After Spreading The Disease and Among The Living, two of the better thrash albums ever released, Anthrax went back to the drawing board. Well, not really. They were still fast, could still thrash with just about anyone, and wouldn't (yet) abandon their light-hearted approach. They just went to fine-tune some things.
There are some minor stylistic changes here compared to the juggernaut Among The Living. This album leans more towards crossover thrash than any of the band's prior work. The slightly lighter sound and increased number of social commentaries in the lyrics reflect this. But fear not, because a slight musical change doesn't have to mean that a band is selling out. The top-notch riffs we've come to expect from Anthrax are fully intact, and the freakishly-good Charlie Benante is still manning the drums. As a bonus, Joey Belladonna's voice is much improved on this album. There were a number of occurrences on Among The Living where his voice went way too high for its own good, and it sounded very thin and weak. That doesn't happen nearly as often on this album. He still uses his typical singing style, but it’s much more solid, powerful, and no longer sounds like an early incarnation of ZP Theart. State Of Euphoria is without a doubt Joey's best performance of his Anthrax tenure.
State Of Euphoria only has two real flaws, but both hinder the record noticeably, and sabotage it from being the third straight thrash classic in Anthrax's discography. The first is the run times. Anthrax, especially in the early days, was never one to make their songs quick and trite, but some of the song lengths on here exceed forgiveness.
Who Cares Wins is 7 and a half minutes long, and isn't too great to begin with. This ridiculous run time makes it the album's weakest track, if you don't count the filler,
13.
Anti-Social (a cover) and
13 (a 50 second filler track) are the only two songs on this album less than 5 minutes long. This is an issue that also plagued Among The Living, but the sheer energy and blistering pace of that album made up for it. This album fails to completely replicate that energy, and while its still a fun listen, the disc does drag at times.
The other real hindrance is the silly, juvenile songwriting. Its painfully present here, and stands out even among the rest of Anthrax's discography. The rhythm and manner in which these lines are delivered save a few of them, but some of the lyrics are truly laughable. A good example is 'stupid, dumb, idiot, moron' from
Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind, which is otherwise a good song. Another is 'You know me, and I can be/a very, very vicious critic' from
Misery Loves Company. That one might be a little less awful if it actually rhymed with anything else in that track, but, well, it doesn't.
Make Me Laugh is full of very intelligent, epitaphic material. In a related issue, there's also an annoying tendency for Joey (through no fault of his) to repeat phrases, such as 'what the hell is, what the hell is happening', among many other instances.
Be All, End All, is one of the album's more melodic tracks, and Joey is absolutely brilliant on this one. This is the exact kind of track that he would have butchered on Among The Living.
Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind is a highlight track, and Joey once again shines with his sharper approach to singing. The excellent riffing and drumming by Scott Ian and Charlie Benante, respectively, doesn't hurt either.
Make Me Laugh is a quality thrasher that would have fit beautifully on either of the band's previous records with Joey.
Anti-Social is a cover of Trust, a French hard rock band. Anthrax executes it perfectly, making slight tweaks along the way to make it less poppy and more thrashy. It's a welcome deviation from the usual crossover thrash assault.
I discussed
Who Cares Wins earlier in the review, but in case you didn't read, it’s an overly long thrasher with frequent tempo changes. Problem is, none of them are that captivating. Good for maybe one or two listens, at most. [Now It's Dark] is nice and fast through the first half of the song, but it slows the pace about halfway through the song, and never truly recovers. The chorus is strikingly similar Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind, too.
Schism, like the previous songs, comes in fast, and thankfully it stays that way the whole time. It's energetic, and the lyrics (concerning racism) aren't as dumb as the other ones you'll find on this album.
Misery Loves Company turns up the pace even more, and also carries an element of franticness with it. When the tempo change does come, it flows much better than on Who Cares Wins or Now It's Dark.
13 is filler, with some clean chords and pretty random lyrics (or indian chants, I'm not entirely sure which).
Finale is the gem of the album. It is heavy and speedy, blindingly fast at parts. Every member of the band puts on their best show on this one. The lyrics aren't going to mesmerize anyone, but the opposite is rarely the case with Anthrax, and they've done much worse.
If you are downloading this album instead of buying (not to imply that I approve or disapprove either way), several of the album's songs were remastered for inclusion on an Anthrax compilation by the name of 'Anthrology: No Hit Wonders 1985-1991'. These are: Be All End All, Make Me Laugh, Anti-Social, Who Cares Wins, Now It's Dark, and Finale. I recommend getting these versions if you can.
Recommended Tracks:
Be All, End All
Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind
Anti-Social
Schism
Finale
