UMUR "Persistence Of Time" is the 5th full-length studio album by US, New York based thrash/heavy metal act Anthrax. The album was released through Megaforce Worldwide/Island Records in August 1990. It´s the successor to "State Of Euphoria" from 1988 and features the exact same lineup who recorded the predecessor and the band also again opted to hire producer Mark Dodson, in spite of the sound production on "State Of Euphoria (1988)" often being criticized. It would be the last Anthrax album to feature lead vocalist Joey Belladonna in the lineup (he would return to Anthrax in 2010), as he was subsequently fired and replaced by Armored Saint singer John Bush.

Stylistically Anthrax take a darker and heavier turn on "Persistence Of Time", and more or less leave the humour of the early releases behind (the cover of Joe Jackson´s "Got The Time" is an exception and a light moment on an otherwise relatively dark album). Dodson has created a powerful and heavy sounding production, which is a perfect fit for the material. The album features several strong tracks, and nothing is sub par or unremarkable. Even tracks like "H8 Red" and "Discharge", which aren´t often mentioned, are quality material.

"Persistence Of Time" features high level musicianship on all posts. The band are a strong unit delivering sharp rhythms and riffs, blistering guitar solos, and Joey Belladonna´s distinct sounding voice and vocals in front. It´s not always easy to write vocal melody lines on top of aggressive and heavy music, but Belladonna manages to incorporate enough melody and catchy phrases to make the music memorable, but not too much to make it less thrashy and raw. Upon conclusion "Persistence Of Time" is a high quality thrash metal release by Anthrax and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Unitron Persistence of Time, the last Anthrax album to feature Joey Belladonna until 2011's Worship Music, is a great closer to the band's classic lineup. It takes the best of both the all out thrashing of Among the Living and the groovier hooks of State of Euphoria to create a groovy thrash classic.

The Joe Jackson cover Got the Time is probably the biggest hit from the album, and for great reason. It epitomizes the incredibly fun side of Anthrax, often expressed in their covers, and Got the Time almost sounds like a skate punk take on thrash. Belly of the Beast also has a similar vibe, though it's contrasted with a great melodic instrumental Intro to Reality. Blood is some pure groove, and even shows some of the band's influence from hip hop, with my favorite part of the song sounding influenced by the syncopated rhythms and vocal flow of the classics. H8 Red and Keep it in the Family are a couple more of my favorites, melodic, thrashing, and grooving.

Thrash bands would often close their albums with a slower or moodier song, like Metallica with Call of Ktulu of Slayer with Seasons in the Abyss. Anthrax is the opposite, they close the album with the high octane speed of Discharge. While not quite to the whiplash levels of Spreading the Disease's Gung-Ho, it's not far off.

After this, the band would get Armored Saint's John Bush on vocals, and start another row of classic albums and deliver some of the best thrash of the 90's.

Warthur Anthrax tended, with some justification, to be viewed as the most light-heartedly cheesy and least serious of the Big Four bands of thrash metal. Persistence of Time, their last album with Joey Belladonna until 2011's Worship Music, seems to have been crafted as a deliberate attempt to prove that they could bring to bear a bit more gravitas. It's not that they were always frivolous, mind - but the odes to comic book characters and songs about the joy of mosh pits are more or less absent this time, with the band tackling more serious subject matter of the sort which Metallica or Megadeth had been tackling on recent albums.

It's still a competent Anthrax album and their sound doesn't suffer massively from the shift in emphasis, but at the same time it's very slightly more anonymous and generic than, say, Among the Living or Spreading the Disease, where they seemed more able to balance serious subject matter with their chirpier, more upbeat nature.

Time Signature Keep it in the family...

Genre: thrash metal

"Persistence of Time" is another thrash metal classic from Anthrax. Although the pace is a bit slower than on previous releases (although there are some fast songs, like "Gridlock", "One Man Stands" and the punky "Discharge"), and some more groove has been introduced, there is not shortage of aggression, and the sound is unmistakably the characteristic sound Anthrax had in the 1980s.

The album is void of any humor and references to comic books, skating, and all the other lyrical elements that gave Anthrax a more lighthearted feel than many of their contemporary thrash metal colleagues - and that is a shame, because it certainly takes away some of what made Anthrax stand out on the thrash metal scene.

Although this is a thrash metal classic, I am not sure that it appeals to every single thrash metal fan out there. It did take me some time to get into it, and I think that, even if you don't like it at first listen, you should give it a chance.