All the trademark Anthrax sounds are still there with the massive guitar tone and when “Be All, End All” comes in with the catchy bass guitar and guitar riff to embed in your mind for years to come, then Anthrax rips into a nice fast part, pretty quickly.  Super catchy.  Band in top form and Charlie proving why he always gave Dave Lombardo a run for his money when it comes to thrash drummers.  Just check out some of the double bass drumming during “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”.

Anthrax continued tackling real-life topics, such as homelessness on the blistering “Who Cares Wins”. Through all the super catchy and fun thrashing crunch of the music Anthrax  continued creating they always were relevant when singing about real life issues.  Something the band continues to do so excellent today. If my memory serves me correctly Anthrax were part of the Headbanger’s Ball tour with State of Euphoria.  I believe Exodus and Helloween were part of the tour.  I’ll continue to kick myself for not seeing this tour, especially since Helloween were on it.  Regardless the majority of the tunes on State of Euphoria thrashed and were fast.  The band slowed things down on tunes like “Antisocial” and “Now It’s Dark”, but by and large State of Euphoria actually has faster songs than on Among the Living.

So the Island Records deluxe 2cd reissue is well done.  Bringing out all the nuances more and the remaster punches you in the gut harder than before.  The drums are still a little too loud on songs like “Who Cares Wins”, where the drums tend to drown out everything else during the fast parts, but the remaster definitely upgrades the sound.  The second cd are all outtakes of songs from the album.  Quite honestly I find disc 2 pretty much useless.  I would have preferred a live cd or DVD of a show during that time period.  When bands put out the reissues, and include a bonus cd of the demo/outtakes it is pointless, to me.  The final and elite versions are the ones which made it to the album, so listening to less than complete songs or songs that do not sound as strong as the final product is just not something I’ve ever been a fan of.  It comes across as filler on reissues.

At least disc 1 has some bonus songs which has been on B-sides before such as “Parasites” and “Pipeline”.  The thick chunky digipak is well designed as well as the booklet.  It was sure nice to see the band not cut out pictures of Dan Spitz, like they did on the Spreading the Disease reissue.  Missing from the booklet are the lyrics to the songs on State of Euphoria.  C’mon that should have been a given to include those.

Regardless this is a very good reissue.  It would have been better to have a live cd and of course the inclusion of the lyrics.  Next up Anthrax are working on a deluxe reissue or Persistence of Time.  Hopefully after that they will do the same for Fistful of Metal-which is one of the best speed metal albums of all time.

That was my second problem with it. I’m firmly in the John Bush camp of Anthrax fans. I grew up with the Belladonna version of the band, and I still love many of those records, but I usually explain it like this: The Belladonna version of Anthrax was a great band for my youth. It was fast, brash and just a little bit goofy. The Bush version was Anthrax for my adulthood. A little slower, a little darker, a little more serious and a little heavier. And I just think Bush is a far better singer. For me, We’ve Come For You All rivals Among the Living, and I was afraid that the return of Belladonna would mark a return to the more cartoonish Anthrax of the past.

Happily, I was wrong, and I’m man enough to admit it. Worship Music is a fantastic record, easily ranking among their best work.

The first clue I had was when the band relased “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t.” It was a bashing, fast, heavy song that’s about the closest thing you’ll find here to their 1980s work. As much as I didn’t want to like the song, I couldn’t help myself. I ended up listening to it over and over and banging my head along every time.

Fans expecting a return to the sound of the 1980s, though, shouldn’t. Worship Music is not an attempt to recreate Among the Living, though in quality they may have come close. The music here, for the most part, sounds like the modern era of Anthrax – or as modern as you can get from a band that hasn’t released a new record in eight years. There are a lot of similarities between this record and We’ve Come for You All beyond just the cover.

After a fade-in called “Worship,” the record blasts into “Earth on Hell,” a slamming thrasher that features Charlie Benante bashing his drums with a vengeance. Then there’s one of those great groove-laden choruses that mark the Bush era of the band. It’s the first of several times, I admit, that I do indeed still miss Bush no matter how good this record is. “The Devil You Know” opens with a riff that reminds me of a 1970s AC/DC song, only somewhat heavier. It’s actually more of a hard rocker than a thrash tune, but it’s got plenty of memorable hooks and is one of the better songs on the record. The same can be said of “The Constant,” which has a great riff and is another song that’s crying for Bush vocals.

In all fairness, though, I have to give Joey Belladonna props when his voice makes things work, and that’s the case on “In the End,” another personal favorite of mine. It opens with church bells and a great slinky guitar riff. Some dramatic flourishes are laid over it that makes you think they’re about to go a little over the top, but they don’t. It drops back out to that monster guitar riff, and the chorus vocals are a strange mix of arena rock, prog and modern metal. Without Belladonna’s delivery, I don’t think it would work.

The same could be said of “Crawl,” one of the most interesting tracks on the record. It starts out in a slow, alternative mode that reminds me a little of maybe a lighter Soundgarden number. If his name wasn’t on the record, I wouldn’t be able to tell you the singer was Belladonna. It sounds nothing like him, a deeper, more serious voice. From there, the song moves into a more commercial hard rock sound, and it has a great chorus. It shouldn’t work, but I really like it

Not everything is great. “I’m Alive” opens with some clean sweep chords and builds nice and slowly with a good marching riff, but it’s spoiled by kind of a boring verse and a poppy chorus. Outside of the guitar work, it’s one of the weaker songs on the record. Likewise, “Judas Priest,” one of the songs I was looking forward to just because of the name, is an up-and-down affair. There are some really good moments, but it seems to kind of get a little lost.

There are a few blasts of the band’s 1980s sound. “The Giant” is one of those few thrashers with a throwback to their old sound, but it features another one of those arena rock influenced choruses. “Revolution Screams” ends the album with a blast to the head. It’s probably the heaviest song on Worship Music, and one of the best. There’s thrash, there’s groove, there’s shred, there’s straight-up hard rock. The only negative is the hidden track at the end of it after several minutes of silence, which is kind of lame in this day and age.

There’s an interesting dynamic to Worship Music in that it’s a very angry record, but at the same time there are some very accessible melodies that border on commercial appeal interspersed throughout. This, it seems, is truly the third incarnation of Anthrax. There are elements of Belladonna’s first tenure, there are even more elements of the Bush years, and there are some new touches that draw on more recent musical influences. When it all comes together, though, it works. Worship Music manages what I thought might no longer be possible. It once again makes Anthrax and vibrant and viable metal act.