Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 22: Anthrax: Sound of White Noise

This was the first Anthrax album that John Bush appeared on as vocalist. The singer for Armored Saint joined the band after Joey Belladonna left. This was also the first Anthrax album I ever heard or owned. This was the Anthrax that I was initially most familiar with.

Anthrax is one of the Big 4 of U.S. thrash, along with Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. After checking out the band's earlier material, I realized I had missed out on most of their best material. Anthrax in the 1980's was fun, catchy, and fast. They were not nearly as serious or disturbing as the other members of the Big 4. However, when Belladonna left, the band's tone changed. Sound of White Noise is an angrier, more aggressive album, but it is also slower with more added groove. The band's riffs are heavier, but not as fast.

I covered John Bush in the Armored Saint post. My feelings about him as a singer have not changed. He sounded much more at home in the traditional, melodic heavy metal band Armored Saint than he did here. Bush is a better singer than Belladonna, but he doesn't match the atmosphere of the band as well as Belladonna did.

This is not a bad album and I do still listen to it frequently, however, it is the only decent album the band ever did with John Bush. The Belladonna material was much more consistent. A lot of metalheads hate this album, but this is just because the band sounded so different. It is a good album, it's just unfortunate that the band's style was forced to change so much.