FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
37 years ago today, Anthrax was Spreading the Disease! What does this album mean to you? - E.N. Wells
On October 30, 1985, Anthrax released their second full-length studio album Spreading the Disease via Megaforce Records and Island Records.
It was the band's first album to feature vocalist Joey Belladonna and bassist Frank Bello. A special two-disc edition of the album was released in 2015, celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Background:
After Anthrax finished touring in support of Fistful of Metal, vocalist Neil Turbin was expelled from the band. Matt Fallon replaced him, but was quickly fired because he lacked confidence in the studio. Producer Carl Canedy suggested for the group to audition Joey Belladonna, who was not familiar with Thrash Metal. Though the band members were not pleased with Belladonna's musical background, they hired him and booked a few shows with their new frontman.
Spreading the Disease was recorded at the Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, New York with Canedy, while Jon Zazula served as executive producer. The album featured the single Madhouse, for which a music video was produced, but it did not receive much airplay on MTV, because the station believed the content was degrading to the mentally insane. Spreading the Disease was the band's major label debut for Megaforce / Island Records.
This was the last Anthrax album to feature songwriting from Turbin. This was also the first to feature songwriting from bassist Dan Lilker after his departure from the band, though more of his songwriting would be featured on the following album, Among the Living. Turbin wrote the lyrics for Armed and Dangerous and Gung-Ho, and Lilker contributed to the music. Zazula was given songwriting credit for Medusa, his only contribution for Anthrax. Zazula was originally credited as the sole writer of the song, but album reissues credit the rest of the band as well.
Additionally former vocalist Matt Fallon, who left during the recording sessions claimed in a 2016 interview that he contributed to the lyrics but was left uncredited. The band has not commented on these accusations.
After recording the album was completed, guitarist Scott Ian, drummer Charlie Benante and Lilker, who had joined Nuclear Assault, founded S.O.D. (stormtroopers of Death) and recorded the album Speak English or Die, a milestone in Crossover Thrash.
In his autobiography, I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax, Scott Ian said the acronym in the song A.I.R. stands for Adolescence in Red and that it was a wordplay of his on George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
Critical Reception:
Upon its release, Spreading the Disease received widespread acclaim by music critics. In a contemporary review, Howard Johnson of the British magazine Kerrang! recommended the album as the best example of Thrash Metal around and equaled Anthrax to Metallica in the craft of writing great songs.
Modern reviews are also very positive, with AllMusic's Steve Huey saying the album was a great leap forward from its predecessor and one of Anthrax’ finest. He praised the lyrics for paying tribute to fictional characters as in Lone Justice and Medusa.
Canadian journalist Martin Popoff calls the album "a shocking blast of noise from a long-haired bunch of punks that knew their own business", praising the "deceptively chaotic songcraft" and Belladonna's vocals.
Sputnikmusic's Mike Stagno also liked Belladonna's vocals, as well as the tight riffs of guitarists Ian and Spitz. Stagno said Spreading the Disease had excellent sound and production and recommended the album for fans of Thrash Metal.
Frank Trojan of Rock Hard wrote that Spreading the Disease had more potential and intelligence than Fistful of Metal, as well as more differentiated songs.
British author Joel McIver described Spreading the Disease as "the sound of pure determination, at a point in Metal history where boundaries were being pushed every day."
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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