I was somewhat surprised to see this wasn't on Megaforce (is that label still around??) and that Spitz wasn't playing on it. Curious by their previous CD and being given this for free, I have to say this is not as bad as you may imagine. This 1998 release almost makes me want to buy all the Anthrax all over again, and forget they were bandwagon jumpers.

John Bush has one of the most "metal" vocals of all time, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if he had joined Metallica many many moons ago; well we get an idea from The ECW Album where Anthrax cover old Metallica, he would have fit in. Bush is loud, raspy, and can carry a tune. He can use melody but always remains cool and heavy.

The songs here have more of a rockin' groovin' feel to them, not just straight ahead thrash. Don't worry, any you dudes that like to jump in the pit will find plenty to like about this CD. There's even some cool acoustics in a couple songs. This is decent but, I wouldn't pay over $8 as I don't really dig half the songs. Best songs in order are- Catharsis, P & V, Alpha Male, Toast To The Extras, Harms Way, Stealing From A Thief, Big Fat, Hog Tied, and the CD bonus track Killing Box.

Trax are: Crush/ Catharsis/ Inside Out/ P & V/ 604/ Toast To The Extras / Born Again Idiot/ Killing Box/ Harms Way/ Hog Tied/ Big Fat/ Cupajoe/ Alpha Male/ Stealing From A Thief.

© 1999 mlotek