Anthrax - Spreading The Disease (1985)

At the forefront of the emerging thrash scene in the mid-1980s, New York’s Anthrax recruited vocalist Joey Belladonna and bassist Frank Bello for Spreading the Disease, their follow-up to their 1983 debut album Fistful of Metal which turned out to be an inspired move as Disease broke the band internationally. Whilst thrash developed in a direction that I didn’t find particularly inspiring, Anthrax retained a humour and inventiveness, particularly on this album and its follow-up, that I found quite refreshing and many a good mosh was had to its tracks as a youth.

AIR makes the intentions of the band felt from the outset with repetitious, chugging riff and Belladona wailing the lyrics – a trademark break to half-time is also featured and rapid double-bass drums from Benante during the guitar solo. The intensity is kept with the thumping bass intro to Lone Justice which is soon accompanied by the metallic rhythm guitar of Ian and squealing guitar soloing of Spitz . . . all good stuff and rather laying down the blueprint for a plethora of US speed/thrash metal bands to follow soon after.

One of the real standouts of the album is up next with the immortal line “It’s time for your medication Mr Brown” immediately preceding the distinctive chugging riff of Madhouse – one of Anthrax’s classic tracks which was also a single for the band. I recall seeing Anthrax live on the Among The Living Tour and Madhouse got by far the biggest roar from the crowd when the opening riff was played by Scott ‘Not’ Ian!

A rather easter-flavoured guitar piece opens SSC/Stand or Fall which then, via a rapid shred, into the speed metal riff of the track proper which featured some machine gun double-bass playing from Benante and even a singalong chorus! The Enemy opens with a drum riff from Benante – akin to their later track Indians – which flows into a rather doom-laden riff to a real chugger of a track featuring one of Belladonna’s strongest vocals.

Aftershock again opens with drums and is a thrash number: enough said! Then the pace disappears with the guitar picking intro to Armed and Dangerous and suddenly we’re in ballad territory . . . there’s even a prog-style keyboard in the background. But, just as you think something very odd is happening, in comes the guitars with a strong and melodic solo accompanied by crashing chords and drums and the tempo doubles mid-way through; all of which provides for a very powerful multi-facetted track.

Another good dance floor-filler back in 80’s rock clubs Medusa is up next which is a medium-tempo track and is more a straightforward metal track with good melodic overtones both vocally and within the verse riff itself. The distinctive metallic rasping of Ian’s rhythm guitar however, leaves you in no doubt you’re listening to Anthrax throughout.

The closing track, Gung-Ho, is a real belter and co-written with previous Anthrax vocalist Neil Turbin who was fired by the band prior to the sessions for Spreading the Disease – he also shared the writing credits for Armed and Dangerous however. The riff is pure thrash, the track thundering along at a furious pace and was a moshing classic . . . albeit an incredibly tiring one if my memory serves me correctly. Gung-Ho is a great way to close the album and was, at that time, one of the fastest tracks I’d heard, along with Whiplash by Metallica a year or so earlier: the ending is amusing too – you’ll hear why if you listen to the album!

Whilst Fistful of Metal was, I felt, a rather mediocre offering, Spreading the Disease really paved the way for a stack of thrash and speed metal bands to break through and it formed the bedrock of Anthrax’s reputation, one on which they’d build considerably with the follow-up release, Among the Living. For fans of thrash, and the various sub-genres that stemmed from it, this album is a must to see how it all started, and for fans of heavy metal too this album is highly recommended as it is a prime example of how the genre was changing and an indication of how much further the style could be taken.

• Joey Belladonna – Vocals
• Dan Spitz – Guitar
• Scott Ian – Guitar
• Frank Bello – Bass
• Charlie Benante – Drums