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Anthrax – For All Kings – Megaforce


 
By Jeffrey Easton

 
2016 is still a new year and we already have massive contentions for metal album of the year and now Anthrax have dropped this atomic bomb square in the middle of that arena. For All Kings isn’t simply a follow up to the massive comeback that was Worship Music, it’s an alter for all comers to metal to bow at and give praise to this slab of perfect heaviness.  With Joey Belladonna at the mic Anthrax have never wavered, bashing down barriers and making true noise wherever they went and I never expected anything less from them but its 2016 and the climates are astray, things are different but should Anthrax be different?  Hell fucking no is all I have to say and For All Kings shows why they are stalwarts of the thrash genre, not only carrying the flag but leading the charge.  For All Kings opens with an ominous dirge, almost a funeral march only to be broken up by the well known riffs that Scott Ian likes to pummel out and we have a thrash masterpiece taking shape.  You Gotta Believe cuts into your ears and blasts out the next Anthrax anthem, the track that should be opening Thrax shows from here on out.  This album introduces us to Jon Donais and he absolutely rips his Legator as his fingers bleed all over this album. The title track showcases what Anthrax is truly about, ripping guitars, heart palpitating double bass and those soring melodies.  Anthrax come correct with the right way to do it, not just bassing you with monotone thrash but giving you both barrels and the title track does it.  Joeys vox committing hard to the message and never forgoing the sense of the track.  Same with Breathing Lightning but almost conjuring what the best of what they did in the 80s but bringing it much more mature and with a dirtier punch.  Breathing Lightning is another clinched fist in the air, another track for every fan to sing back to them in the live setting and another bullet in their belt.  Speaking of bullets, the ultimate fight song, The Battle Chose Us, a flurry of riffs and a sinister message of fight harder, the Anthrax way of course. The album is thrash perfection, from Defend/Avenge to Zero Tolerance to Suzerain, not a note wasted.  If you take anything away from this album let it be why Anthrax’s way of thrash has survived for so long, why these riffs never die and why Anthrax are truly sitting at the height of the Big 4.
 
Official Anthrax Site
BUY For All Kings
BUY For All Kings On Vinyl
 
 
                       
                                        
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