During the heavy metal resurgence that happened in the 80's, by mid decade a new sub genre of "thrash" metal was starting to gather momentum. Top metal acts like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden simply weren't heavy enough for some tastes with relatively new acts like Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer offering a new, heavier and much more reckless brand of heavy metal. By 1987, Anthrax had released three albums and with their current album at the time, Among The Living enjoying huge success amongst the thrash metal underground. This particular show was recorded in 1987 at London's famed Hammersmith Odeon Theatre during the Among The Living Tour and features the classic Anthrax line-up of Joey Belladonna vocals, Scott Ian guitar, Dan Spitz guitar, Frank Bello bass and Charlie Benante drums. Originally released on VHS in 1987, this classic Anthrax show is now available on DVD through Universal Music and Cherry Red Films.

This DVD gives the viewer nothing more than the show itself. There are no extras aside from a few backstage antics during the tour (and do we really need to have Scott Ian demonstrating how to blow snot rockets out of his nose?). These should've been separated from the rest of the concert footage so as to not disrupt the live performance. The setlist is quite impressive and with material from Among The Living including Among The Living, Caught In A Mosh, I Am The Law, NFL and Indians as well as tracks from Spreading The Disease with AIR, Madhouse, Armed and Dangerous, Medusa and Gung Ho. We also get Metal Thrashing Mad from the Neil Turbin days of the Fistful Of Metal album and I'm The Man from their '87 EP with Charlie, Scott and Frank all grabbing mics for this rap/metal fusion track. The band sounds simply amazing and tight throughout this performance and it's funny to see all the big hair that went along with being in a metal band in the 80's. Aside from the hair, there's nothing else in common between Anthrax and the rest of the "hair metal" bunch. With Among The Living, the riffs got more technical, there was much more "attitude" in their music and they sounded the heaviest that they'd ever sounded. Fans were eating up the album and subsequent tour for one of the greatest thrash metal albums ever recorded even to this day.

I've seen/heard the original VHS version of this before and the sound has been improved immensely. There's no Dolby 5.1 mix but nonetheless, this DVD really sounds good. The camera work is very good as well and captures the band in its prime. It's too bad that more extras weren't included for the DVD release even if it was just Scott, Charlie, Joey, Frank and Dan just looking back and reflecting on a very important chapter in the band and of the thrash metal movement. Over 20 years have passed since this show and it would've been nice to see just how the band looks back on that period in time. Otherwise, a great Anthrax live show and one of the best ever filmed. For fans who don't yet have this, it's a must!!!