Just cranked POT.... some thoughts.

[ironmaidenfan09]

if "Grunge" sounds as great as "Room For One More", "Sodium Pentathol" & "Burst" then i have missed out on something, i'm gonna check out some grunge-bands cause "Burst" rules.

Glorified Grunge - 45%
Written by DawnoftheShred on November 28th, 2006

This is the first Anthrax album I'd ever listened to, and it would have been the last if I hadn't been informed that their older material was purist thrash metal. Basically, this album delayed my love of Anthrax's old albums by like two years and for that I can never forgive it. It sucks ass and should be avoided.

The first song is "Potter's Field." Before you even get to hear new singer John Bush, you get a solid minute of static for an intro, and then a cool riff. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the only cool riff on the entire album. Most of the riffs are midpaced and generic, as are most of the leads. Worse still is the guitar sound. Shitty production combined with a grungy ass tone makes for fucking bad guitar sound. All this is evident before you even hear Bush sing. Bush himself isn't a bad singer necessarily, but his style of singing only reinforces the impression that this is album is just heavy grunge. He sounds quite reminiscent of the guy from Stone Temple Pilots, if that helps cast some light on his voice.

Grungy vocals, grungy lyrics, grungy riffs, grungy guitar tone....the album is pretty much grunge. The only thing that keeps this remotely metal is the powerful (but poorly mixed) drumming and the occasional too heavy for grunge riffs. Seriously, this is basically STP Vol. 4 if it was heavier and had only one ballad. Alice in Chains kicks the shit out of this nonsense.

Other demerits are deserved for the stupid song title of "Sodium Pentathol," spelled out in its chemical formula. Okay, you guys looked up a little chemistry. Here's a gold star, but nobody gives a shit.

This might be the worst thing Anthrax has ever done, but I haven't listened to the other John Bush albums to compare. It's hard to believe this is the same band that recorded Fistful of Metal. This album makes Load and Reload look like Ride the Lightning. Shitty sell-out grunge metal. If you really like grunge, fine, you'll love this, but don't dare confuse this with real metal, it's not even close.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

he sound of grunge conformity - 58%
Written by JamesIII on April 12th, 2010

One of the more visible and unfortunate shifts in mainstream music belongs squarely on the shoulders of the grunge movement. Grunge within itself is a wide assortment of musical styles ranging from the dark, Black Sabbath worship of bands Alice In Chains and Soundgarden to the muddy hard rock tendencies of Stone Temple Pilots. Although some of these bands were good, even exceptional in some cases, their rise to the limelight opened the floodgates for many respected 80's outfits to follow suit.

In the 1990's, just about all of America's more famous thrash acts began collapsing underneath their own weight of trying to keep up with modern times. Metallica is probably the most famous example of this, but even while that band was hell bent on destroying their credibility as a reliable metal outfit, Anthrax topped even them in this contest. Much of the crap this band released between the mid 90's to the end of the decade flirted dangerously with all out mallcore territory and bottom rung groove metal.

However, Anthrax's first conformity to mainstream trends wasn't quite as abominable, but I can't say it was delightfully good. "Sound of White Noise" was an album I picked up early on in my music purchasing days, and at the time I got immense enjoyment out of it. Needless to say, with age comes maturity and realization that conforming to trends in the name of survival as an artist is hardly a respectable reason for recording and promoting anything below what your band is capable of.

What we hear on "Sound of White Noise" is the sound of Anthrax abdicating their throne of 80's satrical thrash metal for darker pastures. The first recognizable new element to this group is John Bush, former Armored Saint frontman. Bush isn't a terrible vocalist for this style of music, coming out remarkably better than grunge's false icons like Eddie Vedder. Bush reminds me more of Scott Weiland off STP's earlier days, minus the horribly incoherent lyrics and with a more melodic tinge to his voice. Truth be told, I don't mind John Bush all that much on this release, but he's far from what he is capable of, as his pre-Anthrax contributions to music have proven.

Amongst this initiation into grunge discipleship, we have a one song that pass for decent. "Only" is probably the most notable song here, and honestly the only 90's Anthrax song I consider a keeper. It fuses what positive things Anthrax's new sound has going for it and creates a decent song. Beyond that, we have a collection of songs that try desperately to bring in some of the magic that Alice In Chains had going for them. This tends to fall flat, since Anthrax ends up emulating a variety of bands from the era particularly a muddier, heavier version of what was heard on "Core." If this weren't bad enough, Anthrax seems to have donned a Metallica attitude towards songwriting, in that they write songs that are far too long with ideas that are far too few to make those songs interesting. What you then end up with is a collection of grunge rock tributes with a halfway decent vocal job, but obviously nothing any 80's Anthrax fan should ever be caught with.

