BravePicks 2011: The 12 Days Of Metal - #1
January 1, 2012, 12 years ago
Yes, it's finally here! The #1 BravePick of 2011 as voted by the devout scribes here at BraveWords.com! Drum roll please...
1) ANTHRAX – Worship Music (Megaforce)
Gotta tell ya, Worship Music was a long-time coming and the hype seemed to linger forever as the band tried to figure out the Belladonna situation. But it all worked out and as Scott Ian says, it was the band's best year ever. Think about it. Finally a solid line-up, The Big 4 success story and of course getting it all right in the studio. And that's an understatement - Worship Music was more than just "right", it was genius. Most certainly one of the top releases from a Big 4 band in years, easily surpassing Megadeth's vision on Th1rt3en. This was plain and simple heavy metal. Glorious heavy metal with all members firing on all cylinders! And everyone here at BraveWords.com agreed, this was by far, top BravePick of 2012!
Scott Ian spoke to Aaron Small about Worship Music in July. The last time Anthrax was in a recording studio with Joey Belladonna was Persistence Of Time – 21 years ago. When asked if Worship Music felt like a high school reunion Ian responded:
“We worked on this record differently than any other time in the past, from back then when Joey was in the band. We approached it differently this time, which was basically giving Joey the freedom to go into the studio and do his thing. Obviously he had templates; songs were done and lyrics were finished. He was going in and singing the songs, but it was just him and Jay Ruston (who produced the vocals and also mixed the record). We just kind of left it to the two of them to figure it out. We wanted to give Joey that kind of freedom, which was different than it was in the past with Anthrax. Back on all those Joey Belladonna records from the ‘80s up to Persistence Of Time, it was very much a case of a lot of dictation, and we didn’t want to be that way this time. We wanted Joey to be able to go in and make his own choices. If he had ideas that were different than the ideas we were giving him, we wanted to hear those ideas. We wanted this to be an open door policy for him, and have our singer contribute to this record. There are a lot of choices he makes vocally and phrasing wise, even notes, where he would take a line that was sung a certain way, and he would make different note choices. These are ideas that I certainly didn’t have in my head, and they made the songs better. It was really refreshing to be able to do that and give Joey that opportunity.”
Read the entire interview here.
In his BraveWords.com review "Metal" Tim Henderson wrote: "Armageddon must be near … the minute I press "play" an earthquake strikes the Eastern US/Canada sea-board. Better get my seat-belt buckled, protective head-gear attached, and if I'm gonna die, I better put my boots on! Let's get moshing. To begin, a bizarre, twisted space-age symphony about to catch fire, almost Floyd-esque in nature. Welcome to 'Worship' (the intro) which crashes head-on to 'Earth On Hell', a punchy introduction to ANTHRAX in 2011, Charlie Benante blast-beats and all. Yes, the beloved New York thrash legends have finally got their proverbial shit together. And when you hear the clock tick on 'Earth On Hell' it takes you back to the hands of time when Joey Belladonna last fronted the band on 1990's Persistence Of Time … geez, was it that long ago?"
Read more at BraveWords.com.
12) VALLENFYRE – A Fragile King (Century Media)
11) MEGADETH – Th1rt3en (Roadrunner)
10) MELIAH RAGE - Dead To The World (Metal On Metal)
9) WORLD UNDER BLOOD – Tactical (Nuclear Blast)
8) DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT - Deconstruction (InsideOut)
7) ICED EARTH - Dystopia (Century Media)
6) DEMONAZ - March Of The Norse (Nuclear Blast)
5) EXHUMED - All Guts, No Glory (Relapse)
4) OPETH – Heritage (Roadrunner)
3) MASTODON - The Hunter (Reprise)
2) MOTÖRHEAD – The Wörld Is Yours (Mötorhead Music/EMI)
1) ANTHRAX – Worship Music (Megaforce)
