1988 THRASH METAL! Mosh it Up!

Temple of Blood wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

Were they as big as Sacred Reich?

Not at all.

I was 99% sure SR was bigger... but i just threw it out there because i don't know what level VR was on (in their prime).

As far as Christian thrash exposure, I remember Deliverance getting some airtime on Headbanger's Ball with their Weapons video. I even heard that Lars Ulrich commented that he liked them.

I am surprised to see my pick Forbidden getting so much Love! Yeah!

Quote :

No, it's a fact. Intense Records was an independent record company distributed by Medussa/Enigma. Then Intense Records was sold to Frontline with distribution through the Diamante Music Group. With "Human Sacrifice" the band saw excellent sales from the regular record stores until suddenly after the first pressing of the record, the album was now only available at Christian bookstores. Frontline only advertised the band in Christian publications. It's exactly what the band DIDN'T want.

Well in that case, then yes, it is the record labels fault. If they had decent sales for their 1st release, it would've made sense to keep pushing them into the mainstream market. But if the Frontline company only dealt with Christian publications, they were missing out.

In that 13-15 year span that I mentioned, I never heard of "Christian Metal" outside of 1 band. One. If you're selling an item to folks that purchase said item on a regular basis and they haven't heard of your product in 13 years, that's a pretty piss-poor marketing strategy.

That's the Christian rock subculture for ya! Luckily most metal/hard rock bands of faith have learned from those mistakes. Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) is the only ones that still pander only to Christians dispite the fact that they claim to be reaching people.

I didn't realize it until the new poll was put up, but Destruction's RELEASE FROM AGONY was left off this poll. I'm not sure how much it would have changed the poll results other than my vote. I would have picked that instead of SOUTH OF HEAVEN. However, that would have put SOH in a tie with AJFA, so I guess it works out for the best!

Joe wrote:

I didn't realize it until the new poll was put up, but Destruction's RELEASE FROM AGONY was left off this poll. I'm not sure how much it would have changed the poll results other than my vote. I would have picked that instead of SOUTH OF HEAVEN. However, that would have put SOH in a tie with AJFA, so I guess it works out for the best!

I probably would have considered voting for it as well, I love Release From Agony!

I SHOULD really vote for "And Justice For All" as it was the album for me that I played more than any other during my senior year of high school, BUT, I'm going to go with OverKill's "Under the Influence". "Taking Over" was my first experience with the band, but when I saw "Hello From the Gutter" on Headbangers Ball, the video made me want to go out and purchase the album that next day. I remember having some friends who were sort of down on Slayer and "South of Heaven", probably since it wasn't quite as thrashy as their last effort, but "South of Heaven" was the album for me that more or less sparked more of an interest for me in the band. "So Far, So Good, So What" was initially hit or miss for me, regarding the tracks. I loved songs like "In My Darkest Hour", "Hook In Mouth" & "Set the World Afire", but I was as game on many of the other tracks. I appreciate the album as a whole now, but back in the day, I perceived it as a far cry from the greatness that was "Peace Sells".

1. OverKill - Under the Influence
2. Metallica - And Justice For All
3. Slayer - South of Heaven
4. Megadeth - So Far, So Good, So What
5. Death Angel - Frolic Through the Park

I think the zero votes for "State of Euphoria" says a lot. Regarding the thrash scene, I think this album in particular was a colossal disappointment for the decade. Maybe Anthrax is to blame, as they couldn't possible follow up the greatness that was "Among the Living".

^It's definitely the worst of the Belladonna albums. I don't hate it, but I can understand why some people might. Scott Ian even said that that album was a rush job. "Be All, End All" is one of my favorite Anthrax songs, though. My favorite album from this year is Slayer's "South of Heaven", although I also love Morbid Saint's "Spectrum of Death", Nuclear Assault's "Survive", Destruction's "Release From Agony", etc.

metalinmyveins wrote:

I think the zero votes for "State of Euphoria" says a lot. Regarding the thrash scene, I think this album in particular was a colossal disappointment for the decade. Maybe Anthrax is to blame, as they couldn't possible follow up the greatness that was "Among the Living".

I coulda shoulda voted for State of Euphoria. I flipped a coin between that one and Megadeth. If I would have known now how the voting woulda played out, I'd given it my vote. Whether it holds up to others standards, I have such fond memories of that album from my high school Senior Week and beyond. I played the f**k outta that tape.

STATE OF EUPHORIA seemed like a rush job even when it was new. Other than "Be All, End All" and "Who Cares Wins," the rest of the album did nothin' for me. I remember being very disappointed with that one back in the day, especially since I'd been listening to AMONG THE LIVING practically every day for a year prior to its release and had very high hopes for the new one.

Maybe it's me, but I feel that Anthrax never fully recovered from that album. It seriously stunted their forward motion. If they'd been given more time in the studio (or had been allowed to skip that one entirely so that PERSISTENCE OF TIME had been their next release), who knows, they might have had a better time of it.

I think I agree on State Of Euphoria. I have completed my early Anthrax collection (minus the latter EPs-I have the first one with Joey-came in a double CD with Fistful Of Metal) and SoE is certainly the one that sticks out like a sore thumb. Not that bad but compared to the others, not that good either.

The more I think about it, State of Euphoria may have been my introduction to the band. I was just beginning my journey into hard rock and heavy metal around that time, so theres that factor too. 'Anti Social' was our rally cry. (yes, I know it's a cover tune, so what)
I dunno. I just always loved that album.

STATE OF EUPHORIA is also guilty of having one of the worst album covers ever.



I mean, seriously. Ugh.

Fat Freddy wrote:

STATE OF EUPHORIA seemed like a rush job even when it was new. Other than "Be All, End All" and "Who Cares Wins," the rest of the album did nothin' for me. I remember being very disappointed with that one back in the day, especially since I'd been listening to AMONG THE LIVING practically every day for a year prior to its release and had very high hopes for the new one.

Maybe it's me, but I feel that Anthrax never fully recovered from that album. It seriously stunted their forward motion. If they'd been given more time in the studio (or had been allowed to skip that one entirely so that PERSISTENCE OF TIME had been their next release), who knows, they might have had a better time of it.

I think for the most part this is the general consensus regarding this album. I'm not saying everybody hates this album, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that this album is Anthrax's best or even in the top three or four for that matter. I don't think the band helped themselves either by going away from a type of street wise mentality look to that of "Hey dude let's all wear shorts so that we can be taken less seriously". I hate to say it, but I thought that type of vibe was a calculated error on their part. It was like they were taking a punk mentality and running with that idea. Well, the only problem is, when you travel down that road, I think it not only affected their sense of style (looks wise), but also their music stylistically.

At the end of the day, I LIKE (not love) probably three to four songs on that album:

In order (Be All, End All, Now It's Dark, Anti-Social, & I guess Make Me Laugh).

DallasBlack wrote:

SoE is certainly the one that sticks out like a sore thumb. Not that bad but compared to the others, not that good either.

I couldn't have said that better myself. Although I'd also like to add that it was not that good compared to lots of other thrash albums released in '88.