Attack of the Killer B's

by

Anthrax

Edit

Here is a collection of hard-to-find covers, new tracks and live stompers to brighten the black heart of any Joey Belladonna era Anthrax fan. Unfortunately, problems with Belladonna and with their record company came to a head during the promotion for this release. Tragically, Belladonna was fired, and Anthrax departed Island Records. Thus ended a classic era for speed metal. However, ATTACK gives us a clear picture of Anthrax's strengths and weaknesses; where they had been and their future directions.

MILK (ODE TO BILLY) - We begin proceedings with a cover song of Scott Ian and Charlie Benante's side project, S.O.D. A head banging ode to breakfast time, this tune turned me on to S.O.D, and I've being afflicted ever since. LOL! Joey Belladonna does a stellar job on vocals . . . but doesn't he always?!

BRING THE NOISE - The groundbreaking team up of Anthrax and Public Enemy on an updated PE classic. It also sewed the seeds of discontent in the mind of lead singer Joey Belladonna and caused him to be ousted not long after this album's release.

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY (LIVE) - Live headcruncher from the `Persistence Of Time' tour in Birmingham, England.It shows that Anthrax was getting more into the serious subjects than before. Something that would increase with the substitution of Belladonna with ex- Armoured Saint frontman John Bush.

STARTIN' UP A POSSE - A comment of Tipper Gore and the whole censorship debacle. The `Wild West' theme is sprinkled throughout the track, with the `Bonanza' theme thrown in for good measure. With Scott Ian on lead vocals, never has Anthrax been so cutting. "And this ain't sexist, neither!" This is pure, in -your-face stuff.

PROTEST AND SURVIVE - Stomping cover version of a track by Discharge.

CHROMATIC DEATH - Another S.O.D. ode, guaranteed to cause permanent whiplash. Short, sharp and brutal.

I'M THE MAN '91 - An updating of their innovative rap metal hybrid song, `I'm The Man'. Spends the first part of the track telling us how innovative they were in the first place and putting down other rap/metal contenders. Not as good the second time round . . .I get my kicks with the original.

PARASITE - Energetic reading of early Kiss/Ace Frehley effort. Anthrax and Kiss were always intertwined having toured together, and Anthrax also covering two `early period' Kiss tunes, `Love Her All I Can' and `She'.

PIPELINE - Can you bang your head and surf the finest waves at the same time? Anthrax sure as hell tried, with this instrumental surf classic.

SECTS - A cover of the band Trust, who also inspired Anthrax to cover their ANTI-SOCIAL for their `State Of Euphoria' album.

BELLY OF THE BEAST (LIVE) - Pitch black and menacing killer song from the `Persistence Of Time' tour, recorded in Birmingham, England.

N.F.B (DALLABNIKUFESIN) - A hilarious kick to the head for all those faux-metal bands who persisted in dishing up `power ballads'. The scary thing is that Joey's voice suits that style to a tee. Wait for the track's payoff, it `kills' me every time

(sorry about that!).Oh, and for those 'not in the know', read the title backwards!Got that?

OK this product can be looked at in two ways. Either simply for it's music or in a wider context.

Firstly the music. Based just on this there isn't a lot here to make this a mandatory purchase for your averagle metalhead. A few live numbers and a few covers of varying levels of interest. It would really be up to the individual to decide what ones they prefer. Apart from that this disc has a few Anthrax curiosities for the completist though they are mostly joke tunes.

Secondly the wider context. That is that this disc was billed as an EP despite clocking in at over 40 minutes. Many bands would call this an album. Anthrax have here put together a nifty little package aimed squarely at their fans. This was never intended to be treated as the next Anthrax album -as the liner notes state - and any fan of this band who approaches this release in the right frame of mind will be rewarded with an amusing and worthwhile package of curios. Pluse the liner notes are genuinely useful and interesting.

Three stars - an average of two stars for the music alone is worth and the four stars the idea and band behind this release deserve for this useful 'round up' of odds and sods from the vault.

For the newcomer, no way. For the fan, for sure, snap it.