As a long time Anthrax fan I can say without a doubt that remastered versions of their Island catalog was waaaaay overdue. All in all, this is a nice compilation of their 4 studio albums as well as some EP stuff from 85-91. Where my gripe comes about with this is that basically well over half of each record (Spreading the Disease, Among the Living, State of Euphoria and Persistence of Time) is represented in this compilation. Personally, I'd sooner they would have just re-released those four records completely remastered. It eliminates the omissions that every long-time fan is going to have.

Now the positives are this. These songs sound amazing compared to the original releases. It is so nice to finally have an upfront and agressive mix of a song like "Be All, End All" that gives the song the punch it always had but the poor production always took from it. It is also cool to have the track that really surprised me, being their cover of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" remastered. It was a really nice "bonus" inclusion (if only they'd have done the same with "Parasite"). The worst complaint I can give to this is that some of the songs sound "treble heavy". I think this is a matter of issues with the source material and that in order to make the tracks more punchy with the remasters that the high end sounding a bit harsh was simply inevitable. I'm just glad they didn't try to re-record parts of the songs for the re-issues as many bands have done recently (Yes, I'm looking at you Ozzy).

Bottom line, definitely a long time coming and the improvement in sound is dramatic. I highly recommend it, but I have to wonder if I am going to be shelling out more cash later to finally get remasters of songs like "Stand or Fall", "Imitation of Life", "Misery Loves Company" and "One Man Stands" with full record remasters?

Anthrax was one of my favorite metal bands growing up in the 80's. They were heavy as all get out, but they also had a street credibility that made them stick out in a sea of ultra-serious metal made by people wearing tons of leather and spikes (and makeup in lesser cases). Anthrax were content to go on stage wearing just t-shirts and jam shorts which really helped them connect to their fans in a much more personal way than a lot of other metal bands from the classic era.

This 2 disc collection covers the 1985-1991 years of Anthrax's career which is what many a fan consider to be the true lineup anyway. The lineup during these years were vocalist Joey Belladona, bassist Frankie Bello, lead guitarist Danny Spitz and founding members on rhythm guitar and drums Scott Ian & Charlie Benante respectively. This set also honors the 25th anniversary of the release of their classic 1985 album "Spreading the Disease" which was the debut of then new vocalist Joey Belladona (who actually had made his debut on a previous E.P. entitled Armed & Daneragous, but why quibble). He had repacled their terrible original singer who had mangled their 1st album, 1984's Fistul of Metal, which was musically an otherwise fine debut album.

While I would have preferred that they had just released re-mastered versions of the actual albums, this seems like it's going to be as good as it's going to get for a while. I guess we should be thankful that Island/Universal gave us this at all.

Basically you get 7 out of the 9 tracks off of 1985's "Spreading the Disease, 6 out of the 9 tracks off of 1987's "Among the Living", 6 tracks from 1988's "State of Euphoria" and 6 tracks from 1990's "Persitence of Time". They also throw in 2 tracks off of the "I'm the Man" e.p., their classic matchup with Public Enemy (Bring Tha Noize) and 2 tracks from an odds/sods EP which make up the last 2 tracks on disc 2. (one of those is a hilarious French language version of the track Anti-Social.)

The sound has been remastered as to where everything is clearer and you don't have to crank the heck out of your stereo to get it loud enough. The production sound itself & mix have been left untouched. While still sounding a little raw, compared to other metal bands of the era, it sounds fantastic. The new mastering also makes things a bit clearer as well without affecting the mix.

The set contains great liner notes from all of the band member reminiscing about the old days and what those classic albums mean to each of them.

Overall, a very classy set that should more than please Anthrax fans who have been clamoring for something to be remastered at some point of their catalog. While I'm still holding out hope that we'll one day see new remastered special edition's of each of the 4 albums themselves, this is still a great collection nonetheless.

I'm more of a fan of the Belladonna era of Anthrax so I welcomed this with open arms and am hoping to catch the reunited classic lineup on tour at some point. Hopefully, they'll make an all new record as well.

Like many of you, I'd prefer that they would just re-release their Belladonna material completely remastered, but this is worthwhile in the meantime, or even if they never get around to doing that. This is a surprisingly comprehensive set, as it literally has like 2/3 of the classic Anthrax material. Frankly, this will probably still be worthwhile even after the full re-masters are re-released, if ever, as it's got 7 of the 9 tracks from 'Spreading the Disease' and pretty much all the good material from 'State of Euphoria', so I dunno if replacing those would even be necessary. Again, the remastering makes it sound much better overall. It varies some, depending upon the album, but it's always notable. I'd actually recommend this to people looking to get into Anthrax despite the fact that I'm generally opposed to getting greatest hits compilations. (Greatest hits are for housewives and little girls, remember?) But this is just so damn comprehensive, at least of the era it covers, that it's actually a very good representation. And the material itself? Oh, it's pretty much all totally classic thrash, with a few other fun things thrown in like their cover of 'Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath' and 'Bring Tha Noise'. Simply put, Anthrax put out some of the best thrash of all-time, and most of it is here.

Yeah, this is a very good collection.

Great collection but the CD packaging is bad. The hinges on the insert tray broke the first time i flipped it over to get at the second disc.

Bands put out compilations to fulfill contracts with the record companies, without any regard to the fans in mind. However, not the case here. Anthrax have given us a compilation of their greatest stuff, and very much worth the $$ I paid for it.

This CD is their greatest hits, starting from ARMED AND DANEROUS, and finishing off with ATTACK OF THE KILLER B'S. A great era in metal history to say the least.

In a nutshell, you are about to buy a CD worth having in your collection. So stop contemplating, and hit "Place in Cart", you won't regret it.