Review Summary: Among the Living may be Anthrax’s most iconic album but Spreading the Disease might be their greatest achievement
In the grand tradition of sophomore albums improving upon awkward debuts, Spreading the Disease is where things really came together for Anthrax. Fistful of Metal’s speed metal tinges can still be felt and the Armed And Dangerous EP predicted the transition beforehand, but it still ends up being an astronomical leap forward. The presentation has been spruced up across the board, allowing the band’s true personality to start taking shape and introducing the dichotomy that would come to define their subsequent outings.
Most obviously, the album is defined by it being the first to feature new vocalist Joey Belladonna. He’s a high-pitched wailer like Neil Turbin before him but his performance exhibits the nuance that his predecessor had no interest in, no doubt bolstered by his AOR background. He exerts a great deal of control over his delivery that lets his acrobatics and drawn out notes punctuate lines in ways that still makes them easy to sing along to and meshes well with the album’s somewhat quirkier tone. It’s rather telling that even though Turbin wrote the lyrics for “Armed and Dangerous” and “Gung Ho” before his departure, he probably wouldn’t have sung them as well as Joey.
Along with that, the other musicians have stepped up considerably in terms of putting in tighter performances. The drums push themselves to even further extremes than before and the guitars are a worthier match this time around, boasting a much fuller crisp tone not too far off from the classic Metallica crunch. Bassist Frank Bello’s entrance might be overshadowed by the other new guy on board, but his playing maintains a steady presence with bottom-heavy power. They haven’t fully hit the crossover thrash attitude to come, but you can feel hints of the sound that half of them were developing around the same time with SOD.
These elements would seem at odds but the songwriting sets them to perfect synergy. While most thrash bands were more focused on throwing riff after riff at you in displays of complex brutality, Anthrax seemed to apply that attitude more toward their hooks. Every song on this album is relentlessly stacked with tight riffs and catchy as hell vocals delivered at a infectiously snappy pace. It’s the sort of approach that risks overwhelming the listener but there isn’t a single section on here that feels redundant.
“A.I.R.” establishes the tone nicely, introducing the band’s weird acronym title tradition along with some triumphant fanfare and escalating vocal/riff trade-offs. “Lone Justice” sees that constant hook delivery system at its most driving and “Madhouse” provides the first glance of the band’s cheeky side with its classic opening sample, escape alarm lead guitars, and super-melodic vocals. It’s also cool to see them pushing their tempos more broadly with “S.S.C./Stand or Fall,” “Aftershock,” and “Gung Ho” making for some speedy thrash exercises while the bass-heavy “The Enemy” and “Medusa” serve up more mosh-friendly mid-tempo stomps.
While Anthrax may have reached its most iconic point with Among the Living, I’ve always considered Spreading the Disease to be their greatest achievement. The band’s musicianship and songwriting sensibilities were certainly improving on their own but bringing Belladonna in set them to a stratospheric level of quality. It’s amazing to see their escalating aggression and developing melodicism working alongside one another to make the strongest collection of songs in their career. I always thought Ride the Lightning was my top Big 4 album all this time, but maybe Spreading the Disease was it after all.
