Was a little reluctant to put this record on here but considering some of the borderline entries, I don't see why not. There was a slight amount of excitement when the New Yorker's released the follow up to 'Among The Living', but such was the quality of that particular record it was clear that this album wouldn't live up to it, but the main problem here is that 'State...', certainly at the time anyway, was nowhere near good enough. Many years later. 'State...' has altered my perception and I find this record fun rather than the major disappointment it bestowed back in the '80s. This record still has that hardcore/punky crossover edge and the riffs are still big rolls of jerking sauce, but we must not continue to compare it to 'Among...' otherwise it will always fall miserably short. The single from the record was the rather irritating 'Make Me Laugh', I found myself wincing at Belladonna's vocals but then again he was always that kind of vocalist neither great or too bad, certainly with his own style even if at times it was once which grated. 'State..' offers a handful of decent cuts, the opening menace of 'Be All...' and chugfest 'Now Its Dark', but it seems that 'Among...' left the band high and dry. 'State...' is not my idea of an Anthrax thrashcore record, but spinning it again a few decades later I can honestly say that on its own its a nice little record, sure, it's dressed in a gawdy vomit inducing cover, but I have to consider than in '88 I was listening to Slayer's blood curdling records and Anthrax had become quite irrelevant...it's just a shame they floundered so quickly after two masterful records.
6.5/10
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