Well I am glad most others already posted for me so I will explain this album once again.
I was a huge Anthrax fans long before this album was released. I was anxiously waiting for the new album as Anthrax was one of my favorite bands at the time.
Back then there wasn't the internet to hear samples of the songs, you couldn't read about how John Bush was now in the band, why he was. You couldn't read about how how they were going to try to change their sound etc.
So based on their album Among, STD, SOE, POT, the very successful years of touring for the POT album. Huge tours with Iron Maiden, Clash of The Titans, and the Public Enemy tour.. Anthrax were now the biggest of the Thrash Metal bands... well maybe next to Slayer... Metallica already had converted to mainstream hard rock.... anyhow...
I had listened to KNAC in Los Angeles (the metal station) and they had announced that the new Anthrax was going to be played in a few days. So I was all excited, couldn't wait. I tuned in and waited all day for them to premiere the new Anthrax single. It was called "only". They had been pumping it up for what seemed months. Finally the time had come "only" came on the radio. After about 1 minute into the song I was seriously sick to my stomach. This didn't sound like Anthrax. This was alternative sounding and sounding. Sounded like a cross between an Alternative band and Armored Saint. Thats what I thought. After the song was over I called my friends who were also glued to their radio. They also were in disbelief.
Anthrax completely changed their sound. This single "only" was almost as big of a let down a "enter sandman" was to me when Metallica released that as their first single after the masterpiece And Justice For All.
It was clear to me that Anthrax just did the same thing Metallica did. Changed their sound at the height of their popularity. They knew that all the current Anthrax fan would buy the album and then hoped that the new sound would appeal to the more mainstream rock fans that weren't into the heavier/thrashier stuff prior to it.
That is exactly what happened. I bought the album in hope that "only" was just a fluke. But the majority of the album had alternative, grunge, hard rock influences. With very little familiar thrash material that I had loved.
So while SOWN may be a 'good' album. It might be written well, it was TO ME, and a lot of original Anthrax fans, a HUGE disappointment and ultimately led to the demise of Anthrax as we knew them.
I can listen to SOWN without wanting to throw it out my car window like a frisbee like I did with Volume 8 and Stomp. But it's still not the same band that I familiarize with when I think of Anthrax.
I know a lot of current Anthrax fans got into the band because of this album. The new sound got them a lot more mainstream publicity, got them a lot of radio play with Only and exposed them to a lot of fans that normally wouldn't have heard it. So their plan kind of worked. They still did a few big tour with the John Bush line up.... but once the next album came out they were all but done. The fans they got that stuck with the band went back and bought their Joey era albums and thats how a lot of them discovered those Joey era albums. But a lot of these newer fans still hold SOWN as the 'standard' for Anthrax as that is the album that got them into the band.
Thats my take on the SOWN album
Oh well.
