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Although the 1991 EP Attack of the Killer B’s is infamous for containing the collaboration with Public Enemy that Anthrax are most famous for in the mainstream world, it’s hardly most metalheads’ favourite outing from the band, and it’s hard to see Anthems making anywhere near as big a splash. Containing six cover songs and two versions of Crawl from 2011’s quality Worship Music (one original, one with orchestration), Anthems is a fun but light listen that will appeal only to real fans looking to collect everything the band do. Kicking off with perhaps the most controversial choice, Rush’s Anthem, pushing Belladonna’s vocals to their limit and threatening to push them over completely. It’s a respectable if straightforward attempt at the song, instrumentally however, the guitarists and especially Charlie Benante on drums laying down a solid version of the classic that’s not at all touched by the grimy hand of thrash. You can say the same for the rest of the covers here, including AC/DC’s TNT and Boston’s Smokin’, which seem to be songs the band like rather than songs they want to put their own stamp on. There’s clearly been effort put in to make Anthems something of an event, however; the fun Smokin’ features Fred Mandel on synths, who’s worked with everyone from Alice Cooper to Queen and played keyboards on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, so showing up for an Anthrax EP is pretty big of him! Motörhead’s Phil Campbell provides a solo on the band’s version of Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak, which otherwise is just as you’d expect it to be. And the less said of Journey, the better… It’s worth remembering how much fun the band had in the past with versions of Antisocial and Got the Time – nothing here approaches those heights, or is as fun, frankly! So while Anthems is a decent tribute to the band’s inspirations, it doesn’t contain much to interest in the longer term, and is ultimately something of a stopgap of the duller variety. |
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Killing Songs : Anthem, Smokin’ |
Goat quoted no quote | |||||||||||||||
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