Customer Reviews
Spreading the Disease - By: dogbarkssome, 16 May 2008 
After their slightly patchy debut album & a changein personel, Anthrax's secnd album is undeniably a classic of the thrash genre. Most fans will point to 'Among the Living' as the band's defining moment, but it's really hard to find any fault with this 1985 offering, as from the opening moments of 'A.I.R.' the album spews out a seemingly endless collection of killer riffs, while new vocalist Joe Bellandonna's melodic vocals provide numerous catchy choruses. 'Spreading the Disease' ranges from such relatively melodic songs as the insanely catchy 'Medusa' & 'Lone Justice', which at times sounds almost Iron Maiden-ish, to the full on thrash of tracks like 'Gung-Ho' & 'Aftershock'. The band themselves have at times stated a despair at being unable to escape 'Madhouse', but with a song this strong it's not hard to understand why it'sin constant demand at gigs. Highlight for me though would probably be 'The Enemy', with the over-processed tribal drum opening givng way to what must rank as one of the greatest thrash metal riffs of all time.
Inevitably a little dated, especiallyin Bellandonna's clean vocals, but still utterly essential for any thrash metal fans.
this is the best anthrax album ! - By: croozy, 16 Jan 2008 you wanna buy the best anthrax album, then this is it !!
full on `ave it thrash, fast punchy riffs, awesome
if you are an old fan of anthrax & havent listened to thisin a while
put it on, it sounds even better now than it did back then !!, weird huh !
Hints of brilliance, but not the breakthrough... - By: Tom, 16 Nov 2007 
Spreading The Disease is the true link between the the old & the new.
From Iron Maiden's twin guitar attack of old, to thrash metals aggressive gallop of new (for 1985 at least!).
Anthrax came to play harder & faster than they did on Debut 'Fistful of Metal', but the NWOBHM influence still permeates throughout this record. Where Megadeth were displaying their wares for the time on 'Killing is My Business...' as more punk influenced heavy metal, Slayer were already detached from their UK influences with the all out thrash of 'Hell Awaits.'
Anthrax, luckily for us, clung to the melodic roots of 80's metal & produced a fine thrashy, but not overly aggresive metal album.
Opener 'A.I.R.' starts with an unforgettable riff, slow to get going, but after a real widdly guitar lead, we get to Joey Belladonna's vocals. This man can sing! If you're not into the whole high pitched wailing, ala Judas Priest/ most german mid 80's speed metal, then you probably ain't gonna be too impressed throughout this album. For those that like vocals you can actually understand, his style is just up your street.
Tracks such as 'Lone Justice', 'The Enemy' & 'Aftershock' all have the relentless double bass drums we have come to expect from Charlie Benante, but they sparingly turn on the real speed that most people associate with "thrash". As I said already, Anthrax were still holding onto some of those older metal values. Even with the super fast thrash strumming of Messers Ian & Spitz, these tracks never really compete with stuff like Metallica's 'Battery' or even Exodus's 'Fabulous Disaster'. Heavy & mid paced is the order of the day here.
The more well known tracks form this platter really impress me.
'Mad House' is so catchy it's rediculous. Bridges, choruses, & brickwall riffing! 'Medusa' is the big pull to cross over fans of both trad metal & thrash, being very "tame" by thrash standards, & even dare I say it, radio friendly?
'Armed & Dangerous' deserves a special mention because it is probably the best track on the album. Some brilliant semi-accoustic guitar to open, Belladonna's crooning vocals building up the momment, then its into some heavier, military style guitar marches, & when you are just about to burst from the pomposity of it all, it lets you have it with some fantastic genere defining thrash !!!!
Closer 'Gung Ho', is the black sheep of the track list, as it seems to be on the wrong album !!! The only "true" thrash song from start to finish, we had to wait until 1987's 'Among The Living' to get a whole album's worth of this aural gold!
This is Anthrax trying to be a serious thrash band, when we all know now that what they wanted to be was a NY skate thrash band with Hardcore overtones. We only had to wait 2 years !!!
An essential album for Anthrax fans, not so essential to those who like their thrash hard & very very fast. But still a classic.
Anthrax at their best - By: Firefly, 03 May 2007 This was the first album I ever bought with my first wage from my first job when I was 14 (and I still actually have the tape!). The album is full-on thrash, fast & energetic. Joey's vocals add a whole new energetic dimension on top of that. The main thing that set Anthrax apart from the rest is their use of melody, & tracks such as Medusa are outstanding pieces of music. If you want to hear the best of 1980's thrash metal (after Metallica's Kill 'Em All) then you wont go wrong with this album.
metal thrashing mad - By: sean paul mccann, 05 Jun 2006 this is anthraxs second album & came bouncing into the worldin 1985,its a thrash feast of manic proportion,i wouldnt say its their finest moment but i will say its an extremely influential album & considering its twenty one years old it hasnt aged that bad at all,anthrax were always the more fun acts of the so called big four metal groups,ie,metallica,megadeth & slayer completing the line up,but they also knew how to make a killer riff & very memorable & strong chorus'.
This album has some all time classics such as gung ho,a.i.r,madhouse,armed & dangerous to name but a few,its an album that will imprint itself on you.!
