In 2016, for the first time since the eighties, New York thrashers Anthrax find themselves with a genuine burden of expectancy being placed upon their shoulders. Not since John Bush joined in 1992 have the eyes of so many been fixed on the band.

The reason for this is all thanks to 2011’s Worship Music (Megaforce, Nuclear Blast). After the rather colourless Stomp 442 (Elektra/Warner) and its largely forgettable follow-up Volume 8 – The Threat is Real (Ignition), the band released the perennially underrated We’ve Come for You All (Sanctuary/Nuclear Blast). Although clearly superior to their previous couple of outings, its reception was still mixed and far from anything they had enjoyed during the 80s and the turn of the 90s.

However, when Worship Music landed, all that changed. Although possibly helped by a combination of expectancy levels being at an all time low due to more publicized unrest and personnel changes within the camp, as well as there being a gap of eight years between records, the 2011 “comeback” album helped itself no end by simply being one of the strongest records the band had released to date. All of a sudden, the messy upheavals and well documented hirings and firings were forgotten as fans were treated to one of the best Metal albums of the year. Worship Music was a roaring success.

So, having firmly re-established themselves with a critically lauded new album and almost constant touring, the band’s next trick had to be how to maintain that momentum from inside the studio again. A pretty mammoth task they just about succeed in achieving with latest album For All Kings (Megaforce).

Anthrax, photo credit Jimmy Hubbard

After a restrained drum and cello introduction, a typically Anthrax riff takes over and opener ‘You Gotta Believe’ begins properly, hammering away at you until you can catch your breath during its quiet middle section, before it builds back up to a suitably big finish. I’m afraid that by the time vocalist Joey Belladonna belts out “your golden halo is burned and melted” during ‘Monster at the End’ it’s already all over for you as the chorus digs its claws in, almost physically forcing you to sing along, regardless of where you are and how many strange looks you may attract.

Initially led by Belladonna, the title track is simply a monster, with drummer Charlie Benante quickly taking centre stage, owning the song completely with one of his most confident performances in recent years. ‘Breathing Lightning’ and ‘Suzerain’ are big songs with big choruses, and the thrashy as hell ‘Evil Twin’ is as close to old school Anthrax as you could possibly wish for. ‘Blood Eagle Wings’ is a lengthy, but worthwhile eight minutes, and ‘Defend Avenge’ has an opening riff reminiscent of ‘Among the Living’ but is also the album’s first throwaway track, although it does contain a quality guitar solo and improves as it goes along. ‘All Of Them Thieves’ is another (slight) disappointment, but again features another great solo from new boy Jon Donais (Shadows Fall) and gets better towards the end.

Bassist Frank Bello takes control of the intro to ‘This Battle Chose Us’, an improvement on the previous two tracks, and proceedings are brought to an impressive close with a short, sharp burst from the satisfyingly speedy ‘Zero Tolerance’.

A couple of wobbles during the second half aside, ‘For All Kings’ is every bit the worthy successor to Worship Music, although there could be a question as to how much material (if indeed any) was salvaged from the studio at the end of those previous sessions, such are the distinct similarities between the two records in places.

Mainman Scott Ian might come in for a lot of (mostly anonymous, and online) flak when it comes to decisions within the band (his band to be fair), but whatever missteps he may or may not have made in the past, he’s certainly helped make sure the band have a firm footing both for now and a few years to come.

8.0/10

GARY ALCOCK

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