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A rather poor compilation album - 20%

ViciousFriendlyFish, December 1st, 2013

First of all: if you're new to Anthrax and you want to listen to a good variety of their hits and the fan favourites first, do yourself a big favour and avoid this compilation. This is not an ideal starting point.

First of all, it's seriously lacking. 11 tracks can't cover all of the band's best stuff, and some of the song choices don't help either. I mean, where's "Caught In A Mosh"? Where's "Be All, End All"? Yet this album features songs like "Belly of the Beast" that are nowhere near as popular. Another horrible thing is that the album lacks their first rap metal song "I'm the Man", which is a crucial part of the band's general influence on music, yet they decided to include the lacklustre '91 version instead? Whoever was putting the track list together clearly didn't do his/ her homework very well. You really think the band managed to influence anyone by repeating samples of "Fuck that shit!" one after the other? No, neither did I.

And of course, there's the absence of any Neil Turbin or John Bush material. Hello! Joey Belladonna isn't the only singer the band has ever had. I know the Turbin and Bush eras are not as popular, but it wouldn't have hurt to at least throw "Metal Thrashing Mad" and "Only" into the mix.

It's no wonder this album flopped. Not only are there enough Anthrax compilations out there that are far better, but this album really doesn't give you all of the best stuff. Please ignore this failed attempt at a "greatest hits" collection.