The title of this, the fourth full-length release from New York
\nthrashers Anthrax, should have represented the music. After all,
\nnot only were Joey Belladonna and crew coming off of their
\nstrongest release with
\nAmong The Living<\/i>, not to mention their best sales to this
\npoint, but they had created a mini-sensation with their joke song
\n“I’m The Man.” (It’s wrong to call this track a parody, seeing how
\nAnthrax supported hip-hop music.) The subsequent EP cemented
\nAnthrax’s name into the annals of metal history.<\/p>\n
Yes, the title should reflect good things for both the band and
\nthe listener. Instead,
\nState Of Euphoria<\/i> is a misnomer. Not only is this their
\nweakest album featuring Belladonna as lead throat, but it comes
\ndangerously close to erasing all of the progress that Anthrax had
\nmade to this point.<\/p>\n
To be fair, things do start off fairly well. “Be All End All”
\nmight not be a barnburner in the way that tracks like “A.I.R.” or
\n“Among The Living” were, but it does suggest that Anthrax wasn’t
\nafraid to take some musical chances. It’s one thing for Scott Ian
\nand Dan Spitz to play their guitars lightning fast; it’s another
\nfor Spitz to craft a solo which is melodically consistent with the
\nsong. Spitz’s solos have most definitely improved on this disc,
\neven if sometimes it feels like his work is mixed down a little
\nmore. (Ian, to be fair, has always been a rock-solid rhythm
\nplayer.)<\/p>\n
Some people might have written off “Antisocial” as another cover
\nsong from Anthrax (albeit from Trust, a band virtually unknown
\noutside of their native France), but one can’t deny the infectious
\nnature of this song. It’s energetic, it’s catchy – hell, it’s fun
\nto listen to. The only real sad note is that it’s the best song on
\nthe album.<\/p>\n
This isn’t to say that
\nState Of Euphoria<\/i> is a constant disappointment. Tracks like
\n“Make Me Laugh” and “Who Cares Wins” both show Anthrax taking on
\nserious topics like televangelism and homelessness (the latter song
\nfeaturing a video highlighting the plight of the homeless). And
\nlest anyone criticize Anthrax for not always being light-hearted,
\ndon’t forget this is the same band who has summed up both Stephen
\nKing and Judge Dredd in about five minutes each, and has sung about
\nthe horrors of Nazi atrocities and the poor treatment of Native
\nAmericans. “Make Me Laugh” does get a little preachy, but it’s not
\nthe worst effort on this subject, while “Who Cares Wins” does have
\nthe muscle to deliver the message.<\/p>\n
Regrettably, the praise for
\nState Of Euphoria<\/i> stops here. The remaining six tracks dare
\nto suggest that Anthrax was running out of steam creatively, and
\nthey were left to scrape the bottom of the barrel for ideas. Songs
\nlike “Schism” and “Misery Loves Company” both sound like they are
\nactually tracks which were recorded before the writing process was
\neven halfway finished. Belladonna sounds absolutely bored on tracks
\nlike this and “Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind”. And some of these lyrics
\n– they have to make you wonder just how out of it the band really
\nwas. Sample line from “Now It’s Dark”: “The candy-coated clown has
\ndone his part.” What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Better yet,
\nwho cares?<\/p>\n
Even the album’s closer, “Finale,” tries to keep a tradition
\nalive from previous Anthrax albums -namely, a balls-to-the-wall
\ntrack with an underlying sense of humor to it. Unfortunately, this
\none comes off sounding half-hearted, underwritten and bitter
\n(“Drink three six packs \/ just so I can look at your face”).<\/p>\n
Even with a few strong efforts,
\nState Of Euphoria<\/i> is by no means a reason for Anthrax fans
\nto celebrate. It’s a discouraging, half-baked effort which feels
\nand sounds like it was rushed out to keep their name in front of
\nthe fans; it would have been better for them to have totally
\nre-worked these tracks and made an album worth getting excited
\nabout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5959],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-37597","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-anthrax","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37597"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37597"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}