Anthrax We've Come For You All CD

Anthrax: Scott Ian (vocals, guitar); John Bush (vocals); Charlie Benante (acoustic & electric guitars, drums, percussion); Rob Caggiano (guitar); Frank Bello (bass, background vocals).
Additional personnel: Roger Daltrey (vocals); Dimebag Darrell (guitar).
Partially recorded at Red Clay Studios, Suffern, New York.
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Personnel: Frank Bello , John Bush , Roger Daltrey, Scott Ian (vocals); Charlie Benante (guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, drums); Rob Caggiano (guitar).
Audio Mixers: Eddie Wohl; Steve Regina; Rob Caggiano; Charlie Benante.
Recording information: Avatar Studios, New York, NY; Bear Tracks, Suffern, NY; Red Clay Studios, Suffern, NY; Wayne Manor, Neshrnic Station, NJ.
Illustrator: Brent Thompson.
Arranger: Anthrax.
The cover art of Anthrax's We've Come for You All depicts the band gripping a circle of hands, as a beam of light shines on them from behind. It can be taken two ways. Vocalist John Bush, drummer Charlie Benante, bassist Frank Bello, rhythm guitarist Scott Ian, and new lead guitarist Rob Caggiano might be pulling their fans onto an imaginary stage, to join them in the limelight. But those fans might also be pulling them back from the depths of label-derived acrimony that has plagued Anthrax in the years since Stomp 442, the band's last proper LP release. Since then, metal in all its forms rose to the top of the charts, and hybrids of rap-rock and nu-metal -- genres built on what Anthrax helped create -- came to dominate heavy alternative. With new personnel, a new label (Sanctuary), and the survival of a PR firestorm in the wake of the anthrax scare, all the pieces were in place for a comeback. Instead, Anthrax seems to have designed the pile-driving thrash and carefree rock forays of We've Come for You All to say one thing: We never left. While Anthrax famously kick-started the rap-metal genre with its Public Enemy collaboration on "Bring the Noise," it largely sidesteps the sound on We've Come for You All, opting instead for a volatile mix of thrash and conventional metal, anchored by the gruff vocals of Bush. After a brief intro, "What Doesn't Die" drops, with Bush sounding positively furious as he screams "You cannot kill what doesn't die." As the band cranks out a vintage thrash rhythm, Caggiano introduces himself with the first of many blistering solos. And if you're a fan of the double bass drum pedals, Benante's double-time outro is like a clinic for metal drumming. E-Town Concrete's Anthony Martini's animalistic roar begins the seething "Refuse to be Denied," which continues the album's theme of resolve. While the record does nod to modern production techniques (courtesy of Caggiano's Scrap 60 collective) and expands melodically, the instrumentation and rage that have always been Anthrax's hallmarks are for the most part present and accounted for, undiluted by forays into marginalized, corporatized active rock that might have sold some records, but wouldn't have won over any real fans.
Unfortunately, the band chose "Safe at Home" -- one of the album's weakest tracks -- as We've Come for You All's single. Bearing a striking resemblance to Metallica's "Sad But True," the song opts for a pleading chorus that is the record's only straightforward nod to the anthemic post-grunge that has taken over metal in recent years. This misstep aside, We've Come for You All is a typical thrash metal album, in an age where such a thing no longer exists. The introspective acoustic guitar duet of "Anyplace But Here" gives way to a muscular Scott Ian riff that gives way to an effective nod to East Coast hardcore during the chorus. Though a bombastic overture slows things down ("There's ways to kill a giant"? Come on...), the song recovers with another screed from Caggiano. Though Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell stops by for the strutting '70s rock groove of "Cadillac Rock Box," the album