martindavey87 Released in 1985, prior to Anthrax's second album, 'Armed and Dangerous' is a seven-song EP which saw the debut of new and highly revered vocalist Joey Belladonna.

Similar in style to the band's debut album, the only notable difference here is Belladonna's vocals, which sound a lot more confident and more powerful than former singer Neil Turbin. And while the music is still very raw early 80's thrash, there's a marked improvement in the performances by everyone involved, with a slightly more competent approach to songwriting.

Overall though, this is still mostly something I'd consider for collectors only. The title track and 'Raise Hell' are both good, but I find the rest to be fairly passable. A Sex Pistols cover which does nothing for me, a couple of live tracks and two songs from the 'Fistful of Metal' album complete the EP.

'Armed and Dangerous' might have some significance as the bands first release with Belladonna, but if you're not a massive fan then you're probably better off just ignoring this EP and getting the next studio album, 'Spreading the Disease', which is one of Anthrax's best works anyway.

UMUR "Armed and Dangerous" is an EP release by US thrash metal act Anthrax. The album was released through Megaforce Records in February 1985. There are 7 tracks on the 27:02 minute long EP (only 5 tracks on the original vinyl version). The first five tracks feature the, at the time, new lineup with new vocalist Joey Belladonna and new bassist Frank Bello. The two closing tracks are taken from the "Soldiers of Metal (1983)" single and feature the original lineup with lead vocalist Neil Turbin and bassist Dan Lilker.

The two opening tracks on the EP, which are the title track and "Raise Hell" are new tracks. The first mentioned is an excellent track which starts out with an acoustic intro and then builds into a thrash metal frenzy. An absolutely excellent thrash metal track that one. New lead vocalist Joey Belladonna really gets to show his wide vocal range on this track. The "Armed and Dangerous" track would also appear on the band´s 2nd full-length studio album "Spreading the Disease (1985)", which was released in October 1985. So of course that devaluates the track if you already own "Spreading the Disease (1985)". "Raise Hell" is a fast rocker and while it´s a pretty good song it doesn´t reach the heights of "Armed and Dangerous". The third track is a cover of "God Save the Queen" by British punk act the Sex Pistols. It´s well played but nothing too special. I much prefer the wild and fierce attitude of the original. The two live tracks that follow are great. Both "Metal Thrashing Mad" and "Panic" are taken from the debut album "Fistful of Metal (1984)" but these live versions with Joey Belladonna on vocals are much more powerful than the original studio versions. A great treat. The two closing tracks which are taken off the 1983 "Soldiers of Metal" single are more of a curiosity than anything. They are both good heavy metal tracks but a far cry from the more powerful thrash metal tracks that the band would produce only a couple of years later.

All in all "Armed and Dangerous" is a very strong release by Anthrax and quality wise a 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted. Instead of searching out the original EP (unless you´re a vinyl fanatic) I would recommend getting the 1998 SPV re-release of "Fistful of Metal (1984)". That version of the debut album includes the full "Armed and Dangerous" EP.