Relevant again.

[esloan]

While watching the Golden God awards last night, it occurred to me how nice it was to see Anthrax relevant again. It has been so long since they were anything but a once great but now forgotten band. Now they are back playing alongside other metal bands and they are not out of place.

Despite whatever feelings Scott has toward Belladonna, I bet he is happy as hell to be playing in front of large crowds, selling records and being relevant again. I'm glad to have them mean something again. It has been entirely too long.

 

[Anthrax_Mosher]

I heard they were the opener which is lame as fuck. Halestorm sucks a giant cock and shouldnt have a higher spot on the card. Why have Anthrax as the opener?

 

[esloan]

I heard they were the opener which is lame as fuck. Halestorm sucks a giant cock and shouldnt have a higher spot on the card. Why have Anthrax as the opener?

Mainly because they have years of sub-mediocrity to overcome. The years between SoWN and WM almost killed them. Thats a lot of crap to rise above.

Fortunately, WM has started digging them out of that mess. Hopefully, they can get another solid album out relatively quickly. They put out another album out as good or better than WM and they go a long way toward cleaning off the years of crap.

 

[Social Distortion]

The most important spots on a show like that are are the first and the last. What's in the middle don't really matter.

 

[Anthrax_Mosher]

Halestorm had absolutely no business whatsoever being on a card with Anthrax, Danzig, and Metallica to begin with. Until that girl replaces her microphone with a cock Im not interested.

 

[jamesr7790]

Until that girl replaces her microphone with a cock Im not interested.

I have no idea who you're talking about but a comment like that just reeks of ignorance and mental retardation.

On another note, did anyone notice Halford with a cane when he came out with Metallica? I love the guy but damn he's getting oooooold.

 

[Mikey-Bong]

I have no idea who you're talking about but a comment like that just reeks of ignorance and mental retardation.

I guess I'm ignorant and retarded too because I laughed.

 

[fuelee2004]

Mainly because they have years of sub-mediocrity to overcome. The years between SoWN and WM almost killed them. Thats a lot of crap to rise above.

Fortunately, WM has started digging them out of that mess. Hopefully, they can get another solid album out relatively quickly. They put out another album out as good or better than WM and they go a long way toward cleaning off the years of crap.

It wasnt the music that was sub-mediocre during those years, Only thing sub-mediocre were the fans that didnt give Bush era a chance.

 

[kirkland]

It wasnt the music that was sub-mediocre during those years, Only thing sub-mediocre were the fans that didnt give Bush era a chance.

Lol...the fans gave it a chance but they just didnt like it. That's the truth. Sure there are a few hundred die hard bush era fans but the majority of pre bush era fans didnt like the direction. anthrax went during that horrid time period.

 

[aliasp]

Lets face it.
Bush v Belladonna era debates are the equivalent of DLR v Hagar era Van Halen.

For what it's worth that `horrid time' as you put it had a lot to also do with bad business decisions regarding labels by the band and also the declining state of metal during the early 90s (Grunge was on the rise) as opposed than the fact Anthrax had a new singer.

There were a lot of factors at play. One has to remember that the only metal band that really flourished during that time were Metallica and some of the old schoolers like Maiden and co. Slayer & Megadeth also saw their record sales plummet too.

 

[Social Distortion]

Please not this shit again...

 

[kirkland]

Lets face it.
Bush v Belladonna era debates are the equivalent of DLR v Hagar era Van Halen.

For what it's worth that `horrid time' as you put it had a lot to also do with bad business decisions regarding labels by the band and also the declining state of metal during the early 90s (Grunge was on the rise) as opposed than the fact Anthrax had a new singer.

There were a lot of factors at play. One has to remember that the only metal band that really flourished during that time were Metallica and some of the old schoolers like Maiden and co. Slayer & Megadeth also saw their record sales plummet too.

Not about Anthrax having a new singer as much as Anthrax trying to sound like a pathetic attempt at Pantera. Has nothing to do with John Bush, even if Joey were on vocals it would have been just as bad.

Also the bad label decisions are all bs. If the labels had interest in their product they would have pushed it. But they knew nobody was into that material and didnt waste their money pushing a sub par product.

