Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Royalty is an outdated position of responsibility in the eyes of many, yet somehow we either cling to it out of deference to the past, to scared to go it alone and forge our own way of thinking, or we trust Government to become the new rulers and apply regulations and laws that we disagree with, one we can put their heads on a block, the other we just elect out; there is no middle ground.

For whatever reason we still collectively find the allure of the trappings of Kings and Queens to be intriguing and it is for All The Kings that the one of the biggest names in American Thrash Metal return, the guitars acting like named swords of old, crushing the unfaithful with a slash of deep grumbling chords and a set of lyrics that read like a proclamation hammered onto the door of the local monastery; for in All The Kings Anthrax return with vengeance.

Coming hot on the heels of their thrash metal cousins Megadeth and their latest release, Anthrax find that Time may have passed since their late 80s and 90s heyday but there is more than ample anger still raging within the fire of the Anthrax machine to complement the band when all pistons are firing and the purple velvet cloak of musical majesty soars in the wind of discontent and frenzy.

Time may have passed but when Anthrax are on this type of form it is with a smile of memory that makes the band feel like it has perhaps slowed, the tic and the tock mutually agreeing to go at the pace of a snail so that the space in between can be filled with brutal charm and experience; for Anthrax, this is brutality that is engaging and forthright, it is the sense of occasion that the group were always noted for and there is not a single drop of banality thrown in, no steep curve of toxic fumes, just out and out metal pleasure.

In tracks such as Monster at the End, Breathing Lightning, Blood Eagle Wings, the sublime The Battle Chooses Us and Zero Tolerance, Anthrax deliver straight to the point, the revolution joined and the crusade against tyranny encountered, it might only be the first in a series of close quartered conflicts but the wounds they deliver, the wonderful sense of lyrical truth they employ, will forever see the band at the top of the table feasting on the trivial and the wasteful. All The Kings is a cracking album by Anthrax, one to feel the sovereignty of metal continue.

Ian D. Hall