10 Awesome Thrash Metal Bands With One Terrible Album

Anthrax's ill-advised journey into speed metal has a giant Dan Spitz-shaped hole in its proceedings. The infamous album cover, sporting both a great ball of rubbish and a nudist for... reasons is a good warning of the messy noise within.

The final LP released during Anthrax's time with Elektra Records suffers from a litany of mishaps. From recording and label issues to a lack of advertising to experiments in sound that don't pay off, this is easily the lowest point in the Judge Dredd superfans' thrash adventures.

The lyrics, one note and repetitively obsessed with trying to establish an aggressive vibe that once came naturally to them, further hind the LP's vibe. The lack of Spitz's furious guitar riffs, an integral fixture of the band's best work, does the most damage in removing Anthrax's signature sound. The only real uptick in this regard are the guest appearances from Pantera legend Dimebag Darrell Abbott who manages to up the ante on 'Riding Shotgun' and 'King Size'.

Coming two years after the similarly disappointing 'Sound of White Noise', this 1995 release continued Anthrax's deflating '90s creative slump. Sadly this continued in 1998 with the questionably titled 'Volume 8: The Threat Is Real'.

While these two also poorly reflected the thrash stalwart's dwindling efforts, nothing was more deflating than 'Stomp 442'.