Attack of the Killer B's

I'd be willing to bet that when I first saw the case and liner notes for this CD, I made a weird face. The track listing was diverse and showed just how eclectic the band was at this point in their career. I was both skeptical and excited. After listening to the whole thing a few times I thought that this EP was genius. I remember laughing till I cried over the anti-PMRC song "Startin' Up a Posse," and just thinking that the whole album was fantastic. There wasn't quite enough pure Anthrax songs, but other than that there weren't that many problems.

One thing that I really enjoyed here was the revamped version of "I'm the Man." With the newer 1991 lyrics added to it, along with better production, I really liked it. I'm not a huge rap fan, but this song is just too good. So was the Public Enemy and Anthrax collaboration "Bring the Noise," that features Scott Ian doing some rapping and holding his own with rap legend Chuck D. If anything is going to make this EP polarizing, it's this "rapcore-like" duo that garners a lot of attention.

The mix of music in Attack of the Killer B's was perfect. The fact that a Discharged cover and the song "Pipeline" can be on the same record and still work is very cool. However, neither of these songs was my favorite cover. Being a Kiss fan, when I saw "Parasite" listed here I knew I was in for a treat. I loved the way Charlie Benante played the drum part of the song. The song seemed more frantic compared to its original, but that's what I love about Anthrax. They always add their edge to everything they play. Belladonna and Co. really knew what they were doing here.

There was one song that did not work for me: "The Belly of the Beast." Sure, it was a live version, but the live recording wasn't too good. The overall sound seemed washed out and muddy. "Keep It In the Family" wasn't too nice either. Had those two songs been taken out, I would be giving this a higher rating, but who cares about that? Attack of the Killer B's production as a whole was hard to rate, mainly because each song was so different. However most songs had a decent production quality and the tone of each instrument was crisp and clear. Even the bass sound was nice.

This album was a transitional album of sorts and it shows. As Anthrax moved into Island Records, and was evolving musically. Unlike previous records such as Among the Living, State of Euphoria, and especially Spreading the Disease, the band seem to be slowing down both literally and figuratively. This album sounds like something that was more than nine years in the making. Attack of the Killer B's sounds like something that has been pieced together bit by bit over more than just a decade, but at least twenty years. It's a culmination of Anthrax's talent, and it deserves to be listened to. So give it a shot. I think you will like it. Just don't let "Startin' Up a Posse" play out loud at your work. Trust me.

Say what you like about Anthrax, but it must have been the coolest thing to see them live with legendary rap group Public Enemy, whilst touring the 'Persistence of Time' album. I knew of Public Enemy long before I'd even heard of Anthrax, even before I'd heard of thrash metal, and I've always had a soft spot for them. A lot of fans of guitar based music tend to dismiss rap as artless music. 'It doesn't take any effort!', 'It's just talking in to a microphone!', 'Where are the instruments?' they'll no doubt say, ignoring lyrical subjects, and disregarding how much a rapper has to perfect the art of delivery, how much effort the sound engineers put in to make the genre sound as clean and professional as possible, and how good an ear the artists and their DJs have for samples and drum loops. I'd much rather listen to a cleanly recorded rap album by the likes of Public Enemy or Ice-T (of the most ironic 'Cop Killer' & Law and Order: SVU fame) than some poorly recorded metal album, clung to like winnets by the most unlovable of metalheads. Anyway, back to 'Attack of the Killer B's', which features covers, remakes, unreleased and live tracks, released shortly after the tour.

The covers can be awesome - There's 'Parasite', (one of Anthrax's many Kiss covers) which is suitably sped up to a grooving thrasher. The story goes that after hearing Anthrax's version, Gene Simmons believed the band had hired a new singer, and couldn't believe it was Joey after all. He does a sterling job. Then there's surf anthem 'Pipeline' (originally by The Chantays), which is covered with such intensity, it's hard to imagine someone surfing to it. It's more... jet-ski appropriate. But the others aren't quite as worthy as the originals, 'Sects' is a little weak compared to Trust's original and the cover of Discharge's 'Protest and Survive' (featuring Scott on vocals) isn't particularly exciting.

My opinions on the S.O.D. tracks are based on the fact I know the originals. Most fans tend to write them off, and I definately prefer the original 'Chromatic Death', and I don't think 'Milk' needed the extra length, but both are well executed (whilst not a shining example, Joey doesn't sound too out of place singing crossover, something I'm always quick to point out).

