It does seem from time to time, we are bound to be greatly disappointed in a youthful icon or rather in some unforseen ideological breakdown. Anthrax, a band I have grown up with, seems to fall in this category. In the beginning, I had great hopes for this albumeven with the incredibly bland and cliched album title. I just downloaded the album of Kazaa. (I have learned to do this, because the music scene sucks so bad now). After all, why invest $16.00 for a CD unless it is truly something to cherish? After downloading, I put all the tracks in their order of appearance and began to listen.
Just some quick thoughts:
"Intro"- I must say that I was excited to hear this track. A nice build up, slowly, slowly, slowly, drums, beating, beating, then Kasplat!
"What Doesn't Die"The KasplatI have heard this before, nothing new, nothing interesting. Ok, Ok, I recovered. I got myself together for a possible redemption. Everyone has gone through this stage with Anthrax. Of course, they have had some bad tracks on albums before. Is there redemption later?
"Superhero"Nice riff in the beginningnice fade outthen builds to a yelling match. Screaming, pause, scream, pause, jesus christ please save them! Man, we are left with a really cool riff with utterly stupid lyrics and then the sound effect on the voice. Motherfucker! John Bush doesn't need his voice fucked with nor does anyone else. His voice is brilliant, PERIOD! Flashback to "Sound Of White Noise", I practically jumped out of my car when I first heard "Packaged Rebellion" (What a fucking song!)NOW THIS! Yet, I digress.
"Refuse To Be Denied"The Scream! Where's Anselmo? Dimebag anyone? There it is again, that fucking distorted, artsy fartsy vocal. Jesus Christ. "Refused To Be Denied" is the worst yet! There is an interesting riff in this one toward the middle of the song (Yes, it is overused, but it still effective), but still it can't redeem the song
"Safe Home"Here we are. Here we are at "Safe Home". Bright light, white heat. Hot damn! This song, unlike previously first released songs by Anthrax, fucking rocks! This song will go far for Anthrax if it is promoted correctly. It certainly has a lot of cross-over appeal, like many others including "Black Lodge". This song is good. I could have done without the guitar break, but that can be overlooked. After all, they are a metal band and have to stick to convention.
"Any Place But Here"This song is so bad, I can't even talk about it. "C'mon! C'mon!"
"Nobody Knows Anything"This one is just tired and overdone. Is this some kind of nihilistic treatise? There is no form nor is there any semblance of structure. Being that these guys are intelligent and very articulateI think Anthrax is too often overlooked as being great song lyricist. However, this neo-socratic deluge seems more like a garage band in their first week, rather than a cultured, world traveling band that they are. This may appeal to some of you guys, but it doesn't to me.
I am sorry, I can't go on talking about these songs. It pains me to do so. Even though, a lot of you guys will probably want to punch a hole in me (and I certainly understand your loyalty), but I can't help to think this about Anthrax's new album. We waited so long. We kept reading the "Alphamails" about how great this album is and it is everything but. Back to the drawing board guys, I will stick around for another album, however you may want to think of hanging it up after this one. I don't want to see Jordan become a mediocre basketball player in his twilight years. The same thing goes for Anthrax. I would rather you hang them up and let us remember the good times, good music of our youth. Anthrax has earned its place in history. Hell, metal today wouldn't exist without the guys. Fuck Metallica, they were not the same since 1991. However, I have always felt that Anthrax has stuck to their own and never sold their soul, however when a band does this for so long, they often risk marginalizing themselves, which it seems they have.
Sincerely,
Anatoli Simyanovich
P.S. I am sorry guys, but I probably won't be coming back to this board anytime soon to postas you may know, because this is my first time writing here. However, I will read your responses eventually (I don't know how long they keep them up in here)no matter how brutaland respectfully yield to the diehards in this forum.
Just some quick thoughts:
"Intro"- I must say that I was excited to hear this track. A nice build up, slowly, slowly, slowly, drums, beating, beating, then Kasplat!
"What Doesn't Die"The KasplatI have heard this before, nothing new, nothing interesting. Ok, Ok, I recovered. I got myself together for a possible redemption. Everyone has gone through this stage with Anthrax. Of course, they have had some bad tracks on albums before. Is there redemption later?
"Superhero"Nice riff in the beginningnice fade outthen builds to a yelling match. Screaming, pause, scream, pause, jesus christ please save them! Man, we are left with a really cool riff with utterly stupid lyrics and then the sound effect on the voice. Motherfucker! John Bush doesn't need his voice fucked with nor does anyone else. His voice is brilliant, PERIOD! Flashback to "Sound Of White Noise", I practically jumped out of my car when I first heard "Packaged Rebellion" (What a fucking song!)NOW THIS! Yet, I digress.
"Refuse To Be Denied"The Scream! Where's Anselmo? Dimebag anyone? There it is again, that fucking distorted, artsy fartsy vocal. Jesus Christ. "Refused To Be Denied" is the worst yet! There is an interesting riff in this one toward the middle of the song (Yes, it is overused, but it still effective), but still it can't redeem the song
"Safe Home"Here we are. Here we are at "Safe Home". Bright light, white heat. Hot damn! This song, unlike previously first released songs by Anthrax, fucking rocks! This song will go far for Anthrax if it is promoted correctly. It certainly has a lot of cross-over appeal, like many others including "Black Lodge". This song is good. I could have done without the guitar break, but that can be overlooked. After all, they are a metal band and have to stick to convention.
"Any Place But Here"This song is so bad, I can't even talk about it. "C'mon! C'mon!"
"Nobody Knows Anything"This one is just tired and overdone. Is this some kind of nihilistic treatise? There is no form nor is there any semblance of structure. Being that these guys are intelligent and very articulateI think Anthrax is too often overlooked as being great song lyricist. However, this neo-socratic deluge seems more like a garage band in their first week, rather than a cultured, world traveling band that they are. This may appeal to some of you guys, but it doesn't to me.
I am sorry, I can't go on talking about these songs. It pains me to do so. Even though, a lot of you guys will probably want to punch a hole in me (and I certainly understand your loyalty), but I can't help to think this about Anthrax's new album. We waited so long. We kept reading the "Alphamails" about how great this album is and it is everything but. Back to the drawing board guys, I will stick around for another album, however you may want to think of hanging it up after this one. I don't want to see Jordan become a mediocre basketball player in his twilight years. The same thing goes for Anthrax. I would rather you hang them up and let us remember the good times, good music of our youth. Anthrax has earned its place in history. Hell, metal today wouldn't exist without the guys. Fuck Metallica, they were not the same since 1991. However, I have always felt that Anthrax has stuck to their own and never sold their soul, however when a band does this for so long, they often risk marginalizing themselves, which it seems they have.
Sincerely,
Anatoli Simyanovich
P.S. I am sorry guys, but I probably won't be coming back to this board anytime soon to postas you may know, because this is my first time writing here. However, I will read your responses eventually (I don't know how long they keep them up in here)no matter how brutaland respectfully yield to the diehards in this forum.
