“For All Kings” is the second record since
Joey Belladonna returned to Anthrax. This is a band that has always been in a
really weird spot in metal. They’ve obviously achieved a ton of commercial
success in their time (given that they’re one of the Big 4), but they always
seem to play little brother to the other 3 bands. When Joey re-joined the band,
it definitely legitimized Anthrax again. Despite that, “Worship Music” was
simply a decent record. The follow-up, “For All Kings”, follows in a similar
vein, but is definitely stronger. This record succeeds in being more memorable
and thrashier than its predecessor. The tendency towards more aggressive riffs
is evident from the opening moments of “You Gotta Believe”, which starts out
with a pounding thrashy riff. While this riff is considerably slower than any
modern thrash band would be playing, this lack of hyperspeed actually makes it
more interesting.
Unsurprisingly, it isn’t long before
drummer Charlie Benante goes for more of a laid-back groove, and the rest of
the band follows suit. This is really the biggest frustration with this record:
it has a number of wickedly devastating parts, but it feels like every single
time they really start building towards something great, they take their foot
off of the gas. Relative to bands like Slayer and Kreator, Anthrax has never
been all about speed, but they still could benefit from adding more aggression.
At times, they end up sounding more like a modern rock band with a metal
vocalist (see “Monster At The End” and “Suzerian” for the most prominent
examples). This isn't always a bad thing. "Breathing Lightning" manages to take this sound and make it pretty potent, even if it isn't quite what I want out of Anthrax.
One area where you cannot fault Anthrax is
in the quality of the performances. Joey sounds as good as ever. When I saw the
band live 5 years ago, he was a madman, screaming his heart out and hitting
every single note. Clearly he has not lost a single step since then, and I
would argue he’s the most important element to the band’s sound these days. The
aforementioned Benante also has a few really good double bass moments (one of
which comes at the end of “You Gotta Believe”). There are also a ton of good
riffs; they’re just too few and far between on a somewhat lengthy record.
The highlights on the record are fairly
spread out. Both the title track and “Breathing Lightning” offer some moments
of excitement, but things pick up most with the final two songs, “This Battle
Chose Us” and “Zero Tolerance”. The former is a song that is continually
building momentum until it explodes in a rage at the end of the song. “Zero
Tolerance” is more straightforward with its approach; it’s simply a high-speed
thrasher with plenty of good riffing. Many of the songs on the second half of
the record have their moments, but it is these two that leave a very positive
impression of “For All Kings”.
For a band this far into their career (and
one that has clearly had their share of difficulties over the years), “For All
Kings” is a respectable record. It isn’t the band’s best work, and it still
feels like they are playing catch up with Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth, but
there is a lot to enjoy here. Even though it’s stylistically similar to “Worship
Music”, “For All Kings” features much better songwriting, and better
performances from the entire band, making it a worthy purchase.
Be sure to check out and like Anthrax on Facebook!
Highlights
"You Gotta Believe"
"For All Kings"
"This Battle Chose Us"
"Zero Tolerance"
Final Rating
3.9/5 or 78%.
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