Where the Monkey Sleeps

Early `80s and Metallica were fast, raw and snarling…singing about drinking, Metal, Satan, war, fighting and Metal…wearing leather and headbanging…everything the early days of Thrash were about…long hair, bullet-belts and giving you that knot of pure excitement; adrenalin that would not stop…guitars sounding like chainsaws with the gain turned right up…buzzing and grinding through you…this is what an album sounds like when a band is hungry and takes no prisoners…ruthless and relentless…Bow To The Phantom Lord.

Thrash. Thrash. Thrash…is what this album is all about. Crunch. Power. Speed. Double bass. Mosh parts. Choruses. Pre-choruses. Gang vocals. Belladonna`s falsetto hailing back to the classic metal halcyon days of the early `80s with messrs Ian and Bello`s backing shouts pumped full enough of aggression to satisfy the most thick-necked amongst us. Every song falls under the category “classic” with an endless array of instantly recognisable mosh. And who cannot fail to headbang to I Am The Law? Unarguably Anthrax`s finest moment.

A crushingly heavy concept album documenting the Battle of Stalingrad during WWII. Tanks, heavy artillery, explosions, rockets, pain, anguish, hunger, disease…slaughter…all the components of a classic death metal release, crafted in a lovingly old school style. You can almost hear the sounds of war in the riffing…and Van Drunen`s vocals? Awesome.