Review Summary: An overly criticized album. As good as everything else from the Belladonna Era.
An Anthrax Story:
Episode IV: State of Euphoria
Let's say you're Scott Ian. You are the leader of Anthrax. Your band has 3 albums behind it: one a failed experiment, one a magnum opus, and one which is heralded as one of the most influential metal records ever.
What would you do? The options are rather limited, you can't top your previous records, but you still need to take advantage of the popularity your band has. What do you do? You make State of Euphoria.
State of Euphoria was made for a reason: to keep the band going. Knowing they couldn't go for a more ambitious recording, they did what came natural: do one that rocked hard. And rock hard it does.
At the time, the personnel of the band were:
Scott Ian: Rythm Guitars
Dan Spitz: Lead Guitars
Frank Bello: Bass
Charlie Benante: Drums
While the album has often been criticized as a low point for the band, the truth is that it is far from that. It's simply another record by them, and a rather good one, provided one is patient enough to appreciate it. The same formula we saw in the two previous albums (
Spreading the Disease and
Among the Living) is quite present here: simple yet effective riffs, blastbeat drumming, and naughty basslines.
While it may seem a tad monotonous for some, the truth is that, as on Among the Living, the songs are quite catchy.
Now It's Dark is simply epic;
Be All, End All is great as well,
Antisocial proves to be a fine Trust cover and
Who Cares Wins delivers an effective social message. In short, the album is as fun and as hard rockin' good as it needs to be.
In some ways, it does remind us of
Spreading the Disease. It certainly attempts to achieve a similar level of musicianship to the one in that gem; but is ultimately limited in this regard. It should also be noted that this is the last comedic album the band would make, and their more serious side is already becoming apparent (on
Who Cares Wins, for example). The band would go on to exploit this seriousness on
Persistence of Time.
To summarize, [I[State of Euphoria[/i] is no masterpiece, much less
the masterpiece, but it is still a very good album. Often overlooked by the other Belladonna Era records, this album shouldn't be missed. One of the band's best works.
Recommended Tracks:
-Be All, End All
-Out of Sight, Out of Mind
-Antisocial
-Who Cares Wins
-Now It's Dark
Next up:
Episode V: Persistence of Time
