Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Anthrax - Persistence of Time (1990)

I have never really got on all that well with any Anthrax release.  Whether it is the debut, the much lauded Among The Living or their live output, I just find everything to be lacking somewhat overall.  Their best release has to be Spreading the Disease but even then the world doesn't get bathed in flames for me.  I think that fundamentally I have never enjoyed any of the vocalists over the years.  Whether it has been Turbin, Bush or Belladonna things have always felt underwhelming and decidedly weak on the vocal front.  Whether it has been to please a younger audience (or maybe just a more accessible one) I have found the output in recent years to be weak overall and lacking in any real power.

1990's Persistence of Time was by all accounts disappointing.  Two singles released from the album had been given mixed response.  The cover of Joe Jackson's Got The Time being less well received than the more anthemic In My World and this is probably the story of the album overall, a mish-mash of some good ideas and some real filler thrown in to permeate the cracks.

The album does take a while to get going, the first three tracks - despite being memorable enough - just don't really make me feel like this is a positive start to an album.  Time feels clunky and cumbersome in both structure and delivery, Blood comes off as quite immature from a songwriting perspective and likewise Keep It In The Family lacks any real bite despite seemingly trying to say a lot.

It is the aforementioned single, In My World that kicks things off proper for me.  It feels authentic and angry like a thrash metal album should do.  Seething with despair and crippled by hatred for mankind it is one of the few real gems of the many songs that Anthrax have written.  Unfortunately, the next few tracks just pass me by and without the record playing I could not recall any context of how they sounded at all.  Only Belly of the Beast provides some glimmer of well constructed thrash metal but it is not until the penultimate track One Man Stands that things get back on course, albeit fleeting before the horror of Discharge closing the album.

I hadn't quite realised just how much I disliked this record until I sat down to write this review, I even neglected to notice I owed a copy on CD which I have no recollection of picking up.  Sorry Anthrax fans, after 30 years of listening to metal I doubt much is going to change in the way of my low opinion of Anthrax.