Fistful of Metal

Despite its classic album art—surely one of the best hand-drawn covers in heavy metal history—Anthrax’s 1984 debut is typically regarded as an aberration in the band’s catalog. It’s the only album they made with vocalist Neil Turbin and founding bassist Danny Lilker, which separates it from the rest of the band’s career. Guitarist and bandleader Scott Ian maintains that the album\'s poor production makes it unlistenable, a view that many fans share. Nonetheless, *Fistful of Metal* has its followers, and for good reason. It’s a seething display of early thrash, verifying that the band had learned well from the holy trinity: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Motörhead. “Deathrider,” “Subjugator,” and “Howling Furies” are terrific rock songs, played with an old-world grit that would soon be subsumed by metal’s all-consuming need for speed. Though midtempo songs like “Anthrax” made it clear that Anthrax had much love for classic rock outfits like AC/DC and Alice Cooper (whose “I’m Eighteen” gets a worthy cover), the band introduced their own blueprint with “Metal Thrashing Mad,” the song that would give the emerging genre of thrash its name.