Anthrax — Among The Living - Deluxe Edition(CD+DVD)

Anthrax's fourth album 1987 ‘Among The Living’ was the bands defining and most consistent moment of their 20 plus year career. It just seemed to have everything in perfect and considered shape to make the best refinement of their often melody and mosh rich brand of trash so rewarding & distinctive.

This deluxe edition reissue finds the original album digitally remastered for the first time ever which gives the album a new urgency, power and detail; yet it never makes it sound dated or a production of the late 80’s, hell it sounds like it could have being recorded yesterday(if the songs weren’t so familiar and loved). Also on the first disc we have a collection of five alternative/ rare tracks which are more curios and to be played once or twice, than anything particular insightfully or new. 

The second disc in the set offers up a full live recording of one the bands  most respected and legendry live show from 1987 at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. It shows and captures the band on perfect energetic, bright and trashing form, playing all of the ‘Among The Living’  album along with a few older fan favourites. It’s only slightly let down by breaks in music for clips of the band messing about, but hell it’s still heavy metal.

I think what made ‘Among The Living’  so important, fresh and vital then and now twenty three years later is it’s mixture of chugging, moshing  riff heaviness, with more harmonic, melodic and memorable edges. That come  firstly from Joe Belladonna’s powerful yet harmonic signing and chant along vocals, and the rest of the bands backing shouts. Then secondly the cleverly crafted riff’s that mix chugging heaviness with complex yet effortless and highly memorable edges. I won’t go into to track by track critique as that’s more than a little redundant due to amount of times the album has being review and analysed to death.

Simply put this is the definitive version of this classic and band defining monument which is one of the greatest five trash album of time and one of the top thirty metal albums of all time too. No serious metal collection, no matter what your preface should be with-out this. And for those who already have this- with the meaty remaster and the extras there’s more than enough reason to replace your battered original cd copy with this great reissue.