Anthrax
Worship Music

I must be honest: this is not my first attempt at reviewing the new album from one of the bands that metal-ly raised me. First of all, because it's difficult to be objective, and I risk becoming unjustly critical, but especially because when the previous album was released, I was just over twenty and now I'm dangerously gliding towards thirty.

My twenty-year-old alter ego would have moved heaven and earth for the return of Belladonna, and would maybe have been satisfied even with an album reminiscent of the old sounds. Now, practically disregarding preconceptions, I will judge it objectively.

Let's start by saying that "Worship Music" was announced by Charlie Benante as a combination of "Persistence Of Time" and "Sound Of The White Noise". That is, a sort of mixture between the Thrash Metal of the Belladonna era, with a sprinkle of "Hard/Groove, Rock Post Grunge" from the John Bush era. In this case, however, what's most prominent is the significant return to the style of their beginnings, and long-time fans will cry miracle. Indeed, "Worship Music" is the closest thing to metal in the strict sense of the word produced by Anthrax in quite some years. A true revival? A shrewd move? Why, precisely in coincidence with the "Big Four" tour, have Scott Ian and company rediscovered their love for Thrash sounds?

The style is 100% Anthrax, no self-celebration, and no parodies (like "Death Magnetic" for Metallica), rather the five make the most of what has worked for them in the past: power, speed, groove, catchy refrains. Belladonna's voice is a sure trademark that none of us would ever have wanted to give up (despite Bush's excellent vocal abilities), and when "The Devil You Know" starts, it seems to relegate the band's last fifteen years to a prolonged parenthesis. The album, in general, maintains respectable levels: thrashy enough to satisfy the old guard, and timidly modern to remind the "bangs" that the grandparents are cooler than them. "Earth on Hell", "Fight Them till' you can", will not look out of place live even alongside the glorious "Among The Living" and "Madhouse." Among the best tracks, I would certainly mention "In The End" and the final "Revolution Screams" with its successful refrain. For the rest, there are no particular thrills, nothing to leave to posterity.

The ideas, in general, are there, but do we want to be malicious? Do we want to find fault? Perhaps, overall, there is a sensation of "dirty recycling" both in the sounds (the riff of "Fight'em" is identical to that of "Gridlock" on "Persistence of Time") and in the cover art: identical to that of "We've Come For You All." Shall we otherwise talk about the sordid soap opera that saw three different singers as possible frontmen? Or do we settle for the effort of the no longer young Anthrax to return to the hearts of the metal kids?