Anthrax‘s sophomore album “Spreading The Disease” will turn 30 on October 30th. The milestone has not escape the band, with Universal plotting a 30th anniversary edition of the album for a November 20th release date. Thanks to some astute archiving by drummer Charlie Benante, the group have welled up a number of rarities for the two-disc anniversary edition. Those include nine rhythm tracks from 1984, frontman Joey Belladonna‘s 1984 demo recording of “Medusa” and eight live songs from the bands first show in Japan back in 1987. Guitarist Scott Ian reflected on the album:
“We didn’t know what we were doing, but we totally knew what we were doing. I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s where we were at, a bunch of 21 year-old kids making our major label debut on a shoestring budget with nothing but a dream and a bunch of songs that we thought killed. We were right and our dream came true. Thank you to all the fans that put this record and Anthrax on the map way back when and still support us today. Cheers my friends!”
Disc One:
01 – “A.I.R.”
02 – “Lone Justice”
03 – “Madhouse”
04 – “S.S.D./Stand Or Fall”
05 – “The Enemy”
06 – “Aftershock”
07 – “Armed And Dangerous”
08 – “Medusa”
09 – “Gung-Ho”
10 – “Medusa” (Joey Belladonna demo)
Disc Two:
01 – “A.I.R.” (live in Tokyo, 1987)
02 – “Metal Thrashing Mad” (live in Tokyo, 1987)
03 – “The Enemy” (live in Tokyo, 1987)
04 – “Madhouse” (live in Tokyo, 1987)
05 – “Howling Furries” (live in Tokyo, 1987)
06 – “Armed And Dangerous” (live in Tokyo, 1987)
07 – “Gung-Ho” (live in Tokyo, 1987)
08 – “Soldiers of Metal” (live in Tokyo, 1987)
09 – “Lone Justice” (1984 rhythm track)
10 – “Gung-Ho” (1984 rhythm track)
11 – “Metal Thrashing Mad” (1984 rhythm track)
12 – “Raise Hell” (1984 rhythm track)
13 – “Stand Or Fall” (1984 rhythm track)
14 – “Aftershock” (1984 rhythm track)
15 – “Armed And Dangerous” (1984 rhythm track)
16 – “Madhouse” (1984 rhythm track)
17 – “The Enemy” (1984 rhythm track)
