After 35 years of face-melting metal, Anthrax is coming for you, Idaho Falls
Published at
The band Anthrax is coming to Idaho Falls!
The first time I heard Anthrax is a moment that is permanently tattooed onto the walls of my brain.
It was back in the days of cassette tapes and acid-washed denim. I was just getting into real metal and looking for new bands to enjoy. I picked up a cassette with a cover featuring a swirling, bulls-eye graphic with screaming faces circling it. The name of the album was “State of Euphoria.”
I shoved the cassette into my tape deck and marveled as the opening cello melody was overtaken by the grinding guitar riff that powers “Be All End All.”
I was instantly hooked.
All these years later, I still get goosebumps whenever I hear that song. And I still instinctively crank the volume knob when I hear classic Anthrax tunes like “Madhouse” or “Caught in a Mosh.”
And Friday night, Oct. 14, I’ll have the chance to get goosebumps on my goosebumps when Anthrax destroys the stage at the Hitt Event Center.
2016 marks the 35th year of the still-unspooling Anthrax story. In that time, they’ve built a legacy that many music artists can only dream of.
Along with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, Anthrax stands as one of the “Big Four,” the four most iconic and influential thrash metal bands, responsible for popularizing a more extreme strain of metal at a time when playing metal meant upholstering yourself in a lot of pink spandex and using more hair spray than a college cheerleading squad.
And they’re far from done. They recently released “For All Kings,” their 11th studio album.
The record is full of highlights from the way the album’s cinematic opening strains give way to the classic ‘Thrax thrash of “You Gotta Believe” to the epic sing-along choruses of “Breathing Lightning.” Elsewhere, “All of Them Thieves” staggers around like a massive metal monster with faulty wiring while the guitar riffing on “Defend/Avenge” flattens everything that gets in its way. And you can’t forget the catching but heavy crowd-pleasers like “Evil Twin” and “Monster at the End”.
Bassist Frank Bello said the band is extremely proud of their work on “Kings.”
“We just tried to write the best songs we could,” Bello told EastIdahoNews.com. “You can’t try to outdo what you’ve done, even what you did on the last record. You just have to come with what you have now, and you’ve got that fire in your belly.”
Bello said the process isn’t easy.
“The album takes you on a roller coaster ride. It starts with a bang and keeps you going, man.”
“It takes time to live with the songs, edit them and really make sure every part works,” he said.
The pay-off, Bello said, is hearing fans gush about how great the record has turned out.
“We all feel it’s our best our best record also, so that (the fans’ reactions) is the cream on top. It’s all good.”
Bello said his favorite “Kings” track changes on a weekly basis.
“That’s the mark of a great record,” he said. “I can listen to this record from beginning to end and be very satisfied and want more. The album takes you on a roller coaster ride. It starts with a bang and keeps you going, man.”
Bello says that there are two things that keep him engaged after three-and-half thrashing decades with band: making records and playing live shows.
“I look forward to that time where I go onstage and get that connection with the audience,” Bello said. “It’s like a drug, man. It’s like an addiction.”
Idaho Falls fans can look forward to sharing that connection with Bello and the rest of Anthrax when the band hits the stage Friday night. Bello looks forward to tearing the place down with the help of fans he calls “the best in the world.”
And I look forward to having another wonderful Anthrax-influenced memory seared into my brain.