'80s Thrash Metal Band Celebrates 42nd Anniversary of Iconic Album

Anthax recently celebrated a huge milestone.

On Wednesday, the metal band shared on their Instagram that they released their debut album, Fistful of Metal, on this day, 42 years ago. The record consists of 10 tracks, including a cover of “I’m Eighteen” by Alice Cooper.

This is the band’s only album to feature vocalist Neil Turbin and original bassist Dan Lilker, who were replaced by Matt Fallon and Frank Bello, respectively. Fistful of Metal was recorded and produced by Carl Canedy in Pyramid Studios in Ithaca, New York. It was officially released on Jan. 28, 1984, by Megaforce Records in the United States, Music for Nations in the United Kingdom and Roadrunner in Europe.

Despite its acclaim now, Fistul of Metal actually received some mixed reviews when it was first released. The record is also considered to be one of Anthrax’s least represented projects, because most of the songs from this album are rarely played live. The band rose to popularity with their next two albums, Spreading the Disease and Among the Living.

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Guitarist and co-founder Scott Ian has credited the sound of early Anthrax to Judas Priest, Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and the Ramones. The album was seen as a defining piece of the emerging thrash metal scene at that time, and reflected the band’s, and particularly Ian’s desire to emulate their heroes.

The beginnings of Anthrax were marked by multiple personal issues due to tension between members. Anthrax went through many lineup changes over the years, but the band now consists of Ian, Bello, Charlie Benante, Joey Belladonna and Jon Donais.

“We didn’t know what the [explicit] we would ever do if Anthrax didn’t happen,” Ian told Louder earlier this month. “I remember saying, ‘Well, if the band doesn’t make it, we’ll join the Marines.'”

Anthrax was formed in July 1981 by Ian, Lilker and Dave Weiss in Queens, New York. Ian and Weiss originally met while they were students at Bayside High School, and were both aspiring musicians. After realizing there was a lack of a metal scene in New York, the trio decided to create a band, naming themselves after a disease they read about in a biology textbook, and attempted to perform local gigs.

“We were into anything that was more extreme, anything that was more aggressive, anything that was faster,” Ian said. “Just pushing the envelope of what metal was. And it was reflected in the songs we were writing, like ‘Panic’ and ‘Deathrider.'”

After releasing Fistful of Metal, the group followed it up with their second record, Spreading the Disease, in 1985, and then put out nine more studio albums afterward. Their latest project is For All Kings, released in 2016.

This year, Anthrax is set to go on a world tour, first playing around Canada in mid-February, then making stops in Australia during late March, Japan in early April and opening for some of the North American dates for Iron Maiden’s Run For Your Lives World Tour alongside Megadeth.

Fans can listen to Fistful of Metal and the rest of their discography on all streaming platforms, as well as purchase tickets to their upcoming shows on Anthrax’s website. The band is set to play at the 70000Tons of Metal festival in Miami, Florida, this upcoming weekend.

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