Back in the early days of Thrash Metal, the guys in Anthrax were the hometown heroes to those Metal fans who lived in the New York area. Formed in the Bronx, the guys were wild and their riffs insane on top of some knock you down drumming. The UK might have given us the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal a few years earlier, but it was clear to many fans on this side of the fence that the USA was doing well at making a mark of its own. During these formative years of my own Metal development, I had to admit that I preferred a lot more of the Anthrax stuff to that of Metallica and this surprised some of my friends but found me in kinship with those who felt the same way. Eventually I found myself enthralled by the Tallica’s and Slayer’s but for the beginning it was NYC for me without question and few band spoke to NYC like Anthrax did.
When PiercingMetal.com was launched it was very close to the time that the original or “staple” lineup of the band had reunited and once again reminded fans about why they were so enjoyed in Metal’s history. We also began reviewing whatever releases came out at the time as soon as we got our hungry Metal hands on them. Click the logo below to be taken to all of the Anthrax content on PiercingMetal.com and find yourself “Caught In A Mosh” once again.
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Artist: Anthrax
Venue: East River Park (New York, NY)
Opener: Valient Thorr, Black Gold
Date: 2/5/2009
Label: Megaforce Records
When I glanced at the temperature in NYC today and found it to be about zero degrees according to the “real feel” aspect, I had determined that it would probably be a better idea to spend it inside and catch up on the CD and DVD releases as opposed to going anywhere out about the town. Of course tonight would also be the night of the Red Bull Snow Scraper event where a number of top ranked snowboarders would be competing, and the event would be closed out by the legendary Metal sounds of our city’s own Anthrax. Since I had braved the elements only a couple of evening’s previous to this to go to see The Answer at another venue, I felt that I could easily handle this nights adventures as well. That night found the city being hit with a pretty decent snowstorm and I felt that if I could get to that show then I could not let the mere brutal cold air be responsible for stopping me from checking out Anthrax. The night would also feature performances from Valient Thorr and Black Gold and sadly by the time I got down there the Valient guys had already finished their set and Black Gold was closing up on their own. I had about an hour to kill so I looked around the event and really loved the set up they did. They had a giant structure which seemed to be about ten stories high and this is where the heavy competing was to take place. It really seemed as though the fans of the sport were getting a great experience from this free event that was hosted by the popular energy drink makers. My goal was the music and while I would have enjoyed seeing Valient, I had to say that Black Gold was not doing it for me. I didn’t like what I was hearing and their sound came off as out of place between what I knew Valient was all about and what I was full aware of what Anthrax would do. Lucky the time grew close for the brief set of the legendary thrashers as 9:00pm was closing in on my watch.
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