Customer Reviews

Fistful of Metal/Armed and Dangerous

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have to admit that I was overly excited about this re-issue. I was very pleased with the updated versions of old-school Anthrax on The Greater of Two Evils. I was hoping for improved sound quality and an extra or two from this release (expanded liner notes, improved sound, unreleased demos, etc.). In a perfect world, Megaforce would have followed the same format as Megadeth's Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good (if you are reading this review, you should already have this).

Unfortunately, you simply get the first two Anthrax albums on one CD. There are some brief comments from each member of Anthrax at the time, with the exception of Frankie Bello (he must still be pissed off at the boys). I was mildly surprised to see comments from Danny Lilker, Neil Turbin and Joey Belladonna. But that's it. You don't even have the lyrics that were included in the original release of Armed And Dangerous. I really shouldn't feel cheated because there is no mention of re-mastering or the inclusion of any extras. It just leaves me wondering why this package was released at all. The original two CD's are still available. If you expect me to shell out a few bucks for re-released material you need to throw me a bone and give me something extra. If you already own these albums you can skip this release.

If you don't already have these albums, then this is a good deal. You can get two decent Anthrax albums on one disc for a good price. This material is worth owning if you are an Anthrax fan. I suggest you read the reviews for the individual albums, there isn't anything new here.

YES! Here's what I was hoping to find! FISTFUL OF METAL and ARMED AND DANGEROUS together on one release. This, my friends, is the ANTHRAX story chapters ONE and TWO together on one KILLER compilation.

Now, I am here to tell you not to listen to ANYBODY but me on this one. FISTFUL is such a cool record, I can't believe how many people are knocking it. NEIL TURBIN only sang vocals on the one album, and yeah, they are a bit outrageously high pitched, but the speed and killer licks will whip yo' hide. No joke. It sounds like it was recorded inside of a trash can, but man can it rock... Play loudly.

Keep the volume as loud for ARMED AND DANGEROUS. This record introduces a young sounding JOEY BELLADONNA before he really claimed his sound. Here we get him covering some TURBIN material, and we get him on a couple early live outings. I love early THRAX, SPREADING THE DISEASE is probably the best album, but I get all jazzed up when I hear a real classic early eighties metal track that was recorded on zero budget. This is underground New York Garage sh*t and it is wicked f'in awesome. If you are an ANTHRAX fan and have never heard these albums.. do yourself a favor and pick this up!

This is the simple review: the music is killer. Neil Turbin is great.

Music is 5 stars. Disc quality and editing is - 2 stars.

Here are the problems: The disc sounds bad. Also, there is an unforgiveable 2 second gap between each song. The gaps exists even when the song is supposed to blend into the following tune. It was so annoying that I put my CD on Ebay.

The music is great but the sound quality is really, really bad. Even worst than a 96 kps mp3. The best solution deals with the purchase of the two separate albums.

Fistful of Metal is one of the all time great metal albums. Unfortunately, this release sounds like it was sourced from 96 kbps mp3s. Buyer beware. Buy the original releases instead. You'll be more satisfied with them.

Don't be fooled by the moron below me, this is the exact same sound qaulity as the original 'Fistful of Metal' CD that came out in the early 90's. I bought this to replace my old scratched up copy and it sounds great. It is definatly worth it, now even more because it includes the 'Armed & Dangerous' EP as well. For some reason, these two Anthrax releases were very hard to find, and i always thought 'Fistful' was greatly overlooked and neglected, so i am glad Scott Ian and crew have not forgotten their awesome debut album and decided to reissue it for the 20th anniversary.

It is a short album, only around 35 minutes or so, but the EP included makes it longer. 'Fistful of Metal' is probably the most brutal Anthrax album, for one thing, they had this guy called Neil Turbin who could scream his head off. It is very raw sounding and sounds nothing like any of their later albums, in fact you might think it is a completely differant band. Of the big four debut albums (the others being Kill Em All, Show No Mercy and Killing is my Buissness) this is my favorite. My favorite cuts are DEATHRIDER, METAL THRASHING MAD, SOILDERS OF METAL, SUBJUGATOR, ANTHRAX, DEATH FROM ABOVE and the cool Alice Cooper cover I'M EIGHTEEN. What ever happened to Neil Turbin? i think they should of held on to him, i like Joey too, but why would you just kick out some one that talented? Oh yeah, the drumming on this album is insane, just listen to Charlie on this thing with his double bass pedals, he was all about speed back then i guess, but he would become better and more inovative. Scott Ian is the best here though, he came up with the best riffage back then (still does) and this album showcases it perfectly. I would say that you should definatly give this a try if you harbor any interest at all in early 80's thrash or even metal in general, it is such a fun record. Keep in mind that it was 1984 and they were still an underground band back then, so the production is kind of horrible, but the music is so good that you will get over that, come to think of it, what thrash album ever had GOOD production anyway? remember that this was a gendre noted for its attacks on any kind of commercial "polished" form of metal.

Anyway, this album is worth finding if you like thrash in the vein of early Metallica, Exodus, Slayer or even Metal Church.

Man, most bands have got weird sounding debuts, but Anthrax really takes it to another level. This is nothing like 'Spreading the Disease', even though it was only a year earlier, and has very little thrash in it. This is pretty much pure speed metal from beginning to end, mostly Judas Priest worship type stuff. It's pretty entertaining, though certainly not all that hot, so I only really recommend this to very, very serious Anthrax fans. If it weren't a historic curiosity, 'Fistful of Metal' would still be kinda amusing, but not enough so to make it worth having. Same goes with the 'Armed & Dangerous' ep, which comes along with it.

'Fistful of Metal' has probably the crappiest production I've ever heard on a metal album outside of Black Metal. Not very loud, lots a static at times, no real depth or thickness. Too bad they didn't remaster it. Turbin is quite an amusing vocalist. He's about as over the top as they come, with a rather unbelievable amount of shrieking. As with most of this album, he's fairly entertaining, if not exactly very good. Everything on 'Fistful' sounds pretty much the same, with the exception of the cover, 'Eighteen', which still has much the same tone and feeling, it's just slower, mid-paced hard rock rather than speed metal. The songs they'd later do for 'Greater of Two Evils' are the best ones here. 'Death Rider' and 'Metal Thrashing Mad' are both total stompers, lots of fun and energy, and 'Panic' isn't too far off, with a particularly nice little lead section. Everything else on here at least sounds pretty good while it's on, even if it isn't all that memorable.

'Armed & Dangerous' hasn't got much new material, but it's still kinda interesting. The title track is the same as on 'Spreading...' and other than that we've got a buncha Turbin songs with Joey on the vox, a song called 'Raise Hell' and a cover of 'God Save the Queen'. The re-done Tubin songs are pretty decent. Live in the studio, but they actually tend to have better production than on the debut, and Joey does some shriekier, vox than he'd typical do, kinda mixing his own style with Turbin's. 'Raise Hell' is kinda blah, just sorta a more primitive version of the stuff they'd do on the next album. It's alright, but not up to Anthrax's standards. I've never been a Sex Pistols fan, so the 'God Save the Queen' cover doesn't interest me too much, though it is pretty funny to hear Joey try and sing a punk song.

Well, that's it. Not very good, but still sorta fun and interesting, and worth a look for serious Anthrax fans. No one else need bother with it.