Anthrax
30 years since the album’s release, ANTHRAX is in Birmingham to play ‘Among The Living’ in its entirety. You might imagine that after so many years of playing to live crowds these thrash legends might have at least started to become jaded. However, not only are they on top form but they look like they enjoy every second of it. Their enthusiasm is as infectious as their chugging bouncy thrash is fun. I’m convinced that it’s impossible not to enjoy every second of an ANTHRAX set.
The Raven Age
Support band, THE RAVEN AGE (5), on the other hand is another matter entirely. Harlow’s melodic metal band seems an odd choice of support. They certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste in the crowd – myself included. Now to be fair to them, even ANTHRAX is probably on the lighter side of my tastes. Being more inclined to the extreme metal, THE RAVEN AGE’s dull clean vocals were particularly challenging for me. However, they performed with great enthusiasm; I saw many in the crowd nodding along and heard one or two positive comments following the set. They weren’t for me personally, maybe that clouds my judgement, but the set left me feeling hollow inside.
ANTHRAX (9) hit the stage for a mammoth set which will cover material from their latest 2016 record ‘For All Kings’, some fan-chosen favourites, as well as the complete ‘Among The Living’ album. With beaming smiles, the night is full of great audience interaction from these guys, throwing guitar picks up into the balconies and taking great efforts to make the crowd feel part of the action. One of the things that make ANTHRAX stand out is that, unlike the rest of the ‘Big Four’ bands, they don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. And they were pushing the boundaries of metal and collaborating with artists from other genres when Lady Gaga was still in infant school.
Anthrax
Opening the show with ‘A.I.R’, the first track from the 1985 classic ‘Spreading the Disease’, other great moments from the first half of tonight’s show included ‘Madhouse’ and the slow and epic ‘Blood Eagle Wings’ from their latest album, which tenor Joey Belladonna belts out, proving he’s still got it vocally. The lights go up and the band leaves the stage. The crowd look around and mutter to each other. I overhear some young members of the audience bemoaning that they haven’t played ‘Indians’ yet, the show can’t be over! Of course it isn’t.
Anthrax
The night so far has just been a warm up for the main event – the band’s 1987 release ‘Among The Living’. After some jiggery pokery on stage and a bit of a rest for the rock stars, they hit us with it. This album is so full of genre defining tracks – ‘Caught In A Mosh’, ‘I Am The Law’ and ‘N.F.L.’ (yes, and ‘Indians’) – it’s a real treat to have them all performed together. The effortlessly cool, Scott Ian, introduces final ‘Among The Living’ track, ‘Imitation Of Life’, with these words; “We live in a weird fucking time. I won’t get much more into it than that. Anytime someone wants to take away your freedom and rights as an individual… well we wrote this back in 86…”
They close this fantastic set and memorable night with arguably the world’s first rap metal track from their 87 EP ‘I’m The Man’ and finally ‘Antisocial’; with wave after wave of crowd surfers all getting approving nods from the always animated Frank Bello. Brilliant night – probably perfect, if only they’d played ‘Medusa’ which is my number one favourite… next time hey!
Anthrax
PHOTOS BY PAUL THRUPP – Full gallery here.
