Anthrax State Of Euphoria

Tracklist:
1. Be All, End All
2. Out Of Sight, Out Of mind
3. Make Me Laugh
4. Antisocial
5. Who Cares Wins
6. Now It's Dark
7. Schism
8. Misery Loves Company
9. 13
10. Finale

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I love Anthrax, and whenever someone puts them down, I will do the best I can to defend the band. But as much as I hate to admit it, Anthrax went way downhill, and they went downhill fast. After making a slew of critically acclaimed albums, State of Euphoria was released in 1988. Experimentation is something that I have no problem with, but there is a such thing as too much experimentation.

1988 was an experimental year for metal. Iron Maiden released Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, the band's first and only concept album that was filled synths. Slayer, the fastest band in the world, slowed down the pace drastically on South of Heaven, and Metallica went for a slower, more progressive thrash approach on ...And Justice For All. With State of Euphoria, Anthrax went for a much more lighter sound, almost on the brink of straightforward hard rock. Although Iron Maiden, Slayer, and Metallica were successful with their changes, Anthrax were not so lucky.

First thing's first: The album cover. It's got bright colors, a happy-sounding album title, and drawings of peoples' faces laughing. Not so metal, huh? Nope. I told myself to never judge a book by its cover, but in this case, I was right. Light cover, light music. This doesn't mean that the music isn't heavy. It's just not thrash. This doesn't mean it's not a decent album.

The guitars, as usual, are something to brag about. Scott Ian and Dan Spitz lay down some solid riffs and some great solos. Antisocial, which is a cover, features some very powerful riffs. The pair is quite good at heavy riffs and solos, but they can also play some lighter, more melodic parts and still sound just fine. The pair's performance is not quite on par with their guitar-playing on Spreading The Disease or Among The Living, but they do an alright job.

The best part about this album may be Joey Belladonna's vocals. When I first heard his falsetto voice, I found it a bit irratating, yet with more and more listens, his voice began to grow on me, and now I think he's an excellent singer. Although on previous albums he did a nifty job on the microphone, but on this album, he really shines. Of all the thrash vocalists, he had the most unique voice, and he could hit some high-*** notes. He's not Bruce Dickinson or Rob Halford, but he's pretty magnificent on some songs. Misery Loves Company and Antisocial feature Joey at his very best. His voice is high-pitched and powerful. It's a nice change from all the rough thrash vocalists like Tom Araya and Steve Souza.

The bad thing about this album is that it's very inconsistent. While there's nothing wrong with the musicianship or the vocals, the songs themselves just aren't that great. None of the songs are neccessarily bad, but they're below average for an Anthrax song. The album is a bit long, or at least it seems that way, because the songs tend to run together and get quite boring. Some songs are nearly identical.

State of Euphoria is not a bad album. It's quite good actually. It is, perhaps, an underrated album. However, it's certainly not overrated. It has a few flaws that bring it down a lot. The album may be worth listening to, but compared to Spreading The Disease and especially Among The Living, it's just a subpar heavy metal album.

The Best of The Best:
Antisocial
Misery Loves Company
Schism