The Greater of Two Evils
| The Greater of Two Evils | ||||
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| Remix album by Anthrax | ||||
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Publication |
November 23, 2004 |
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| Label (s) | Nuclear Blast | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, digipack, LP |
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Title (number) |
14 |
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running time |
1:13:18 |
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| occupation |
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Anthrax |
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Studio (s) |
Avatar Studios, New York City |
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The Greater of Two Evils is a music album by the American band Anthrax . It was released on November 23, 2004 on the Donzdorf- based label Nuclear Blast and belongs to the thrash metal genre.
The songs on this album are exclusively new recordings of old pieces by the band and come from the years 1984 to 1990. Similar new recordings had already taken place in 1984 with the then singer Joey Belladonna , who wrote some songs from the previous album “Fistful of.” For the EP “Armed & Dangerous” Metal ”.
Prehistory and origin
In 2003 Anthrax recorded the studio album "We've Come for You All", freshly expanded by the guitarist Rob Caggiano. This was the first album since 1998 and was extremely well received by the trade press and fans. Following the release, the band was able to go on an 18-month-long, 176-gigging world tour a. a. go with Motörhead and Dio . During this tour, the band decided to re-record songs from the early phase of the band due to the constant demand from fans, as the then singer John Bush still performed many songs on stage that had been composed for his predecessor Joey Belladonna. The band decided to implement the idea more spontaneously and let the fans determine the new numbers to be recorded based on a vote on the band's website .
The recordings took place at short notice on January 24th and 25th in New York's Avatar Studios . Before that, the band had only spent a few days rehearsing all of the songs together. It is remarkable that the recordings took place "live" and all musicians were recorded at the same time. The album was mixed by guitarist Rob Caggiano, partly with the assistance of Michael Rich, Anthony Ruotolo and Armored Saint bassist Joey Vera . Since work on the concert DVD "Music of Mass Destruction" was taking place at the same time , the album could not be released until November 2004. The original Latin album title "Metallum Maximum Aeternum" was discarded shortly before the release and the album was instead called "The Greater of Two Evils".
In the booklet of the album you can find liner notes written by Scott Ian and the band as well as a fan and also pictures of the band among fans. The album cover was designed and drawn by Shepard Fairey and Chris Peasley. In addition to drawings reminiscent of Japanese heraldry and the band logo, there is also a Japanese katakana lettering, which, according to Scott Ian, is a transcription of the term "Thrash Metal".
expenditure
Nuclear Blast released the album in three versions:
- CD in a jewel case with 14 tracks,
- Double CD in digipack with 17 tracks, including the last three on a bonus CD, as well
- Double LP with 17 tracks.
Origin of the songs
The focus of the album are new recordings of songs that were made with the singer Joey Belladonna. There are also some songs from the debut album, on which Neil Turbin was responsible for the vocals. The songs are divided into the following albums:
- "Fistful of Metal" (1984) with three or four songs: "Deathrider", "Metal Thrashing Mad", "Panic", "Anthrax" (bonus track)
- "Spreading The Disease" (1985) with three or four songs: "AIR", "Madhouse", "Gung-Ho", "Lone Justice" (bonus)
- "Among the Living" (1987) with five songs: "Among the Living", "Caught in a Mosh", "I am the Law", "Indians", "NFL"
- "State of Euphoria" (1988) with a song: "Be All, End All"
- "Persistence of Time" (1990) with two or three songs: "Keep it in the Family", "Belly of the Beast", "In My World" (bonus)
Track list
- Deathrider (03:04)
- Metal Thrashing Mad (02:47)
- Caught in a Mosh (05:27)
- AIR (06:21)
- Among the Living (05:52)
- Keep it in the Family (07:25)
- Indians (06:38)
- Madhouse (04:26)
- Panic (03:35)
- I am the Law (06:03)
- Belly of the Beast (05:42)
- NFL (05:57)
- Be All, End All (06:29)
- Gung-Ho (03:32)
Total playing time: 1 h 13 min 18 s Bonus
tracks from digipack and LP edition: - Anthrax (3:04)
- Lone Justice (4:36)
- In My World (6:29)
Total playing time: 1 h 27 min 27 s
Web links
- Official website of the band (English)
- Rock Hard magazine review
- The Greater of Two Evils on Allmusic (English)
- The Greater of Two Evils on MusicBrainz