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Release Date: September 13th 2011
Review Date: September 12th, 2011
Label: Megaforce
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Anthrax' long awaited tenth studio album "Worship Music" is finally here. It's their first album of original material since 2003's "We've Come For You All", and features Joey Belladonna as vocalist for the first time in more than 20 years. The expectations from this album were obviously high, and considering the fact that the original release was intended for 2009 and just kept getting pushed back because it had to go through three different vocalists, I was eager to find out whether or not it's actually worth the wait.
The album wastes no time in setting the 'worship' theme in the listener's mind, doing so with the Worship intro. This leads into "Earth On Hell", a tune that definitely has its thrash elements but with a distinctly groovy edge to it which perhaps indicates the change Anthrax have gone through over the years as a group of songwriters. This should be a good live tune because of its frequent changes in tempo. The slow interlude leading up to the guitar solo is a highly enjoyable and catchy segment of the song. After this excellent start, "The Devil You Know" follows. This is more like old-school, Among The Living-era type Anthrax, a stripped down thrash tune with a bit of a crossover punk feel, and largely dominated by Belladonna's vocals. His band mates combine with him perfectly, due to which the song has a great rhythm to it. This is a quintessential Anthrax tune that will surely be appreciated by all of their fans.
"FIght 'Em Til You Can't" is a song that was released quite a while ago and has been played live by the band regularly, so there are no surprises here. It's a song that not only keeps the groove and rhythm of the previous two tracks going, but picks up the pace ever so slightly. Lyrically it's a pretty easy song to follow for those who like to sing along, and guitar-wise it's more melodic than most other tracks on the album. I commend the band for choosing this as the single because it's a good representative of the album and arguably the best song on it. "I'm Alive" is a much slower and heavier tune that once again throws some light on the 'modern' side of Anthrax. It's a very full-sounding tune that offers a lot to the listener's ears, and like some of the previous ones, very catchy. The flow of the album is broken up, albeit for just 39 seconds, by "Hymn 1" which is another short piece of music that represents the theme and title of the album. The hymn gives way to the dark, heavy and epic-sounding "In The End". The song builds up magnificently, staying slow and gripping for its first half, changes gears mid-way to transform into what can be described as a typical Anthrax rhythm with a modern layer on top of it, and then closes out the same way it started. After this highly interesting composition, "The Giant" turns back the clock so to speak and reintroduces the old-school Anthrax sound to a large extent even though the more modern, melodic elements are still very much present. I would be very surprised if this tune doesn't make it onto the band's setlist for next month's headline tour.
Charlie Benante's 44-second drum-fill forms "Hymn 2", which then leads into a track I was most interested in when I first saw the track listing, a song titled "Judas Priest", mainly because of its title. It's similar to In The End in terms of tempo but with a harder sort of edge to it and not so much of the melody. Belladonna is in top form here, and the band as a whole has excelled with their music on this one. Each member gets to display the skills he possesses on his own instrument, and it has resulted in what turns out to be the most well-rounded tune on the album. I would rate this as high as "Fight 'Em ..." but this one will not have the same kind of instant impact, although I think it will grow rapidly on the listener. "Crawl" as the title suggests, slows and softens things down once again, and more than anything, it's an example of how well Belladonna can single-handedly carry a tune. "The Constant" on the other hand, is a much heavier song with thrash elements that will instantly be liked by one and all, and should be another solid candidate for the live setlist. "Revolution Screams" brings the album to a close with an 'old meets new' sound that typifies the majority of tunes here. The song ends at the 6-minute mark, followed by a 5-minute silence, and then the hidden track which is a Refused cover. Even though the silence contributes towards the build-up, I don't quite agree that they needed to waste 5 minutes of CD space for it.
That aside, Worship Music has undoubtedly exceeded my expectations. Because of the fact that these songs have been 'in the can' for quite a while now and were originally written for a different vocalist, I was pretty apprehensive about how they would sound. But all my doubts and fears have been rapidly erased after a few listens of the whole album. This album will be a pleasant surprise to all Anthrax fans because of how well-rounded and musically diverse it is. It offers plenty for fans of the old-school Anthrax but at the same time, presents the 2011 version of Anthrax. Joey Belladonna has done a great job and completely justifies his return to the band, while his band mates have presented new facets of their musical creativity. All in all, Worship Music is a solid return to the heavy metal helm for the thrash giants, and their best album in a long, long time.
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