ANTHRAX — Sound Of White Noise (review)

ANTHRAX — Sound Of White Noise album cover

Album · 1993 · Groove Metal

4/5 · 2016-08-07
UMUR

"Sound of White Noise" is the 6th full-length studio album by US metal act Anthrax. The album was released through Elektra Records in May 1993. It´s Anthrax first album on the label, after their deal with Island Records ended. That´s not the only change that happened in the years between "Persistence Of Time (1990)" and "Sound of White Noise" though as lead vocalist Joey Belladonna was fired in 1992 and replaced by former Armored Saint vocalist John Bush.

But as if two major changes weren´t enough, Anthrax also changed their music style dramatically on "Sound of White Noise". The album features a mainstream rock oriented heavy metal style, which is almost completely removed from their thrash metal past. While the music on "Sound of White Noise" are not nearly as melancholic/depressive in nature as the music by Alice in Chains, I hear several nods toward that sound. There are still heavy riffs on the album but they are more groove oriented/melodic and less aggressive than on preceding releases. John Bush turns out to be a great replacement for Joey Belladonna and his strong and warm voice suits the new musical direction very well. He is the kind of vocalist able to put melody into vocal lines that aren´t necessarily that melodic and thereby ensure memorability.

There are several highlights on the album like "Potter´s Field", the major hit "Only", "Room for One More", "Packaged Rebellion" and the Twin Peaks tribute "Black Lodge" (which features contributions from Angelo Badalamenti himself), but even the tracks I don´t mention here are either very strong or at least of good quality. In other words "Sound of White Noise" is a consistently great album.

The band are as always well playing (Dan Spitz are not allowed to play as many guitar solos as he has on preceding releases though) and the album is well produced too, so all in all "Sound of White Noise" is a great album by Anthrax. It´s potentially dangerous business changing your lead vocalist, when you are an established artist. The switch from Neil Turbin (Lead vocalist on Anthrax´s debut album "Fistful of Metal (1984)") to Joey Belladonna went well, probably as a result of the lead vocalist change happening in the early stages of the band´s career, but Joey Belladonna had been the lead vocalist on four consecutively successful album releases by Anthrax and was generally loved by the fans. "Sound of White Noise" is the proof that the change on the lead vocalist spot worked artistically well for Anthrax, and they were commercially successful too in this period of their career. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I always really liked this one, although I originally didn´t listen to much Belladonna Anthrax. But this one won me over, and I have in more recent years begun to re-discover the early Anthrax releases.

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Good review, Anthrax's style change certainly went well. While I really like this one, my personal favorites of the John Bush-albums are Stomp 442 and We've Come for You All.