Track Listing

1. Among The Living
2. Caught In A Mosh
3. I Am The Law
4. Efilkinufesin
5. A Skeleton In The Closet
6. Indians
7. One World
8. A.D.I. / Horror Of It All
9. Imitation Of Life

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5794 in Music
• Released on: 1994-03-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 50 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
If Metallica and Slayer invented speed metal, Anthrax brought it to the East Coast and imbued it with the attitude and excitement of New York hardcore. Among The Living is their finest hour--a roaring, adrenaline-pumped collection of flailing beats, precise, razor-edged riffs and shout-along refrains. Unlike most full-throttle metal vocalists of the era, Joey Belladonna chose to sing as well as shout, giving songs such as "Among The Living", "Indians" and "Efilnikcufecin" ("nice fuckin' life" spelled backwards) a decided melodic edge. Yet Scott Ian and Dan Spitz's buzz saw guitar flurries, and Charlie Benante's insistent drumming, prevented the songs from ever degenerating into the run-of-the-mill heavy metal they so despised. --Jon Wiederhorn

CD Description
When Anthrax released AMONG THE LIVING in 1987, the band was a part of a then-burgeoning heavy metal sub-genre called speed or thrash metal. This was an inversion of glam metal. The band members wore worn-out jeans and T-shirts, their longhair was hairspray-free, and not a smudge of make-up was applied to their unsightly mugs. Their music was dense, borrowing speed from punk and hardcore and mammoth guitar riffing from metal, and featured thought-provoking lyrics. AMONG THELIVING not only served as Anthrax's commercial breakthrough, but (along with seminal releases by Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer) the album brought this new musical form to the forefront.
The members of Anthrax were a bunch of comic-book-reading, jam-wearing heavy metal fans from NYC, and the music reflects the lifestyle. The band based it's U.K. Top-30 hit single "I Am the Law" on a favourite comic-book character (Judge Dread). "Imitation Of Life", a song about phony people that contains one of thrash metal's strongest riffs, waspointedly directed at '80s glam metal bands. The frantic "Caught In A Mosh" is an album highlight, as are "Indians" (which deals with the plight of the Native American), "N.F.L".,"Skeletons In The Closet", and the title track.

Customer Reviews

4 Stars for the fantastic standout tracks, still sounds fresh.
This album is worth 4 stars easily for the standout tracks, which raised Anthrax above many of the thrash bands of the day. The album came out when people were buzzing about 'Thrash' and Metallica and Anthrax graced the cover of Kerrang. There were a few big bands, some harder ones, and some serious rubbish, but Anthrax were different enough to stand out.

Joey Belladonna's vox were one of the things that did this, his style being more rock based and more flexible than many bands of the time(Metallica, Megadeth, Kreator, Exodus, Suicidal Tendencies to name just a few), but the band still sounded harder than than the hair-bands. The playing is as tight as a Gnat's chuff, with some fantastic metal\punk drumming from Charlie Benante (who always blew Lars Ulrich off the riser), Scott Ian's rythm guitar and Frank Bello's bass chug and stomp with clenched teeth and Dan Spitz's guitar breaks are slick and not too overpowering.


More than that, the band wrote *songs*, not just riffs, so where other thrash bands forgot about things like proper choruses, we find them in fine singalong form here. There are a few less than great songs (Skeletons, ADI) but there are also some gems; Iam The Law, Indians (one of the greatest mosh breakdowns ever?!), Caught In a Mosh, EFILNIKUFESIN make this an album still worth buying.


It also has that Anthrax freshness (ahhhhhhh) that came from the band's humour and ability to laugh at themselves...great stuff. I stick this album on and it makes me feel 17 again!!

Good fun and attitude in one gem of a thrash record!
Among the living is my personal favorite Anthrax full length. In fact, I will be so brave as to say it's in the top 5 thrash albums of all time. Previous output, 'Spreading the Disease', was coming on nicley, hinting at what they would be fully capable of given the right budget and time to mature.

Among the Living is a landmark album in the world of not only thrash metal, but metal in general. One of the few albums where the music media have got it right about blending musical styles, in this case thrash and NY Hardcore. The music is very aggressive skater style thrash, but the attitude and mob choruses scream hardcore.
If 'Spreading the Disease' was the appatiser, then ATL was the full on seven course banquet. Rivalling all their major peers, that being Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and lets be fair to them, Testament and Exodus too, ATL has soul, where 'Reign in Blood', is a less refined(but still mind bending success) opposite to Anthrax's finest momment.
The album's opener, has that classic scything guitar of Scott Ian and Dan Spitz starting with a repeated riff, that sits back on a medium paced drum beat, that after some very 'hardcore' stop starts unleashes into some of the coolist 80's thrash you'll ever hear.
'Caught in a Mosh' (Belladonna gives an amazing "Noo Yawk" performance on this track), 'I am the Law', with its light hearted look at Judge Dredd, sum up the simpler thrashy part of the album. After that, the songs take on a more complex structure, with lyrics that reflect a band trying to mature and expand their material. You'll have to just to listen to it to see what those lyrics contain.
Anthrax came of age on this album, with every member of the band putting in amazing performances.
"Cold Sweat, my fists are clenching"... Exactly !!!!

weivernikcufecin
This album I first heard when I was into Metal at the end of the eighties. It stood out from most metal albums, listening to it now I can see why. It still sounds as great as ever. Full of furious riffs, a dirty bass and great drums. With Joey Belladonna screaming his heart out on top. But above all its got the tunes, the songs are a cut above anything else ive heard from anthrax and hardly any other metal band of that era. 'Indians', 'NFL efilnikufecin', and 'Imitation of life' stand out as the strongest tracks but they're all brilliant. A good starting point for anyone interested in Anthrax or thrash metal in general.