Published on Mar 19, 2000
The writing on the wall was there for fans of Anthrax in 1991.
All the signs of imminent change and possible disaster were right
there in front of our faces. Why we didn’t recognize it, I don’t
know.
Attack Of The Killer B’s – great, just the graphics someone
who is deathly afraid (no joke) of the little stinging bastards
needs to see – was admittedly a stop-gap release that bought the
band time to work on their follow-up to
Persistence Of Time but also gave the diehard fans one
source for the rare, collectible songs. Of course, not long after
the album’s release, lead singer Joey Belladonna was shown the
door, and the band left Island to reap the benefits (or so it
seemed) of a mega-deal with Elektra.
But dammit, the signs were there. Of the “new” songs
(translation: tracks not recorded live, featured on the import EP
Penikufesin or included on a Public Enemy record),
Belladonna provides lead vocals on two – count ’em, two – of the
six tracks.
Hello?!?
Maybe the reason we didn’t pay attention to the signs of
Belladonna’s imminent departure was because we were all fretting
and fuming about the half-ass quality of this release.
Attack Of The Killer B’s has its moments, but this is one
that’s definitely for the diehard fans only.
Let’s look at the two live tracks first. Quality-wise, these
tracks recorded in Birmingham, England don’t do the band a lot of
justice. The sound quality is a bit muddied, and these aren’t the
easiest tracks to get into from the
Persistence Of Time disc. (For that matter, the last time I
listened to that album, I wasn’t impressed… but that’s another
review for another day.) What would have been interesting is if two
tracks from a promo-only disc,
Free B’s, had been included instead.
The material borrowed from the
Penikufesin EP hasn’t aged too well – the cover of Kiss’s
“Parasite” sounds a bit sloppy – but is still kinda nice to have in
this format. Worth noting: their cover of Trust’s “Sects”. This
particular song still rocks today. But to play devil’s advocate,
why did they choose not to include the French version of
“Antisocial” or their cover of “Friggin’ In The Riggin'” that also
were on
Penikufesin? Maybe to make sure there would still be demand
for the original? Hmm…
The collaboration with Public Enemy, “Bring The Noise,” is still
fun to listen to, and it marked a significant point in the
relationship between rap and metal not seen since Aerosmith and
Run-DMC joined forces for their cover of “Walk This Way”. Rhythm
guitarist Scott Ian proves to be quite the rapper, and the track
diminishes neither band’s power or prestige in any way.
That leaves us with six new tracks on
Attack Of The Killer B’s. Two of the tracks give Anthrax’s
spin on S.O.D. – “Milk (Ode To Billy)” and “Chromatic Death”. (Hmm,
another sign of things that were to come; less than two
years later, S.O.D. – which featured Ian and drummer Charlie
Benante – reunited for
Live At Budokan.) I can’t say I like the addition onto
“Milk,” but the newer, crunchier version of “Chromatic Death” is a
rare instance of a re-make improving on the original. (S.O.D. must
have thought so; they switched “Chromatic Death” to the Anthrax
version.)
The remaining four tracks give new meaning to the phrase “big
mistake”. “Startin’ Up A Posse” proves two things. First, a poorly
written song taking the anti-censorship position can only hurt your
side’s stance… and the fact is, this song is lame to the nth
degree. Second, Ian can’t carry a tune in a bucket when it matters.
(He does a better job on the cover of “Protest And Survive,” in all
fairness.) This track is easily the biggest nugget of dog crap
Anthrax has ever recorded.
Their tongue-in-cheek tribute to rap, “I’m The Man,” gets
re-worked here as “I’m The Man ’91”. It has its moments as well,
but the old saying rings true: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. As
for “N.F.B. (Dallabnikufesin),” this track shows how much throwaway
material was really on this album.
Collections of b-sides and rarities are almost always a
hit-or-miss batch of tracks, but at least the effort to put
together a collection worthy of a band’s name should always be
made. If you pick up
Attack Of The Killer B’s expecting to hear vintage Anthrax,
you’re gonna get stung.