The reworked version of Public Enemy's 'Bring the Noise' is, quite possibly, Anthrax's crowning moment of coolness. Channeling the fury of the original perfectly, Anthrax turn up the tempo and the gain, introducing heavy guitars and a live drumkit. It features the obvious suspects: Chuck D and Flava Flav, but Scott Ian also fills on vocal duties (and doesn't sound half bad!) on a verse or two! A remake better than an original classic? How I wish I could see this live!

'Keep It In The Family' and 'Belly of the Beast' translate very well to the live setting, as Anthrax speed them up, giving them a heightened sense of urgency and emotion. I've always found it strange why they put these songs on here, as Joey is literally untouchable in bringing a real energy to the songs. Since the band were no doubt planning to kick him before their final decision, it feels like their trying to say... 'Here's Joey. He's great right? But we can do so much better!'. Whether or not they did do any better, will be covered in my 'Sound of White Noise' review.

The original tracks, 'Startin' Up A Posse' and 'N.F.B.' are generally nothing to write home about. 'Startin'...' is a trying-to-be-funny anti-censorship song, full of swearing and sound samples of porn which just seems a bit cheap in my opinion. 'N.F.B.' or 'Dallabnukifesin' is a dumbass parody of metal ballads, sung rather effectively by Belladonna, but totally ruined by the fact Anthrax (without Joey or Dan Spitz) would record one for real not long after.

And then there's the trash. A few things about 'I'm the Man': it was one of the earliest rap-metal songs, the EP went platinum (!) and it was generally intended as a joke. A joke. 'I'm the Man '91' exists to piss on Anthrax's legacy as fun and goofy by taking the innocent, light-hearted original and making it serious! It ruins the whole point of the song! What you end up with is a stale, bitter end of an era. Anthrax aren't fun anymore. What's most depressing about this remake, is that the line mentioning Joey ('Joey mailed the mail, the mail he mailed!') is cut completely, so you can't even enjoy it as some cheap nostalgia, purely because the band refuses to acknowledge their soon-to-be-kicked 5th member.

All in all, an essential purchase for Anthrax fans ('Attack...' went gold too!), even if two or three songs are amongst the band's worst. If you're a fan desperate for some more Joey-era Anthrax beyond the four studio albums, here's something worthwhile, if you can stand the foreshadowing atmosphere.

Anthrax had released EP’s earlier also featuring obscure stuff and covers, and those were either good or great, this time however they released a full length full of it and it was just too much as well as lacking cohesion this time. Why on earth a full length release? Possibly because of the upcoming tour with Public Enemy and their label wanting something new on the market.

Now, the remakes of the S.O.D. songs are utterly useless. I still don’t know why they felt the need to bring songs from a side-project back to ‘Thrax and in fact weakening the legacy. Same could be said about ‘I'm the Man '91’ which is just a horrible unlistenable remix. Also the presence of two live songs, ‘Keep It in the Family’ and ‘Belly of the Beast’, seems rather redundant on a full length album even though the performance and sound are pretty good. And more so because everything is scattered on the album.

‘N.F.B. (Dallabnikufesin)’ feels like an answer to M.O.D.’s Ode To Harry. A joke can’t always be funny, especially when you think Scott Ian actually wrote a lot of stuff for the USA For MOD album. Secondly GangGreen had released the ultimate metal ballad parody on their ’89 album ’Older Budweiser’ and this ballad doesn’t even come close to either the MOD nor GangGreen efforts.

What makes this album actually worth purchasing are two songs in particular. ‘Bring the Noise’ and ‘Startin' Up a Posse’. Bring The Noise is a remake of an old Public Enemy song and as it is performed by both bands, it sounds convincing in both the metal as well as rap department. And yes, it is catchy as hell! ‘Startin' Up a Posse’ is a joke, but unlike the ballad it’s a joke which is also funny the second time around. A great foul mouthed happy tune against censorship with Scott Ian taking the mike. Well, actually there’s a third song for those who hadn’t gotten their hands on it already: ‘Protest & Survive’ is just great, good heavy sound and Scott does a great job on vocals. It sounds raw and aggressive, exactly what a Discharge song needs. Great effort.

Am I not forgetting anything? Well, yes I am . An Anthrax collector in ’92 would’ve gotten his/her hands on the 1989 Penikufesin EP already. So either don’t use those songs here or include the whole damn thing, including Friggin’ In The Riggin’ and not just 3 songs. Why on earth did they do this?

Well, at least I give the band some credit for trying to create some stuff especially for this release but it still suffers immensely from having ‘70% filler’ written all over it. And the mistake of not including the entire Penikufesin EP is pretty unforgivable. So, 3 out of 12 songs making this release really worthwhile and then of course two good live versions of great songs. Just get your hands on the Penikufesin, I’m The Man and Armed&Dangerous EP’s first!