This isn’t technically a solo album from the drummer of the legendary Anthrax, but it is being promoted as such. During the bleakest months of quarantine lockdown, Benante recruited a long roster of notable friends to do some pretty good cover songs over Zoom. Collaborating with members of Suicidal Tendencies, Death Angel, Volbeat, Butcher Babies, and others, the songs are a mixed bag. Everything from U2 and Mother Love Bone to Run-DMC and Billie Eilish are featured here. Some of the better tracks are not included, which leaves the record a bit empty.
The opener, “City Of Blinding Lights” by U2, is a strong opener, but the real masterpiece is “Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns,” the nine-minute epic by Mother Love Bone. Always one of my favorite songs, this version finds Benante recruiting Mark from Death Angel to do his best Andy Wood homage and he nails it. It’s perfect and one of the Zoom jams I went back to over and over again throughout the year.
Some, like Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” and Tom Petty’s “Yer So Bad,” don’t come off as well. But I wasn’t expecting everything here to be an absolute winner. Others, like the Run-DMC medley and Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon,” are best on YouTube instead of an audio file. A big thing is the mixing on the instrumentals; they sound terrible and very low, which is not what you want to hear on an album.
The version of “Bad Guy” is just Eilish’s vocals transposed onto a new track and it feels so unnecessary. “Jimmy James Jam” is just an instrumental take on the Beastie Boys’ classic from 1992. While it shows off how impressive Ra Diaz from Suicidal Tendencies is on bass, there’s really nothing much else to offer.
It’s an interesting idea to get your friends and peers together to jam on some of your favorites, but to transfer it off of YouTube, at least in this case, doesn’t make the successful leap. This is best enjoyed on your flatscreen in the comfort of your living room.