I laugh at the John Bush vs Joey thing because it really It had way more to do with the music behind the vocals than the vocals themselves.

For whatever reason Anthrax wrote a completely different style of music when Bush was on vocals. I don't like Bushs vocals much, but wish the band would have written good music for him so he could have had a chance

 

[resumurofnikufesin]

For whatever reason Anthrax wrote a completely different style of music when Bush was on vocals. I don't like Bushs vocals much, but wish the band would have written good music for him so he could have had a chance

It always seemed to me that at this point in time Anthrax were trying to tap into the mainstream alternative radio market. Aside from trying to sound like Pantera (only a couple songs stand out), they wrote some material that seemed to have more in common with bands like Fuel, Creed and Nickelback to name a few.

 

[Anthrax_Mosher]

Not about Anthrax having a new singer as much as Anthrax trying to sound like a pathetic attempt at Pantera. Has nothing to do with John Bush, even if Joey were on vocals it would have been just as bad.

Also the bad label decisions are all bs. If the labels had interest in their product they would have pushed it. But they knew nobody was into that material and didnt waste their money pushing a sub par product.

I laugh at the John Bush vs Joey thing because it really It had way more to do with the music behind the vocals than the vocals themselves.

For whatever reason Anthrax wrote a completely different style of music when Bush was on vocals. I don't like Bushs vocals much, but wish the band would have written good music for him so he could have had a chance

I can back this up. I gave the albums chances and it just wasnt good at all. Bad music and the lyrics were bad too. Only one I could listen to front to back is WCFYA. When I go back and listen to the first few Armored Saint albums I wish the Anthrax albums with Bush sounded like those instead of a nu-metal version of Pantera.

 

[aliasp]

Fair points Kirkland but you're wrong about the label decisions.

Elektra had a change of management after SOWN (which sold very well) and it was clear that new boss had zero interest in `old school' metal and was more interested in Grunge. Stomp wasn't given anywhere near the same promotion and that wasn't due to the album quality (which I happen to love actually) but rather the agenda of management. This has been documented well and clearly elsewhere too.

Then they jumped to another label (for Vol 8) and that label went bust.
They did well by going with Sanctuary for WM mind you. Though Sanctuary today aren't the Sanctuary of say the 80s.
Nuclear Blast have done well by them though.

There is no denying the musical change in style but I for one happen to love a lot of that new style too.
Never agreed with this new Pantera sound everyone seems to state - only V8 reminded me of Pantera.
For me good music is good music. But each to their own. I won't try to tell anyone what is good music or not as it's their own taste.

A lot of us on here like Bush era sound. A lot don't. Viva le difference.

 

[esloan]

I like John Bush. Loved him in Armored Saint, in fact. Had Anthrax continued in the AtL/PoT style, I would have enjoyed Anthrax with Bush singing. I probably would not have enjoyed them as much as I did with Belladonna, because I think Belladonna was what set Anthrax apart from the Slayers/Metallicas/Megadeths of the world; i.e. a thrash vocalist who could actually sing in a different style than what most others do.

Nonetheless, I would have enjoyed it. However, they radically changed styles after Belladonna left and, yes, it killed their popularity. You can blame it on grunge all you want but that was not the reason for Anthrax's fall. Slayer, Megadeth etc. all weathered that storm. They sold less albums but they continued to sell well. They sold well because they kept their core fanbase. Anthrax lost theirs and they lost it because of a huge drop-off in the quality of their music, at least as perceived by most of their core fanbase.

It is nice to see them doing pretty well for themselves now. They were, after all, a member of the "Big Four". I would have hated to see them remembered as a band that should have stopped at PoT or SoWN instead of continuing on.

Worship Music is not their best album but it is their best album since the original Belladonna days. I hope their next album (if there is one) is even better.

 

[aliasp]

> I hope their next album (if there is one) is even better.

^ I could not agree more. Hopefully we don't have to wait 5 years!!!

 

[IamMrFabiaro]

> I hope their next album (if there is one) is even better.

^ I could not agree more. Hopefully we don't have to wait 5 years!!!

Listening to WM n ANTHEM lately.
They are on the right track ( after few flats)..I love their style now. It made more sense with Joey singing.