Anthrax - Among the Living

Anthrax. Not usually the first constituent of the famed Big Four of thrash that one would think of, being the least commercially successful, they nevertheless earned their place among this elite pantheon (also occupied by Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth, for the uninitiated and uneducated) with albums such as this, 1987's Among the Living, generally accepted as being the band's best and most significant work. It is also one of the first albums that springs to my mind when I hear the word 'classic', and as such, makes the perfect candidate for my maiden classic review.

Artist: Anthrax Album: Among the Living Year: 1987   Tracklist 1. Among the Living 2. Caught in a Mosh 3. I Am the Law 4. Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.) 5. A Skeleton in the Closet 6. Indians 7. One World 8. A.D.I./Horror of it All 9. Imitation of Life

Among the Living is a fantastic album from front to back, and to this day retains a spot on my iPod, even after the countless spins it’s received. Given a muscular, crunchy sound by renowned producer Eddie Kramer (famed for his work with Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, among others), each track brings something different to the table, with a perfect mix of aggression (‘Caught in a Mosh’), humour (‘I Am the Law’) and social awareness (‘Indians’). The band sounds like they’re having an absolute ball the entire time, with all members giving their best performances to date - Joey Belladonna’s vocals, although a sore point for some due to their high pitch, are superb here, soaring over the top of the music and providing just the right emotion for the given moment. Charlie Benante’s drumming is as high-octane as ever, with his awe-inspiring beats and fills the stuff of thrash legend (see the jaw-dropping fill in ‘Caught in a Mosh’ at 0:41); but he also knows when to slow things down, the main stomping riff of ‘Imitation of Life’ a case in point. Speaking of riffs, Scott Ian and Dan Spitz are at their career-best here, with not a single piece of guitar work to be found that could be called sub-par - the solo section of ‘Caught in a Mosh’ (now evident as an album highlight, no doubt) particularly stunning in both composition and execution. Meanwhile, bassist Frankie Bello bounces along underneath it all, giving the songs life and depth, his contributions undeniably essential to the brilliance of the album as a whole.

Being the chief exponent of New York thrash, as opposed to the San Fransisco Bay Area that produced the majority of the genre’s heavyweights, Anthrax always had their own take on the style. While still drawing heavy influence from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) movement, which dominated the early 80s metal scene, Anthrax took things a step further than their peers, electing to go with a Dickinson/Halford-esque vocalist rather than the harsh snarling growl that the vast majority of thrash groups employed (this trend still prevails today). Immediately recognisable because of this, they also took themselves far less seriously than their west coast counterparts, injecting their songs with a humour that was sorely lacking in the metal world. Taking inspiration not from Satan or war, but from comics, books and films (among other, more serious subjects), Anthrax’s earlier releases possess an upbeat edge, though conceding no degree of intensity to their darkness-obsessed colleagues. Album highlights such as ‘I Am the Law’, based on the Judge Dredd comic, and the title track, based on Stephen King’s The Stand, convey their subject matter with an easy wit and note-perfect musicianship, belying their superficially trivial nature. It takes some skill to not only write, but effectively execute a lyric such as ‘I Am the Law’s ‘A man so hard, his veins bleed ice / When he speaks he never says it twice.’ Belladonna is able to convey humour, pathos and anger to equally great effect, and deserves to be remembered as one of the great vocalists of 80s metal, even if he did waver a little on some of those particularly high notes - we can’t all be King Diamond!

Anthrax also get extra marks for their highly creative song titles - Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.) taking top spot for my money. This ridiculously headbangable ode to comedian John Belushi is given a measure of levity in its backwards-spelled title, with the ‘proper’ name given its own place in the bracketed initials. This device was further exploited by the band with the subsequent releases Penikufesin (‘Nice Fuckin’ EP’) and Oividnikufesin (‘Nice Fuckin’ Video’), which maintain some degree of humour, but as is usually the case, the original remains superior, not least because the song is just so damn good. Another lesser-known gem can be found in ‘A.D.I./Horror of it All’, which is probably the closest Anthrax came to writing a true thrash epic - a moving tale of one man’s struggle to come to terms with life’s injustices, it also indicated the more progressive direction the band would begin to explore, particularly on 1990’s Persistence of Time. Once again, however, their inner goofiness shows through, with ‘A.D.I.’ apparently standing for ‘Arabic Douche Intro’; despite the name, this exquisitely constructed acoustic prologue to the song proper is in fact one of my favourite moments on the album. It does sound kind of Middle Eastern though...curious.

Something that has always interested me about this album is that while it was in fact recorded in the golden year of thrash metal, 1986, it was released early in 1987 – thus separating it in the dark annals of metal's history from that hallowed group, which included Metallica's Master of Puppets, Slayer's Reign in Blood and Megadeth's Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?, among others. While this may seem trivial, and the album nevertheless maintains a high status due its undeniably excellent content, one can't help but feel that this may have contributed to the general consensus that Anthrax are somehow undeserving of their Big Four status, that they were not as groundbreaking or ‘ahead of the curve’ as the others. I beg to differ, however; even though this may have just missed the 1986 boat, it still remains one of the greatest thrash metal albums ever released, and justifies Anthrax’s Big Four status on its own. Absolutely essential listening for any metalhead, and guaranteed to be entertaining at the very least for anyone else. 

RATING: Anthrax - Official site | MySpace