12. Bad BrainsI Against I
To this day, when we’re writing Anthrax records, there’ll be a moment when Charlie [Benante] and I, one of us will look up and say, "What would Bad Brains do? Where would Bad Brains go?" We’re all such massive fans. Even though this was kind of a departure from their earlier sound, which was much more dirty and brutal and in-your-face, it’s like they graduated and became this band with longer songs and proper song structures and, for me, it didn’t affect the way I felt about them at all. They might have had a backlash from the true hardcore and punk following but I fucking love this record, top-to-bottom, every single song. I put this up there with albums like Reign In Blood. This is a perfect album, from the intro, all the way through to ‘Return To Heaven’. Ten perfect songs. It’s another record where I can’t just listen to one song. I have to listen to the whole album, straight through. One of the best bands of all time. Some people will say "blasphemy" but I think this is their best record. I love the early stuff too, but this really fucking moved me. Every song. I literally listen to this album at least twice a week, all these years later.
