Junior High nostalgia is what this is to me. Evan Benner and Ray Klaar introduced me to Anthrax, specifically "I'm the Man", the first Rap-Rock song I ever heard, and probably the first ever executed with any success. That song was on an EP of the same name and not on this album, but "Antisocial" is, which was the closest Anthrax ever got to a "hit" as far as I can tell. (AND IT'S A COVER! From a French band called Trust.) I'm far less a fan of that song now, as it's just too basic and catchy to last past it's age.
There is some strange dichotomy on this record lyrically; In "Make me Laugh" Joey Belladonna mocks the televangelists of the day in a crass, cynical voice, while "Who Cares Wins" cries for social justice with the chorus "There but for the grace of God go you or I; Open your eyes". "Now it's Dark" is an homage to the movie Blue Velvet, and "Misery Loves Company" was released well before the film adaptation of Stephan King's book starring James Caan and Kathy Bates was released.
This album
is high-energy, with precision, machine-gun drumming and charged guitar. Unfortunately, the CD I got was an older release, and seems mastered very low in volume. This is the last true "thrash" album Anthrax put out before going a little more straight-forward metal with "Persistance of Time", then full =METAL= when they got the singer from Armored Saint. That sentence explains itself.
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