MUSIC REVIEW

By TRISTAN SEESING, H4A

8 Years after Weve Come for You All (2003), New York thrash-metal giants Anthrax return with their newest studio album Worship Music. This is also the first studio album to feature the classic Anthrax vocalist Joey Belladona since 1990s Persistence Of Time. Ex-members Dan Nelson and John Bush were also asked respectively to do the vocals, but both did not. As stated in an interview, the new album sounds like classic Anthrax and it sure does. U.K. heavy metal magazine Metal Hammer commented on the album as This is a riff-sh*tting, fire-breathing, doubt-crushing monster of a record. The record begins with an instrumental called Worship, which is an in-and-out fading of guitar with the word worship repeated several times. There are two other instrumentals called Hymm 1 (track 6) and Hymm 2 (track 9). Hymm 1 being a short cello piece by Allison Chesley (not a member of Anthrax) and Hymm 2 a march-like drum solo by Charlie Bennante. Worship actually blasts into the second track Earth On Hell which is a fast and heavy song and also the shortest on Worship Music. Starting with the line The kids have gone wild in the streets, this songs is about the apocalypse turning Earth into a kind of Hell. The next two tracks The Devil You Know and Fight Em Till You Cant were both released as part of the Fight Em Till You Cant digital single the 24th of June 2011. Fight Em Till You Cant is about the dead coming back to life and fighting until you cant fight anymore is the only way to stop them. Halfway through the album we reach In The End. Scott Ian (guitarist) said that this was a tribute to the late Dimebag Darrell (Abbott, ex-Pantera and ex-Damageplan guitarist) and Ronnie James Dio (ex-Black Sabbath and ex-Rainbow vocalist). This song gradually builds up its speed throughout the song. Judas Priest is also a tribute song, this one paying tribute to heavy metal gods Judas Priest. This song is the longest on the album. Crawl is also a slow song, but very heavy. Revolution Screams is together with Earth On Hell and Fight Em Till You Cant one of the thrasiest songs on the album. For the normal edition, the album stops after Revolution Screams but the deluxe digipak edition includes a cover song; New Noise by Refused. It fits very well with the album, bringing some new noise back. In overall, I think this album is a great one Some people might say that theyd like to hear John Bush again but Joey Belladona gives that extra classic Anthrax feel and touch, which I like more than the 90s and 00s albums. I give it an 8 out of 10. Welcome back dudes!