Review Summary: The 'Thrax is back! Joey Belladonna returns, and the band releases their best album in a long time. The guitar and vocal work on here is particularly phenomenal.
This is the only worthy followup recorded to Sound of White Noise. In fact, I'd argue that it's a better followup to Persistence of Time than SoWN. After that album (their highest charting album even today) was released, Anthrax took a sharp decline, both quality-wise and commercially. Stomp 442 and Volume 8 were, to put it bluntly, completely boring and lame. We've Come For You All showed slightly more promise, but was still for the most part forgettable. The classic lineup returned and performed Among the Living in its entirety, but the band got into trouble with vocalists. They'd already recorded this album with Dan Nelson, but due to certain circumstances (I'm not sure if he was fired or resigned...kinda depends on who you asked.) he wasn't in the band anymore. They wanted John Bush to re-record the vocals and tour with the band and stuff, but he didn't wanna commit.
Thus, they finally made the wise decision to reunite with Joey Belladonna (Rewriting some songs and writing all new songs in the process!), who was finally on board with the whole thing. Seeing Joey perform with Anthrax at the Big Four festival had me hyped that Anthrax was truly back. In June 2011, Anthrax released Fight 'Em Til You Can't as a gift for the fans since they'd waited for so long to hear the album. Needless to say, I was absolutely ecstatic; I'll get more into the song later, but for now I'll just say that it's fantastic and gave the impression that Worship Music would be an awesome all-out thrash metal attack that harkened back to their glory years.
"All-out thrash metal attack" aren't words that I'd use to describe Worship Music. Most of Worship Music is midpaced and focuses more on being memorable than being fast and/or moshable. It
definitely succeeds at what it tries, though. Worship Music may not be a "return to form" in the sense that it doesn't resemble their best album outside of a few fast numbers like Earth On Hell, Fight Em Til You Can't, and The Giant. It is a return to greatness, though; not one song here leads into skip territory for me, which can't be said of Fistful of Metal, the John Bush albums, and even some Joey material. Anyone afraid Anthrax'll fall apart anytime soon can rest assured that Worship Music is a surprisingly awesome release. Not only is it awesome on its own, it's surprising to see such a monumental leap in quality from disappointing (and overrated, in my opinion) We've Come For You All to
this slab of excellency.
Charlie Benante is as awesome as ever, and the modern metal sound does the drums a big favor here, actually. Scott Ian and not-Dan-Spitz lead guitarist Rob Caggiano really shred with a thick and crunchy sound here. Frank Bello's bass doesn't stand out as well here as on their best stuff, but it's still somewhat hearable. It's a real joy to hear Joey Belladonna on vocals again. He doesn't sound quite as good as he did when he was younger, but he still gives off a great performance here nonetheless. The actual sound of the instruments is fine, although the bass could be boosted a bit; sadly, this album is yet another victim of the loudness war. It doesn't clip and distort, but it is alas so loud that there are basically no dynamics here. Opening many songs on here in an audio editor (Not that I'm encouraging piracy!) will often reveal a solid brick wall of sound...which is bad. That's a real shame, because the music here can get quite dynamic, showcased in songs like In The End and I'm Alive.
An element to this album that will more than likely go unappreciated is the little melodic interludes. Many will likely write them off as just stupid splotches of filler. Hymn 2 is kind of lame, but it compliments the next song well enough to redeem it in my eyes. The album opens with Worship, an intro that's not too far below two minutes. Don't let the soothing sounds of this intro fool you, though, because Earth On Hell opens with blaring blast beats from the ever-swift Charlie before kicking into gear with one of the album's few full-speed tracks. I mean full speed, too. This one rips ahead with an intensity not seen in a while from this band. It slows down for the choruses, though, and about halfway through to make way for some heavy riffage. By the way, the lyrics, as the title would clue you in on, are menacing here. ("Coming to kick you to sleep! The damage inflicted is gonna be deep! [...] Starting tonight, people will die,
people will die!") This song's solo, while short, is brutal and very effective. Overall, Earth On Hell is a pummeling thrash assault and an awesome introduction to the actual "songs" on here.
