Why do I like Joey Belladonna's voice so much ? Well, much of my soft spot comes down to the two classic albums he made with Anthrax, those of course being 'Spreading The Disease' and 'Among The Living'. Then, two more albums later and he was gone. Anthrax got pretty serious, and Joey released this rather unimaginatively titled debut, under the rather unimaginatively titled name of himself! So, what is it like ? Put simply, it's a slightly watered down version of Anthrax, with a slightly darker edge as Joey assembles a bunch of muso's from upstate New York to chug, churn, chug some more and then chug again. In fact, it's pure Anthrax, from opener 'Blunt Man' to my fave chugger, 'Two Faced'. Trouble is, despite my liking for the guy's wails, this is a case of heard it all before. The bass is heavy, the drums are there to mosh to and the guitars reek of Spitz and Scott Ian, making you want to put your Bermuda shorts on and grab a skateboard. I'm unsure as to why Belladonna would want his new venture to sound identical to his old one, but maybe it's in the blood, or maybe he's just trying to make his old mates see what they are missing. Personally, I think Anthrax should, reform with the 'Among...' line-up, but if they don't, they don't, we still have the memories.
6/10
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