From the vaults: Anthrax – State of Euphoria (1988)
Album number 4 from the runt of the litter of ‘The Big 4’ saw Anthrax coming off a brace of thrash metal classics – 1985’s ‘Spreading the Disease’ and 1987’s ‘Among the Living’ – brimming with confidence but eager not to rest on their laurels. Indeed, there was a conscious effort here to develop, an effort which must be commended. The flaw was that the band couldn’t decide which way that development should go and tried to balance more straight-forward heavy metal tunes with forays into the realms of progressive thrash steered by Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’. The result of that confusion is a record full of songs which stand well on their own, but which don’t necessarily gell together into an album.
Despite this, however, ‘State of Euphoria’ has been unduly written out of metal history. Listening to it 23 years later, you’re surprised by its power and ambition. Indeed, we must remember that Megadeth’s record of the same year – ‘So Far, So Good, So What’ – was a far less complicated and ambitious affair. Opening with a cello, ‘Be All, End All’ is the strongest tune here and saw Anthrax mingle their speed metal chops with Sabbath power and atmospherics into something altogether darker than on previous releases. The equally epic ‘Who Cares Wins’ is equally powerful: although lyrically it is a rather clumsy attempt at social commentary, the music is as heavy as it comes and features a tumultuous mid-section and soaring solo which is, well…..euphoric! ‘Make Me Laugh’ – a rather trite take on the passé subject of TV evangelism – is equally a lost mosh-tastic classic built around a characteristically punchy riff and Bellandonna wail. This is vintage ‘thrax, rather than ‘thrax by numbers. And, of course, we have Trust cover ‘Anti-Social’. Oddly out-of-place amidst the more sprawling pieces, it’s punk-esque ethos does get to the heart of what separated Anthrax from their thrash peers: inviting the listener to participate, it is anthemic in a way that most speed metal couldn’t be.
But then we’re presented with some attempts at more conventional metal which feel like strangers here. ‘Misery Loves Company’ and ‘Schism’ are not ‘filler’, but they do dilute the whole. ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ blended punk and metal very closely, if not convincingly, in a style which would soon be perfected by Suicidal Tendencies. And it’s here that – for all the bravery of Anthrax’s attempts at growth – you realize that they were floundering rather than sprawling. ‘Now It’s Dark’, for example, has one of the strongest hooks they ever wrote and screams ‘single’: but a ‘single’ to what? This album? It’s too distinct from the more progressive, mid-tempo thrash that the band was aiming for.
Ultimately, what we have is a B- album with some A+ tracks. Anthrax would get the progression right two years later in Bellandona’s swansong ,‘The Persistence of Time’: a much darker, heavier and powerful record packed with compositional maturity which they didn’t quite nail here. But writing ‘State of Euphoria’ out of its rightful place in metal history is a mistake. It was Anthrax – not Megadeth or Annihilator – who followed Metallica’s lead to make thrash more than just a speed contest. In that sense, then, ‘State of Euphoria’ has some nobility in its missing of the mark.
Album number 4 from the runt of the litter of ‘The Big 4’ saw Anthrax coming off a brace of thrash metal classics – 1985’s ‘Spreading the Disease’ and 1987’s ‘Among the Living’ – brimming with confidence but eager not to rest on their laurels. Indeed, there was a conscious effort here to develop, an effort which must be commended. The flaw was that the band couldn’t decide which way that development should go and tried to balance more straight-forward heavy metal tunes with forays into the realms of progressive thrash steered by Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’. The result of that confusion is a record full of songs which stand well on their own, but which don’t necessarily gell together into an album.
Despite this, however, ‘State of Euphoria’ has been unduly written out of metal history. Listening to it 23 years later, you’re surprised by its power and ambition. Indeed, we must remember that Megadeth’s record of the same year – ‘So Far, So Good, So What’ – was a far less complicated and ambitious affair. Opening with a cello, ‘Be All, End All’ is the strongest tune here and saw Anthrax mingle their speed metal chops with Sabbath power and atmospherics into something altogether darker than on previous releases. The equally epic ‘Who Cares Wins’ is equally powerful: although lyrically it is a rather clumsy attempt at social commentary, the music is as heavy as it comes and features a tumultuous mid-section and soaring solo which is, well…..euphoric! ‘Make Me Laugh’ – a rather trite take on the passé subject of TV evangelism – is equally a lost mosh-tastic classic built around a characteristically punchy riff and Bellandonna wail. This is vintage ‘thrax, rather than ‘thrax by numbers. And, of course, we have Trust cover ‘Anti-Social’. Oddly out-of-place amidst the more sprawling pieces, it’s punk-esque ethos does get to the heart of what separated Anthrax from their thrash peers: inviting the listener to participate, it is anthemic in a way that most speed metal couldn’t be.
But then we’re presented with some attempts at more conventional metal which feel like strangers here. ‘Misery Loves Company’ and ‘Schism’ are not ‘filler’, but they do dilute the whole. ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ blended punk and metal very closely, if not convincingly, in a style which would soon be perfected by Suicidal Tendencies. And it’s here that – for all the bravery of Anthrax’s attempts at growth – you realize that they were floundering rather than sprawling. ‘Now It’s Dark’, for example, has one of the strongest hooks they ever wrote and screams ‘single’: but a ‘single’ to what? This album? It’s too distinct from the more progressive, mid-tempo thrash that the band was aiming for.
Ultimately, what we have is a B- album with some A+ tracks. Anthrax would get the progression right two years later in Bellandona’s swansong ,‘The Persistence of Time’: a much darker, heavier and powerful record packed with compositional maturity which they didn’t quite nail here. But writing ‘State of Euphoria’ out of its rightful place in metal history is a mistake. It was Anthrax – not Megadeth or Annihilator – who followed Metallica’s lead to make thrash more than just a speed contest. In that sense, then, ‘State of Euphoria’ has some nobility in its missing of the mark.
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