-cheek title of Worship Music.  Produced by the band, Worship Music features 13 kick-ass original tracks, plus a hidden 14^th track at the end (a cover of the Swedish hardcore band Refused 1998 song “New Noise”).  

Beginning with the moody drone of the short instrumental “Worship”, Anthrax explodes into high gear with the machine gun riffing of the fast and furious “Earth on Hell”…an angry, bold song about revolution and destruction.  “Kill the old guard”…so says Anthrax.  “The Devil You Know” features a great start/stop guitar riff that compels you to do some serious headbanging.  Charlie Benante’s drums are (appropriately) on fire during the song, and Rob Caggiano’s killer guitar solo lifts the music up to new heights.

Not letting up, the band follows this with “Fight’em Till You Can’t,” a pounding metal barnburner that was offered up as a free download in June.  Featuring tough and ready-to-take-on-the-world vocals by Joey Belladonna, the song reflects the strength and unrelenting resolve to survive, and to find the darkness inside you in order to fight off the most evil of all evils…zombies.

“I’m Alive,” a fast shuffle, is the most straightforward rocker on the album, while “Hymn 1” is its most unusual track.  At only 38 seconds, the instrumental song features a haunting cello performed by Alison Chesley.  “Hymn 2” features a 44-second, driving snare drum cadence.  

Two standout songs on “Worship” lean in a more commercial direction.  “The Giant” starts out in a fast 2/4 rhythm, then 40 seconds in, Joey Belladonna belts out a catchy, anthem-like chorus in 4/4 time: “Caught between the lines of right and wrong yeah, Caught between the things that I don’t know…”  The other standout song, “Crawl,” is Anthrax’s answer to a love ballad.  It starts out slow, with Belladonna’s vocals way up in the mix.  The pace picks up in the song’s bridge, as well as its big chorus of “If you crawl, I’ll follow, I’ll follow.”  The chant of “Crawling, crawling, crawling” near the end of the track is very powerful, and Caggiano once again blows the roof off with his guitar.

Anthrax has done right by their fans with Worship Music, delivering a strong album filled with the right mixture of heavy, fast, and dark sounds.  Here’s hoping that this current lineup of the band stays in tact for years to come…yet I wouldn’t count on it.