{"id":49726,"date":"2023-02-02T12:01:08","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T18:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=49726"},"modified":"2023-02-02T16:21:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T22:21:01","slug":"live-review-anthrax-bring-40-years-of-metal-thrashing-madness-to-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=49726","title":{"rendered":"Live Review: Anthrax Bring 40 Years of Metal Thrashing Madness To Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christopher David<\/p>\n

When it comes to sustaining a career, forty years is a long time.\u00a0 And when that career involves constant touring, it becomes one hell<\/em> of a long time.\u00a0 But you\u2019d never know that it\u2019s been forty years since thrash titans Anthrax landed and broke the mold for what a thrash band could be if you were basing it on Sunday\u2019s raging performance at Chicago\u2019s Radius.\u00a0 Currently in the throes of their Covid-delayed 40th anniversary tour, the New York quintet delivered a tight if largely predictable setlist that again highlighted why they\u2019ve had such staying power.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Opening the night was perhaps the most underrated of the \u201880s thrash scene.\u00a0 Exodus, whose debut Bonded by Blood<\/em> remains perhaps the most vital album in the \u201880s metal canon for setting the genre\u2019s tone, has continued to turn out incredible, uncompromising albums for just as long as the night\u2019s headliner, and guitarist Gary Holt remains one of the touchstone figures in all of metal\u2014after all, what could be more metal than a guitar that\u2019s painted with your own blood?\u00a0 (Yes, it\u2019s true – check the ITL archives for my 2016 interview!)\u00a0 Vocalist \u201cZetro\u201d Sousa still has killer chops, and pummeling cuts like \u201cPiranha,\u201d new tune \u201cPrescribing Horror\u201d from 2021\u2019s Persona Non Grata, and set closer \u201cStrike of the Beast\u201d all delivered in spades, and their eleven song set left the crowd wanting much more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there was more, in the form of one of metal\u2019s biggest icons, Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society.\u00a0 What can be said about Zakk that hasn\u2019t been said already?\u00a0 The man is a giant in the world of heavy metal and he knows it, Blazing through a thirteen-song set with the energy and presence of a headliner, Wylde led his four-piece unit through hits like \u201cStillborn\u201d and \u201cSuicide Messiah\u201d along with \u201cIn This River,\u201d a moving, piano-driven tribute to the late Dimebag Darrell.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And finally, it was time to get caught in a mosh.\u00a0 Following a short intro movie that ran before the band\u2019s 2021 live-streaming event to celebrate their 40th, Scott Ian and Co. hit the stage with the energy of twenty-year olds, tearing through a twelve song setlist in what felt like a flash.\u00a0 Opener \u201cAmong the Living\u201d led into a litany of favorites like \u201cMadhouse,\u201d deeper cut \u201cKeep It In the Family,\u201d and \u201cI Am the Law\u201d; the back end of the set even saw a rendition of Public Enemy\u2019s \u201cBring the Noise,\u201d one of the flashpoint moments in Anthrax\u2019s career.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy in 2023 for the relevance of that cover to pass by without a thought\u2014metal and rap have had a relationship of sorts for decades now\u2014but when Anthrax did it in 1991, it was new, it was fresh, and it was polarizing.\u00a0 It also exemplified how Anthrax was determined to do things on their own terms\u2014they are, without question, the most uncompromising of the so-called \u201cBig Four\u201d of thrash metal, and as such, they\u2019ve remained arguably the best of those bands, enjoying a renewed energy since 2009 when the band saw the return of vocalist Joey Belladonna and embarked on the \u201cBig Four\u201d tour with Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Which is why the absence of any songs from 2011\u2019s Worship Music<\/em> and 2016\u2019s For All Kings<\/em> was so noticeable\u2014recent live stalwarts like \u201cEvil Twin,\u201d \u201cThe Devil You Know,\u201d and \u201cFight Em Til You Can\u2019t\u201d were all missing, and while band\u2019s live-streaming event in 2021 featured a whopping 25 songs from every moment in their storied career, Sunday\u2019s setlist was undeniably safe; certainly, fans had hoped to see deep cuts like \u201cAftershock,\u201d \u201cMedusa,\u201d and \u201cN.F.L.\u201d on the tour after such a bombastic tease during the livestream.\u00a0 Also absent was drummer and founding member Charlie Benante, though drummer Derek Roddy was an outstanding fill-in who delivered on every nuance of Benante\u2019s often complex arrangements.\u00a0 But these are mere observations, not complaints\u2014there is nothing, repeat nothing<\/em>, to complain about when Anthrax is on stage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cChicago, do you love thrash metal?\u201d shouted guitarist Scott Ian just a few songs into the set.\u00a0 The response was as one would expect and led into a savage rendition of the crushing \u201cMetal Thrashing Mad\u201d from way back in 1984.\u00a0 It sounded as fresh as ever, but then, so does Anthrax.\u00a0 You don\u2019t hit forty years in the game for no reason, and the band is certainly having a great time on this current tour reminding us all how far they\u2019ve come.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For more on Anthrax, click here<\/a><\/p>\n

For photo gallery from the show, click here<\/a><\/p>\n

===========================================<\/p>\n

Anthrax – Radius, Chicago, IL – 1\/29\/2023 (setlist)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among the Living<\/p>\n

Caught in a Mosh<\/p>\n

Madhouse<\/p>\n

Metal Thrashing Mad<\/p>\n

Keep it in the Family<\/p>\n

Antisocial<\/p>\n

I Am the Law<\/p>\n

In the End<\/p>\n

Only<\/p>\n

Got the Time<\/p>\n

Bring the Noise<\/p>\n

Indians<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christopher David When it comes to sustaining a career, forty years is a long time.\u00a0 And when that career involves constant touring, it becomes one hell of a long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news","category-features","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}