ANTHRAX — Worship Music (review)

ANTHRAX — Worship Music album cover Album · 2011 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Worship Music" is the 10th full-length studio album by US thrash/alternative metal act Anthrax. The album was released through Megaforce Records/Nuclear Blast Records in September 2011. "Worship Music" is the first album by the band since "We've Come For You All (2003)" and marks the return of former frontman Joey Belladonna who hadn´t recorded original material with the band since "Persistence Of Time (1990)".

After waiting 8 years for a new album expectations have been high among the fans, and listening to "Worship Music" I´m pretty sure most of them are satisfied with what they hear. While definitely not a full thrash metal album, "Worship Music" features more thrash metal elements than any of the four albums released without Belladonna and I think it´s a relief to many. When that is said the album also features traditional heavy metal and alternative/groove metal elements, but it all come together in a style that´s unmistakably the sound of Anthrax and displays that the band are neither retrospective nor stagnant in their songwriting style. They´ve always sought to challenge themselves and the metal scene in general and "Worship Music" is another example of that.

The album features several kickass tracks like "Earth on Hell", "The Devil You Know" and "I'm Alive", but also a power ballad type track in "Crawl" and several more melodic tinged tracks like "Fight ´em til You Can´t" and "The Constant". The latter features melodic guitar themes that somewhat remind me of "Potters Field" from "Sound Of White Noise (1993)". So all in all it´s a varied tracklist but at the same time it´s overall a cohesive album. Having Joey Belladonna back behind the microphone doesn´t change that much IMO. He has a slightly more melodic singing style compared to John Bush, but I like them both, and I could easily hear John Bush singing the tracks on "Worship Music" and do them as much justice as Joey Belladonna does. The musicianship is of course excellent throughout the album and the powerful sound production is just another strong asset that makes "Worship Music" a successful release.

"Worship Music" is Anthrax sounding as fresh as ever. I like the fact that even though they´ve somewhat returned to a more thrashy sound, they don´t sound retro. I think they have a pretty contemporary sound without losing their integrity and that´s a pretty hard balance to strike. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.
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