Next up is a track that better represents the overall sounds of the record. The Devil You Know is a hell of a song, serving as the album's lead single. The riffs here are pretty good, and the song has a pretty good groove going on, but it's the vocal lines that are the most memorable. There's a super catchy AND super heavy part after about two and a half minutes. The guitar work when Joey goes silent for a bit is really, really good. If that was too slow for you, you're in luck, because next up is Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't. This was song was the first studio recording from this album that was released, and man is it good! It switches very effectively between midpaced and fast sections that are a bit reminiscent of Gridlock from Persistence of Time. The rather melodic refrain to this song is excellent, as are Joey's vocals here. I said he's not as good as on their earlier releases, but don't let that mislead you into thinking he's not still really great; his performance in this song in particular is superb. This song's faster riffs just scream "THRASH!", so this song and Earth On Hell will probably do the trick for all you thrashaholics.
I'm Alive was originally performed live with Dan Nelson on vocals as "Vampyres" back in '08. Opening with a thunderous tribal rhythm and featuring fantastic interplay between heavily distorted and cleaner guitars (as well as---surprise!---terrific vocal lines and another amazing solo), I'm Alive is yet another great song in a row. So far, so consistently awesome. Hymn 1 is a really neat violin interlude, starting up solemnly before switching to a more epic, driving rhythm. Perfect lead-in to the dynamic and slower metal epic In The End. Opening with the chiming of bells, the main chugging riffs and excellent slower and super memorable chorus already serve this song well. Then they speed just a bit, with yet more fantastic riffage and eventually, yet another great solo. This one slows back down towards the end. It's worth noting that this one's a tribute to Ronnie James Dio (A great inspiration to the band) and Dimebag Darrell (A great friend of the band who had guest appearances on every Bush album but Sound of White Noise). The Giant isn't as fast as Earth On Hell, but is nonetheless pretty fast. Do I even need to mention that this one boasts an excellent chorus and solo?
Hymn 2 serves as a rhythmic percussion intro to Judas Priest, which sounds pretty similar at the beginning. This song's really, really damn good, by the way. Seriously, listening to it, I was astonished at how much it sounds like a classic NWOBHM anthem. A fitting tribute to the band that you no doubt immediately thought of as soon as you read the title. Yet again typing out phrases like "great guitar work and memorable vocal lines, with an excellent chorus" doesn't really do this song justice, it's
that damn good. I don't know about it being the best song on here, though. Crawl is unfortunately quite underrated for reasons I don't quite understand. I think it serves as a really good, more melodic number. I like the lyrics, too, and the unexpected drum outro is pretty neat.
Immediately afterwards is what I probably would regard as the best song, The Constant. God
damn this song is so perfect! Opening with that groovy as *** intro, the super memorable verses and prechoruses are just...well, they're just too good on their own. ("Stoooongeeeer! Than any stretch of imaginatiooon!") But then the chorus that they lead up to is just...I'm out of positive adjectives, but needless to say it's really damn good. There's a fast drumbeat behind it, so there's a good injection of speed here in case this is a bit too slow for you. Joey's vocal lines are super, super infectious and backed by neat lyrics (This song is inspired by an episode of Lost, paying true to this band's legacy as having a penchant for songs inspired by books, movies, and the like.), and the riff behind it all the perfect balance of emotion with a dash of heaviness. Then we get a little taste of acoustic guitar, and then "Burn it! Burn it!" Some shouts from Joey, for a bit more heaviness. Just after the three minute mark, the band seems to speed up before launching into another impressive, infectious groove leading to another fabulous solo. Ending with more of the terrific refrain, this one might be one of my favorite Anthrax songs ever! The last track on the album is the super heavy and intimidating Revolution Screams. Most of this song is crunching and pounding as hell, with awesome lyrics about, as Scott Ian put it, "the people taking the power back", something which you began to see more often in the headlines the year of the album's release. And to think these lyrics were written back in around '08 to '09! There are some fast chugging riffs, more excellent vocals from Joey, and a blast beat ending. Okay...so maybe I fibbed a little. Revolution Screams isn't exactly the last song. Wait about...five-ish minutes, I believe, and a cover of New Noise, originally by Refused, will begin. I'm not familiar with the original song or band, but the cover version is certainly a good listen.
Once again...I can't believe how awesome this is. This is a miraculous comeback album from Anthrax, who'd put out two crap albums followed by a mediocre attempt at a "comeback".
This is a real comeback! Those who want to listen to this and hear another thrash album like Anthrax's earlier stuff will be disappointed by this record. After all, just look at how many times I mentioned grooves and the like! It's still a great heavy metal album, though, one that, at times, harkens back to the band's NWOBHM-inspired roots. Worship Music is a modern classic, not genre defining and not a return to thrash except for a few traces of it, but that's okay. It doesn't have to be either of those things to be a truly amazing, fantastic record. 5/5.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS/BEST OF:
Earth On Hell
I'm Alive
Judas Priest
The Constant