ANTHRAX — Spreading The Disease (review)

ANTHRAX — Spreading The Disease album cover Album · 1985 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
martindavey87
After the disappointing EP 'Armed and Dangerous', Anthrax released 'Spreading the Disease' in 1985, and quickly showed the world why they deserved to be one of the bigger bands of the thrash metal movement, and why new vocalist Joey Belladonna was definitely the right choice to replace Neil Turbin.

While it was evident on the aforementioned EP that Belladonna was a fantastic singer that gave the band a more confident sound, the release itself still seemed fairly lacklustre. However, all of that changed when the band dropped this bomb on the metal world.

Featuring some of their most revered hits, 'Spreading the Disease' is 44 minutes of rip-roaring, high energy thrash metal, rife with intense guitar riffs and powerful vocals, it maintains its high quality throughout. With punk sensibilities and a knack for melody, it never falls into the cliché of just chugging away on the same chord, and while it does cover some serious topics, it never takes itself too seriously either.

With songs like 'A.I.R.', 'Madhouse', 'Armed and Dangerous', 'Medusa', 'Gung-Ho' and 'Lone Justice', this is clearly a band who have hit their stride. Guitarists Scott Ian and Dan Spitz effortlessly join the ranks of metal guitar duos with amazing chemistry, while bassist Frank Bello and drummer Charlie Benante hold up their end, keeping the rhythm section tight and heavy.

After a bumpy start, 'Spreading the Disease' is what truly started to excel Anthrax as one of the leading metal bands of the 80's, and has earned its status as one of thrash metals most highly regarded albums.
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Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I love We've Come For You All too, I've never understood the lukewarm reception for it. Benante is an absolute beast on What Doesn't Die.
Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
You're a harsh critic Martin, so a 4 here means this must be pretty damn good to your ears. ;-) Love this album. I can't pick between this and the next three as to my favourite.
martindavey87 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
To be honest, while I own all of their albums, I'm not familiar enough with them all to pick a favourites. I'm making my way through them all now, though. For what it's worth, I love "We've Come For You All" though, and am looking forward to the Bush/groove-era stuff.
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
YES, so happy to see some more Anthrax appreciation! Anthrax is easily in my top 5 favorite bands. I'm curious what your favorite Anthrax album is, I've never been able to decide with how I love almost all of them.

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