Anthrax has always been the member of Thrash Metal’s “Big Four” that is most easily forgotten. People will always recognize the names of Metallica, Megadeth, and even Slayer before remembering that Anthrax too made an impact of the genre. Granted, Anthrax is often agreed to be the weakest of the major Thrash bands, but this in no way lessens their importance and influence.
In recent decades it seems that real Thrash Metal has nearly disappeared. With all of Metallica’s recent efforts falling completely flat, and Megadeth’s Dystopia being a mediocre performance at best, it was difficult to have high hopes for Anthrax’s return with “For All Kings”, their first album in five years. However, the band has managed to create an incredibly solid Thrash album that trounces any other recent efforts in the genre.
“For All Kings” holds no pretense about being anything other than a pure Thrash album. There are almost no unnecessary frills, no attempts to revolutionize their music, Anthrax has simply made a good, enjoyable album.
Unfortunately, the generally good performances throughout the album are also its biggest flaw, because no songs truly stand out above the rest. All of them are good, but none of them are great. Instead the album is a stream of formulaic Thrash song after formulaic Thrash song, and there’s not a whole lot wrong with that.
The couple songs that do manage to stick out above the rest in some fashion are “Breathing Lightning”, “Suzerain”, and “This Battle Chose Us”.
“Breathing Lightning” begins with a few mellow guitar chords, but these soon transition into crunchy riffs from lead guitarist Jon Donais. Charlie Benante’s pounding drums and Joey Belladona’s soaring vocals add even more flavor to the song, but at the core of it all are Donais’ riffs, which catch the listener and lead him her through the song, head-banging as they go.
“Suzerain” is probably the heaviest song on the album, and once again is propelled by Donais’ heavy riffing. However, the star of the show for this particular song is the drumming, as Benante’s pounding rhythms movie a somewhat heavy song into a true head-banger. The rest of the song is almost lost behind the punchy rhythms that lead it, and Benante’s use of the double-bass in particular is fantastic, adding yet another layer of heaviness to the piece. The guitar solo is also one of the best on the album, as it is incredibly heavy, yet still full of emotion, shifting from grungy riffs to soaring notes in mere seconds.
Finally, “This Battle Chose Us” is one of the songs on the album to most heavily feature bassist Frank Bello, and it’s fantastic. The song starts off with a really groovy bass line that holds strong throughout the song, alongside some fantastic riffing from Donais. Benante’s drumming is once again fantastic, but instead of taking the center state, he uses a very restrained technique to help round out the flavor of the song, instead of overpowering it. All of these pieces together create a fantastic song that manages to highlight the best elements of each member of the band.
Not much can be said about the mixing and mastering of the album, except that its top-notch. No part of the band overpowers any other, and even the bass, which tends to be drowned out in Thrash Metal, can still picked out amongst all the other instruments. This leads to a strong, lively sound that really brings out the best in the band.
“For All Kings” is certainly not revolutionary, but it does not have to be. All it is, and all it needed to be, was a love letter to fans of Thrash telling them that the genre might be dying, but it is not dead yet. The album certainly shows that Anthrax has plenty of music left to write and perform, and that Thrash has not died yet. I would give the album a 3/5.
