Anthrax - Among The Living (1987)

Anthrax - Among The Living (1987) album review by Pritham 'Metal Farmer' D'Souza

From metal pics

Track Listing

1. The Living
2. Caught in A Mosh
3. I Am The Law
4. Efinkufsin (N.F.L.)
5. Skeleton In The Closet
6. Indians
7. One World
8. ADI Horror Of It All
9. Imitation Of Life

Line Up

• Joey Belladonna
• Dan Spitz
• Scott Ian
• Frank Bello
• Charlie Benante

If there was a band that got the hardcore fans and metal fans together, in the same room, thrashing and moshing to heavy , fast aggressive, fist pumping and chest thumping music, that band would be, without a doubt Anthrax

One of the most respected names in Thrash Metal, Anthrax was part of the 'Big 4' super heavy weights which included Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer.

while the other 3 bands mentioned here were dead serious on stage, with lyrical content ranging from death, war, suffering and Satan, Anthrax to me always had the image of 'Metal Clowns' and i say that with all respect, coz if one (even now) is lucky enough to be at an Anthrax concert, u can see the band having the time of their lives, laughing on stage, joking about, jumping and going berserk and yet in complete control. crowd favourites any day.

Thrashing, Moshing, stopping for a few minutes to grab a cold beer and starting all over again till you drown in your own adrenaline. That's Anthrax for you.

Scott Ian has to be one of the coolest dudes in metal history and Anthrax is probably the first band to bring the thrash aggression to the East Coast city of New York, which till then had a pretty strong albeit underground hardcore scene.

Anthrax, who always had a massive fan following were mostly a support band and an opening act, but with the release of Among The Living, they started to Headline and had several bands support them.

What makes this album special is the uniqueness in the song writing which is pretty evident with titles like "I am the law" which is a tribute to the comic book hero Judge Dread. "Indians" is about native American Indians, while "Efinkufsin (N.F.L.)" is Nice Fucking Life spelt backwards.

Joey may not be the greatest vocalist in metal , but here he sings in tune, shouts, screams and even sings clean, a concept which was pretty new, especially in a genre like Thrash Metal. Scott Ian keeps the rhythm section tighter than a cork screw while Dan unleashes a flurry of guitar notes during every solo. The bass doesn't get any dirtier than " Caught In A Mosh" and Charlie is an exceptional drummer keeping time for a band that never play anything straight forward.

"Caught in Mosh" is a perfect example of thrash and hardcore getting involved in a head on collision.

In a nut shell, Among the Living has more spunk than most of the so called thrash wannabes that we get to hear on popular social networking sites. How the band manage to juggle Speed, Aggression, catchy hooks, sing a long chorus and just berserk moshing is just beyond me. And this was in 1987!!

recommended tracks for maximum damage " I Am The Law", "Caught In a Mosh", "Indians", "One world" and the title track "Among The Living"

Among The Living is easily the best Anthrax release of all time

My Rating
9/10

watch Anthrax Caught In a Mosh live at Ozzfest 2005