Anthrax — We've Come For You All
I've been a fan of this band since their begin days and one of the few people who actually welcomed their change of vocalist to John Bush on Sound of White Noise. Which I know earns me the eternal discontempt of die-hard metal fans. I can however still remember the story about how Metallica were starving in the studio and the much more successful "bigger band" Anthrax gave them a toaster or something of the sorts to help that small starving new band Metallica out.
If you are not familiar with Anthrax, I hope you have already guessed it but, no they are not some cheap nu-metal act that arose on the Anthrax scare in the US a few years ago. This is one of the most legendary thrash-metal bands ever, and a musical hypes survivor to boot. Given, they had their heydays during the eighties and their sound has changed over the years (though not as drastically as some die-hard fans might want you to believe). And even where one of the few bands to experiment with mixing rap with metal (see their work with Public Enemy).
Since Sound of White Noise the band has had a few hits and misses when it comes to albums and success. Oddly enough whenever they released a high quality album it mostly got ignored by the general public and when they released something less interesting it got more attention in the press.
So what does We've come for you all offer us? Well, when I first heard it, I wasn't all that impressed. A pretty run of the mill Anthrax album, a bit bland actually. But since you should never judge anything in life on a first impression, the album has been on repeat almost permanently. I can say that it has grown on me quite quickly. Aggressive riffing, John Bush screaming his lungs out with his distinct vocals and solid musical rhythms and song structure. This is something most so called nu-"metal" bands can learn something from. And then to think this is far from an Anthrax master piece. Because that unfortunately I say about this album. It's a solid and strong album, but it's no master piece and Anthrax have done much better in the past.
If your looking to expand your horizon in a more metal direction, where until now you thought bands like Linkin Park and Metallica where the hardest thing the world had to offer (oh boy, your gonna be in for a surprise in general... but anyway), then check out this album. If your an old Anthrax fan like me, then it goes without saying you need this, and you won't be disappointed. But if you do not fit those profiles you might want to skip this release. Anthrax creates some sweet melodies with a nice structured amount of noise here. But metal veterans won't hear anything they haven't heard before and the thrashy edge has dissipated for sure.