5. Worship Music (2011)

Source // welovemetal.com

1. Worship (Intro)  2. Earth on Hell  3. The Devil You Know  4. Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t  5. I’m Alive 6. Hymn 1  7. In the End  8. The Giant  9. Hymn 2  10. Judas Priest  11. Crawl  12. The Constant  13. Revolution Screams  14. New Noise (hidden track)

Recommended Track: “Fight ‘Em ‘Till You Can’t”. This track marked a welcome return to the horror inspired Thrash from Anthrax’s 1980’s heyday. The zombie’s are coming but Anthrax know what to do….’Fight ’em ’till you can’t fight ’em no more’!

The welcome return of Joey Belladonna on vocals, his first recording with the band since 1990’s Persistence of Time album, also marked the welcome return of pure Thrash Metal as Anthrax announced that not only were they back, they still thrashed harder and with more conviction than most!

The quality of the album is obvious even on the very first listen; Worship Music is not a ‘grower’, it’s intimidating, immediate and instantly infectious. The opening triumvirate of “Earth On Hell”, “The Devil You Know” and “Fight ‘Em ‘Till You Can’t” (“Worship-Intro” aside) set the scene; punchy, aggressive and a fine summation of all Anthrax are capable of in their third decade together.

Admittedly, I’m Alive sounds like a tired re-write of the central riff in Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People” but honestly, who cares? It’s still a stonking track that betters most songs Anthrax recorded in the preceding decade when they went through an uncharacteristically fallow period.

“Hymn 1” and “Hymn 2” we could do without, instrumental interludes can often be unnecessary and these are no exception but all is forgiven when “In the End” kicks in. Here Anthrax unleash an epic and sonically crushing rock-solid, hard-rock tune which morphs into a Thrash/Power Metal stormer, reminiscent of Judas Priest at their most bombastic, at the half way mark. The Judas Priest influence continues on the track respectfully and simply entitled “Judas Priest”; a nod to one of the founding fathers of the Heavy Metal scene and a fitting tribute to a band that paved the way for bands such as Anthrax in the 80’s.

Elsewhere, songs such as “The Giant” and “Revolution Screams” feature the trademarked Anthrax crunch laced with typical Joey Belladonna melody who puts in his finest vocal performance for decades.

It’s no coincidence that Anthrax’s classic line-up produced a classic modern thrash record and disputes aside (it’s still not clear if Joey and the rest of the band actually like each other), there’s no denying that when they get together magic happens.

Here’s hoping that the band finally cement this line-up for good and keep firing out more records of the calibre found here.