Review by Adam M on September 16, 2016.

Anthtrax have come out with a nice thrash release with For All Kings. There is a serious spirit of the genre on the release. The riffs complement the classic vocals of Joey Belladona.

The entire affair has an element of fun that is infectious and nice to listen to. Many of the tracks are very addictive. Breathing Lightning and others share an ability to ingrain themselves into your subconscious. It is very fortunate to have Anthrax operating at this level again. The lack of great releases in the thrash genre means this joins Overkill as some of the best from the recent crop excluding quasi-thrash like Sylosis and Revocation. The fiery nature of the music is translated into a slick and catchy approach that has many memorable moments. One will find themselves humming the tracks after listening to them. This is the sign of good thrash, when it starts to become addictive and worth further listens. Still, the music isn’t perfect as there could be more progression to the offerings. The thrash genre is in need of an overhaul. Sure, this is great by the numbers thrash, but one would wish for more innovation in the genre at this point in time. Instrumentally, the band is solid with the guitar riffs taking the main stage over the vocals. The guitar licks are highly addictive and make for the most major portion of the disc. The drumming is good, but one would wish it would be stronger in the mix. Still, the overall collection of instruments is solid.

As far as thrash albums go, this is a pretty spotless collection of songs. It’s also another solid piece of the Anthrax discography that is very good overall at this point. It’s a perfectly placed disc in time that outdoes the new Megadeth easily. It’s not perfect, but For All Kings is very solid thrash.

Rating: 8 out of 10