For what it is, a grunge rock record, "Sound of White Noise" comes out considerably well. Compared to previous material and heavy metal in general, this album succeeds on a few levels but misses out entirely on the more important ones. Ultimately, this album was the beginning of the slippery slope for Anthrax who, like Metallica, ended up ruining most of their credibility by the time the 90's ended. I can't really recommend this album to anyone except maybe grunge enthuaists, but for everyone else avoid it entirely or seek it out second hand.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

About this album
Nuclear Blast (1998) Released: 15 Sep 1998 15 tracks (68:14)
Sound of White Noise is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Anthrax, released in May of 1993 on Elektra Records. It is the band’s the first album with former Armored Saint vocalist John Bush, and also their last studio album with guitarist Dan Spitz.

The band and Dave Jerden produced the album, which includes the singles, “Only” ,”Black Lodge”, “Room for One More” and “Hy Pro Glo”. This album marked a change in the sound of the band, mixing the old thrash metal with new grunge references (Dave Jerden was the producer of Alice in Chains) and the album got Anthrax’s highest ever chart position, debuting at #7 on the Billboard 200 charts, with “Only” and “Room For One More” in particular becoming major rock radio hits at their time. Sound of White Noise was certified gold by the RIAA.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

Released May 25, 1993
Recorded 1992
Genre Heavy metal, thrash metal, Grunge
Length 56:56
Label Elektra
Producer Anthrax, Dave Jerden
Professional reviews

* Allmusic 3/5 stars link

[edit] Overview

The album, produced by the band and Dave Jerden, includes the singles, "Only", "Black Lodge", "Room for One More" and "Hy Pro Glo". This album marked a revision in the sound of the band, with the departure of lead vocalist Joey Belladonna and the introduction of grunge influences (Dave Jerden was the producer of Alice in Chains). The album debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200 charts, Anthrax's highest ever chart position. Sound of White Noise was certified gold by the RIAA.

 

[motorpsycho]

Then again....

ANTHRAX (USA)
THE SOUND OF WHITE NOISE Elektra records
Written by Isaak on Saturday 25 February, 2006. Last updated on Thursday 15 February, 2007
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Introducing John Bush (Armored Saint) on vocals, replacing Joey Belladonna who parted with Anthrax in 1992 due to 'musical differences'. What a tough thing to do! John had a great but totally different voice. Would it sound right with Anthrax's music? And furthermore, would the fans accept it?

The band did a great job on 'The Sound of white Noise' (1993). Which was both a surprising and typical Anthrax album. Typical in the sence that songs such as "Potters Field", "Room for one More", "HyProGlo" and "Burst" sounded like a natural progression following 'Persistence of Time'. But on the catchy - even radio friendly - metal songs "Only", "Packaged Rebellion" and "Sodium Pentathol" one could hear Anthrax making a large step away from traditional thrash metal and going towards groovy and very melodic mid-tempo metal. Also worth mentioning is the brilliant semi-ballad "Black Lodge" (co-written with film score composer Angelo Badalamenti) which had great guitar harmonies.

Just at a time when thrash metal was losing ground quickly, Anthrax succeded in making a step forward and releasing the right album at the right moment. Was it wisdom or sheer dumb luck? Hard to say, but I tend to call it luck. Unfortunately it turned out to be the last studio album with co-founder Dan Spitz on leadguitar.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

My point by posting those reviews is to show that there are a lot of people that think SOWN was leaning more toward a Grunge sound than a thrash metal sound. If you like Grunge great..nothing wrong with that. I like some heavier 'grunge', I even don't mind most of SOWN for what is is.. a more rock based grungier style album. But for Anthrax this was appalling.

There are people on this forum that seem to be so thrown back by the fact that SOWN could possibly be considered 'grunge' by others. Like that is really such a far stretch??

Compared to Among The Living SOWN sounds like Pearl Jam. Is SOWN pure Grunge? No, but does it have a big Grunge influence YES> If you don't hear that influence I don't know what to tell you other than to get your hearing checked.

 

[motorpsycho]

My point by posting those reviews is to show that there are a lot of people that think SOWN was leaning more toward a Grunge sound than a thrash metal sound. If you like Grunge great..nothing wrong with that. I like some heavier 'grunge', I even don't mind most of SOWN for what is is.. a more rock based grungier style album. But for Anthrax this was appalling.

There are people on this forum that seem to be so thrown back by the fact that SOWN could possibly be considered 'grunge' by others. Like that is really such a far stretch??

Compared to Among The Living SOWN sounds like Pearl Jam. Is SOWN pure Grunge? No, but does it have a big Grunge influence YES> If you don't hear that influence I don't know what to tell you other than to get your hearing checked.

I don't completely rule out that there are grunge influences in some of the songs on SOWN, but in my opinion things are a little bit more complicated than Anthrax simply being inspired by the trends at the time.

I mean, listen to the opening of Make Me Laugh from State of Euphoria. I wouldn't be surpirsed if someone from Alice in Chains was taking notes while listening to that song.

 

[spacebeer]

Seriously I have an old AARDSCHOK mag from 1993 in which there is an official 1/2 page ad promoting SOWN in which it stated "Grunge Metal" hahahaha.

But who cares anyway.....I think it's the best Bush era album.

 

[motorpsycho]

Seriously I have an old AARDSCHOK mag from 1993 in which there is an official 1/2 page ad promoting SOWN in which it stated "Grunge Metal" hahahaha.

