Among the living

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Among the living
Studio album by Anthrax

Publication
(s)

1987

Label (s) Island Records

Genre (s)

Thrash metal

Title (number)

9

running time

50min 13s

occupation

production

Anthrax, Eddie Kramer

Studio (s)

Quadradial Studios, Miami , Florida
Compass Point Studios , Nassau , Bahamas

chronology
Spreading the Disease
(1985)
Among the living State of Euphoria
(1988)
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Among the living
  DE 46 05/04/1987 (5 weeks)
  UK 18th 04/18/1987 (5 weeks)
  US 62 04/11/1987 (36 weeks)
Singles
I am the law
  UK 32 02/28/1987 (5 weeks)
Indians
  UK 44 06/27/1987 (4 weeks)

Among the Living is the third studio album by the American thrash metal band Anthrax . It is considered the band's commercial breakthrough, receiving gold in the US in 1990 for 500,000 units sold.

useful information

The base tracks were recorded at Quadradial Studios in Miami , Florida , the mix and mastering took place at Compass Point Studio , Nassau , Bahamas . Eddie Kramer's engagement as a music producer went back to Charlie Benante , who liked his work for Led Zeppelin and Kiss . While the producer wanted a modern sound with a lot of reverb , the band expected a sound that was as dry as possible.

When writing the song , Anthrax sometimes made use of existing fragments. That's why Danny Lilker received credits on I Am the Law , even though he was not involved in the actual songwriting of Among the Living . Lilker also received credits for Imitation of Life because its opening riff from Aren't You Hungry? that Lilker wrote for SOD . Most of the lyrics were written by Scott Ian and some of them were inspired by the work of the writer Stephen King . I Am the Law is about Judge Dredd .

The band dedicated the album to their friend, Metallica bassist Cliff Burton , who died in an accident in 1986.

The album was in 2009 with the help of the first production in 1987 unused Takes newly mixed . Alternative versions of various guitar solos and vocal recordings were available.

layout

The basic idea for the record cover comes from the novella Apt Pupil ( The Model Student ) from Stephen King's collection of novels Spring, Summer, Autumn and Death . The cover shows a crowd of identical looking people from above with their heads bowed. In their midst is a white-haired man who looks at the viewer, lifts his hat and raised his hand in greeting. This figure is supposed to stand for the "dark personalities" who live in the midst of people and within them. It is similar to a character from Poltergeist or the character Randall Flagg from Stephen King's novel The Stand . The picture was drawn by Don Brautigam .

The photo on the back of the cover was taken on the New York subway . It was created secretly because the band had not obtained the necessary official photo permits.

Track list

  1. Among the Living - 5:16
  2. Caught in a Mosh - 4:59
  3. I Am the Law - 5:57
  4. Efilnikufesin (NFL) - 4:54
  5. A Skeleton in the Closet - 5:32
  6. Indians - 5:40
  7. One World - 5:56
  8. ADI / Horror of It All - 7:49
  9. Imitation of Life - 4:10

reception

Allmusic's Steve Huey points out that Among the Living is often considered the band's best album. He calls the album powerful and aggressive, it is driven by incredibly fast guitar riffs, explosive drumming, tempo changes and the hardcore- like vocal style. Frank Trojan writes in his contemporary review that the album more than fulfills the expectations placed on it, it is perfect and belongs "to the strongest ... what this genre has brought to light so far". On the occasion of the re-release , Greg Moffitt of BBC Music describes the album as the big breakthrough for the band, it contains some of the band's great moments and is amazingly consistent, contrary to the common standards of the time, it was produced dry and it offers a skilful Balance between breakneck speed and the sensible use of melodies. The music magazine Decibel listed the album as an overrated album with cult status in 2011 in the category Disposable Heroes (Eng .: 'dispensable heroes'). Author Jeff Wagner sums up that it is not a great album even after 21 years. He describes the majority of the guitar riffs as monotonous, the refrains of songs like A Skeleton in the Closet and Efilnikufesin (NFL) are “terrible non-refrains”, the sing-along numbers like One World are just cheesy and the singing performance of Joey Belladonna is bad. Only the energy of the album is remarkable, to which the impressive work of the rhythm section contributes.

Individual evidence

  1. Charts DE Charts UK Charts US
  2. Certifications: Anthrax - Among the Living. RIAA, accessed May 12, 2010 .
  3. cf. Liner Notes for Among the Living
  4. ^ Frank Trojan: Anthrax: Among the Living . In: Rock Hard . No. 21 .
  5. ^ Greg Moffitt: Review of Anthrax - Among the Living. BBC online, February 8, 2010, accessed May 15, 2010 .
  6. Jeff Wagner: Disposable Heroes: Anthrax's “Among the Living”. (No longer available online.) Decibel Blog, July 20, 2011, archived from the original on September 9, 2011 ; accessed on October 15, 2011 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.decibelmagazine.com

Web links