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Anthrax - Among The Living review



Reviewer:
10

1047 users:
8.72
Band: Anthrax
Album: Among The Living
Style: Thrash metal
Release date: March 1987


01. Among The Living
02. Caught In A Mosh
03. I Am The Law
04. Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)
05. A Skeleton In The Closet
06. Indians
07. One World
08. A.D.I. / Horror Of It All
09. Imitation Of Life
10. Indians [alternate lead] [2009 deluxe edition bonus]
11. One World [alternate take] [2009 deluxe edition bonus]
12. Imitation Of Life [alternate take] [2009 deluxe edition bonus]
13. Bud E Luv Bomb And Satan's Lounge Band [2009 deluxe edition bonus]
14. I Am The Law [Live in Dallas] [2009 deluxe edition bonus]
15. I'm The Man [instrumental version] [2009 deluxe edition bonus]

Among The Living can be a legend of Thrash Metal soon, because this CD is one of the best Thrash Metal releases ever. This amazing sound is completely different than the sound we had listened before, a different concept of Thrash. It sounds like "Spreading the Disease" but these songs are more catchy and furious, with some excellent guitar riffs and with excellent drums, especially in songs like "Indians" which I think is the best song of the CD and one of the best Thrash songs I've ever heard. It has some of the fastest drums I've heard, and it has a guitar riff that is repeated along all the song. Cry for the Indians...

The opening is amazing with "Among the Living," with a riff that you'll enjoy along the song. Excellent drum work and excellent vocals. If we want true fury, we should listen "Caught in a Mosh." It begins slow, but suddenly the speed of the song will rise with the bass intro, and all the instrument are going to be played very quickly. In the next three songs, the sound will be slower, but we'll listen very catchy chorus and some fucking riffs that we'll repeat for days. Excellent bass work in this three songs, especially in "I Am The Law." In "Efilnikufesin (N.F.L)" we can hear faster drums than before, and in "A Skeleton in the Closet," but here with more powerful guitars and better vocals. The CD will be faster again when "Indians" starts to sound, with his fucking drums riff and the power of guitars. They won't stop to play the instruments, and they finally relax (a bit) when they arrive to the chorus, that is slower, but no much more, this is a really furious song. The CD won't lose power here at all, because the moment of hear "One World" has arrived. Oh my fucking god... how can they play such faster songs? They must broke their hands and fingers to play this amazing shit!!! "A.D.I. - Horror Of It All" is slower than the previous song, but it's also Thrash, with good guitars and good drums. In the last song, the start is amazing with some excellent drums, and the drummer won't stop all along the song. When this CD ends, they must be really tired, this is not human.

Anthrax isn't the same Thrash Metal as Metallica or another group, I think they known how to do an excellent CD and how to improve their sound, so they have the most up-to-date sound of the old Thrash Metal groups, this sound can arrive to the ears of millions of people because this is an excellent music. They play really successfully their instruments because they know how to play them, so that they made masterpieces for this CD. This release can be almost sure one of the best Thrash releases ever, if it isn't the best. Every good Thrash Metal fan should like this sound, the best sound ever. if they enter in a status of Split-Up, we'll still have this perfect CD, and the rest of their releases.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 10
Originality: 10
Production: 10

Written by hottercraft | 24.09.2006




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.

Staff review by
jupitreas
Rating:
10
This is Anthrax's best album and easily one of the best thrash metal albums ever recorded. It's way up there along with Master Of Puppets and Reign In Blood. For this reviewer, this is actually the DEFINITIVE thrash metal record.

Unlike Metallica and Slayer, the guys from Anthrax weren't taking themselves too seriously and this resulted in an album slightly on the lighter side than those of their rivals. Naturally, I am referring to the 'feel' of the album, and not to the actual musical 'heaviness' because there is some very powerful thrashing going on over here - "Among The Living" is the fastest Anthrax album and the intensity of the songs is usually just as high as on the afore-mentioned Reign In Blood. Nonetheless, Anthrax isn't afraid to goof around a little bit, as is evident by the pop-culture tributes present on the album. "I Am The Law" is a song about Judge Dredd, and I am sure it would have made the horrible motion picture adaptation of the comic book (starring Sylvester Stallone) so much better were it used as the theme. They also have a song simply about moshing, references to Stephen King as well as a politically correct ode to the "Indians". This is not your usual thrash subject matter but it is what makes this band so unique. It also gives us an idea of the excitement connected with thrash in those early years - something which the uber-serious, tough thrash records of the time fall short of showing after all of these years...

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published 18.04.2004 | Comments (26)


Comments

Comments: 2   Visited by: 65 users
09.10.2006 - 22:05
Rating: 9
Katatronik
Angel of Lust
Good review, it's the best Anthrax album in my opinion.
Caught In A Mosh is one of the greatest thrash metal songs ever!
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"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,
and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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08.02.2007 - 05:44
Rating: 8
Doc G.
Full Grown Hoser
Not worth a 10, great album though. not a very good review.
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"I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck."
- George Carlin
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