Among The Living

Performer: Anthrax
Producer: Eddie Kramer; Anthrax
Distributor: Fontana Distribution

Notes: Anthrax: Joe Belladonna (vocals); Dan Spitz (acoustic & electric guitars); Scott Ian (guitar); Frank Bello (bass); Charlie Benante (drums). When Anthrax released AMONG THE LIVING in 1987, the band was a part of a then-burgeoning heavy metal sub-genre called speed or thrash metal. This was an inversion of glam metal. The band members wore worn-out jeans and T-shirts, their long hair was hairspray-free, and not a smudge of make-up was applied to their unsightly mugs. Their music was dense, borrowing speed from punk and hardcore and mammoth guitar riffing from metal, and featured thought-provoking lyrics. AMONG THE LIVING not only served as Anthrax's commercial breakthrough, but (along with seminal releases by Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer) the album brought this new musical form to the forefront. The members of Anthrax were a bunch of comic-book-reading, jam-wearing heavy metal fans from NYC, and the music reflects the lifestyle. The band based it's U.K. Top-30 hit single "I Am the Law" on a favorite comic-book character (Judge Dread). "Imitation Of Life," a song about phony people that contains one of thrash metal's strongest riffs, was pointedly directed at '80s glam metal bands. The frantic "Caught In A Mosh" is an album highlight, as are "Indians" (which deals with the plight of the Native American), "N.F.L.," "Skeletons In The Closet," and the title track.

Critics of heavy metal long pointed out the genre's penchant for often taking itself far too seriously, but N.Y.C. thrash metallists Anthrax showed that metal could indeed have a light-hearted side. Besides helping to put thrash metal on the map with a slew of classic albums in the 1980s, the band was one of the first to merge rap with metal via their cult hit "I'm the Man" and their historic collaboration with Public Enemy on the 1991 remix of PE's "Bring the Noise."

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