But who cares anyway.....I think it's the best Bush era album.

Agreed! And I think it's a solid Anthrax album as well.

And I'm not that surprised that the record label chose to put a grunge-tag on the album as a way of promoting it. For instance, labeling the album as "groove metal" would not be the most effective marketing gimmick at the time of the release.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

Seriously I have an old AARDSCHOK mag from 1993 in which there is an official 1/2 page ad promoting SOWN in which it stated "Grunge Metal" hahahaha.

But who cares anyway.....I think it's the best Bush era album.

It wasn't a big suprise back then. It seems to be a shock to these retarded bushthrax worshipers, but those that were around back when this album was released knew the Grunge comparisons.

I'd love to see that Advertisement. Their own label was promoting it as "Grunge" as the knew that Grunge was selling. It is no coincidence that they changed their sound to be more 'grunge' back then. If anyone thinks it was just some 'natural progression' to change your entire sound and singers right when grunge was taking of then they are really retarded and I feel sorry for them for being so stupid.

 

[AlexStomp]

Just because bands follow trends, fashions, modes, etc doesn't take away from the songs and the music. Pantera was glam at one point.

I was a fan of Anthrax for about 3 years when SOWN came out. The only albums I had were POT, and killers B's. I also had shitty cassette rip off copies of SOD, SOE and Among which I didn't listen to that much because the quality sucked because it had been copied and passed around so much. Even then as a little kid I was a schtickler for those kinds of things.

My only problem with Anthrax in the 90's was that after 1995, they took way too long to put out albums.


1990-1995 : 3 albums of original music (5 years)

since then 2 albums of original music (15 years)

 

[Thrashard]

"White Noise" is a great mix of Thrash, Groove Metal, Hard Rock & Grunge, i like it and "Stomp", "The Threat Is Real" & WCFYA should have been in the same vein, unfortunately they denied their Thrash-roots on those releases. IMO "White Noise" is the sound of "Classic Anthrax meets Armored Saint", still thrashy at times but with tons of groove, overall midtempo-rockers with some slow-mo-parts.

i like groovy metal, midtempo & slow parts are cool as long as there is heavyness but it's getting boring after a while if there are no speed-parts with double-bass & fast snare or blast-speed at all (Stomp 442). IMO Tourniquet & Overkill are the masters when it comes to keep music interesting and diversified, they play fast, they play slow, they are groovy and there are some tempo-changes in most songs while Bush-era Anthrax was midtempo-metal 90% of the time with hardly any tempo-changes and no use of the gas-pedal at all (something that didn't appeal to the majority of metalheads).

 

[motorpsycho]

If anyone thinks it was just some 'natural progression' to change your entire sound and singers right when grunge was taking of then they are really retarded and I feel sorry for them for being so stupid.

Some people see it as natural progression, others don't. It all boils down to taste, not intelligence.

 

[Attaq]

I know, in they eyes of our beloved friend imfan09, this makes me a stupid person, but I was actually around when SOWN was released and it NEVER occured to me that I was listening to a grunge album or grunge-inspired album.

To me, SOWN was a come-back album by a band that had split from their old vocalist and followed the musical progression they started with POT by abandoning some of its thrashier roots.
However, SOWN was always a rock/metal album to me, nothing else. And a pretty good one at that, too.

P.S. We're completely off-topic again, I know. Maybe some Mod can do some splitting/merging.

 

[motorpsycho]

P.S. We're completely off-topic again, I know. Maybe some Mod can do some splitting/merging.

Happens a lot. It obviously reflects how Anthrax went "off topic" after POT.
Thus Anthrax fans have been influenced to frequently change direction, and have severe difficulties sticking to a particular theme or topic.

Oh well. At least it keeps the board busy.

 

[Attaq]

^^^ Ha ha, good one!!

However, it's pretty darn annoying when literally every thread turns into the same ol' discussion about you know what.

It's the main reason why I don't feel like participating more on this board.

 

[motorpsycho]

^^^ Ha ha, good one!!

However, it's pretty darn annoying when literally every thread turns into the same ol' discussion about you know what.

It's the main reason why I don't feel like participating more on this board.

Yeah, I know.
Can't say that I'm innocent when it comes to participating in a discussions that have gone of topic, so there is obviously room for improving.

So the topic is POT! Fantastic album!

 

[johnnieCzech]

Back then, everyone was talking about how Alice In Chains influenced Anthrax. That was partially because the mulletheads couldn't swallow the fact that the cheesy 80's were gone. Those guys who wrote the reviews probably still consider everything Anthrax has put out after Fistful Of Metal as a crap.

 

[Social Distortion]

About Black Lodge...I really don't find the song grungy at all. It's more like those Metallica ballads like One, Fade To Black etc.

Edit: Obviously those reviews were written by True Metal Fans, people who couldn't accept that the Thrash metal-era was over.

Anyway, isn't POT still awesome! I think I'm gonna smoke some right now.:Smokin:

 

[Thrashard]

About Black Lodge...I really don't find the song grungy at all. It's more like those Metallica ballads like One, Fade To Black etc.

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