Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There will be those that remember with absolute fondness and the Heavy Metal spring in their step, the times when one of the American big four of the Thrash genre came to Britain and almost stole the show of the band they were supporting, pulling the rug out from underneath their feet and catching them in their fall, only to pull back at the last moment and defer with grace in their hearts to the main reason why the fans had made their way to the various arenas and venues in the first place.

Whether in the very act of brutal excellence they displayed when they supported Iron Maiden on the No Prayer For The Dying Tour or even when they gave one of the best performances ahead of Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica at Sonisphere in the famed grounds of Knebworth, Anthrax have always caught the imagination when they come across the Atlantic and play in Britain, the very seeds of the Mosh pit, the atmosphere of Indians, the literature inspired Among The Living and I Am The Law, this is a band to whom the fringes of the Big Four may be where they have been placed by critics but to whom are very much front and centre, they inhabit the foreground and is proved once again as they become Kings Among Scotland.

Recorded live at the historic Barrowlands in Glasgow, Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna, Frank Bello, Charlie Benante, Jonathan Donais and the effervescent Scott Ian take the Scottish crowd through their paces and the sense of sweat pouring down the walls, the accord of mutual passion passing between audience and band growing in strength and the final result for the thrash icons is one of the best captured nights of their career, one in which matches effortlessly the desire and pride framed at the Birmingham N.E.C. in 1990.

The entire live show, regardless of the period in which the songs were written, is one of high octane fuelled zeal and enthusiasm, the cold of a February night turned to intense heat, the closeness of breath and powerful riffs combining to make the electricity in the venue a substance in which songs such as A.I.R., Madhouse, Evil Twin, Medusa, Caught In A Mosh, Antisocial, Indians and N.F.L. cannot be contained, cannot be replicated or abused; purity in passion is the end game, an uncontrollable urge to seek out and take the audience out and show them a nice life.

A well captured live performance, Anthrax at their stomping best. Kings Among Scotland…more like lords of the world.

Ian D. Hall