Week of November 26, 2009, Issue #736
ALBUM REVIEWS
Old Sounds: Anthrax
Persistence of Time
Eden Munro / eden@vueweekly.com
Anthrax's 1987 album, Among the Living, has just been remastered and reissued alongside a number of bonus tracks. The disc is a logical choice for an album to revisit: at the time of Among the Living's release Anthrax was firmly entrenched near the top of the metal word as one of the big four thrash titans, standing alongside Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer. On top of that, Among the Living is widely hailed as being near the top of Anthrax's own catalogue as far as fan favourites go. But, while there are certainly a number of metal classics to be found on the record—"Caught in a Mosh," "I Am the Law" and the title track among them—there's a cartoonish ingredient in places—not like the Looney Tunes so much as a comic-book approach, which makes sense considering that inspiration comse from the likes of both Judge Dredd and author Stephen King—that seemed to be on its way out with the band over the next three years.
The band's next album, State of Euphoria, now seems like something of a stop-gap record—again, some fine songs can be found there, but they're largely unfocused in structure—but with the next one it was absolutely clear that Anthrax was a changing band.
On Persistence of Time the group took a sharp right turn and headed straight into the darkness of the world around it. That's not to say that the band was no longer having any fun—the cover of Joe Jackson's "Got the Time" takes care of that argument—but the concentration seemed to now be on channeling the guitars into a barrage of riffs, while still assuming the punk-inspired NYC street-level charge that drove Anthrax from the band's 1984 debut onwards.
Persistence of Time would be the last full-length Anthrax album to feature Belladonna on vocals, with Armored Saint's John Bush stepping in for 1990's The Sound of White Noise, taking the band further away from Belladonna's punk wail and deeper into the world of metal with his epic, raspy roar. But while Bush was (and is—the singer reunited with the band earlier this year after Anthrax carried out a reunion tour with Belladonna)—an ideal fit for the sonic landscape where the band would ultimately find itself, Belladonna's voice would be the one to turn what might have been an odd curiosity in the form of the transitional album between the two versions of the band into a high point in Anthrax's catalogue.
The success of Persistence of Time is largly twofold: the music defines the tone, assuming a tougher stance than ever before in the crushing riffs of tracks like "Blood," "Gridlock" and "Discharge," while Belladonna stretches his vocal chords farther than ever before.
There are few vocal acrobatics in his approach, but the strain of keeping up with the music is apparent in the singer's tone, his voice hovering just above a growl as he digs into "Belly of the Beast," or wailing high above the crunch on "In My World," wavering slightly as though he may collapse at any moment.
So while the band was moving away from gutsy street-level thrash sound it had cultivated over the previous three albums with Belladonna (and the debut with original vocalist Neil Turbin), Persistence of Time found Belladonna at a creative high point as he held on for his last full-length go with Anthrax. V
Anthrax
Persistence of Time
(Island) Originally released: 1990
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