It was way back in 1990 when the classic Anthrax line up of Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, Frank Bello, Dan Spitz and Joey Belladonna recorded their last studio album together, "Persistence of Time". After that release, the band would find itself going through some major changes both musically and personally. Although Anthrax would try to stay close to its roots, there was still something missing from what made them one of the premier speed/thrash metal pioneers.

Here we are almost fifteen years later, thanks to the "persistence of time", with the classic Anthrax line up reunited to treat fans to a very special live performance.

"Alive 2: The Music" was recorded on June 3rd, 2005 at the Starland Ballroom in Sayerville, NJ. It features the classic core line up of Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, Frank Bello, Dan Spitz and Joey Belladonna reuniting for their 20th Anniversary. The CD features twelve songs: "Deathrider" from "Fistful of Metal", "A.I.R." and "Medusa" from "Spreading The Disease", "Among The Living", "Caught In A Mosh", "Efilnickufesin (N.F.L.)", "Indians" and "I am The Law" from "Among The Living", "Be All, End All" and "Antisocial" from "State of Euphoria" and "In My World" and "Time" from "Persistence of Time" . There is a DVD counterpart, sold separately, which includes two non CD tracks, "Madhouse" and "I'm The Man", as well as one half of a Judge Dredd poster to go with the other half found in the CD (WTF?). I would have preferred that the CD version included "Madhouse" as well as a full poster. What if someone only wants the DVD or the CD? To me, this seems like a cheesy marketing ploy. On a personal note, I can do with out the song, "I'm The Man". This track has no place with the rest of the songs here and it also was responsible for the start of some major changes that followed Anthrax shortly thereafter. Also, I feel that Anthrax could have put a good fifteen to eighteen tracks on this release, especially for a line up that put out four albums together.

The recording and sound quality is excellent. The musical performances are pretty tight. There is an aura in the air that brings back a certain magic from days long gone. The crowd is into it, helping out on the chorus parts like in "Antisocial" and "Efilnickufesin (N.F.L.)". I was very impressed with how Joey Belladonna's vocals sounded. I was really expecting his voice to be all over the place; cracking, out of tune, etc. For the most part, has pretty good control of his voice. He does not try to strain or over accentuate in order reach notes he was once able to do with ease. It's great to hear him singing with Anthrax again. It's also great to hear Dan Spitz providing those blistering guitar leads. Charlie Benante's powerful drumming is so mechanical that he's flawless. Scott Ian's rhythm riffing packs a mean punch, along with Frank Bello's clanging bass runs. The band bangs out one song after another, with no drum solos or guitar solos to take away from the songs.

My favorite song on here is "Deathrider". Belladonna sounds amazing on this track! The only Neil Turbin era Anthrax that Belladonna re-recorded with the band was "Metal Thrashing Mad" and "Panic" which were released on the "Armed and Dangerous EP". I wish more of the "Fistful of Metal" songs made it to "Alive 2: The Music". I can see why Belladonna was originally brought on board when Turbin was kicked out. Belladonna's range and style is very similar to Turbin's, but Belladonna has a much higher range with more vocal power and clarity.

I'm not sure if this line up is for the long term, though it would be interesting to see them record some new songs together.

In any case, this is a very good live album! It's much better than "Anthrax Live - The Island Years".