Anthrax thrashing House of Blues

They were a grin in a scene full of grimaces, a knowing wink amongst a bevy of eye gougers.

Of the so-called "Big Four" of pioneering '80s thrash bands, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, it was the latter group that stood out as the most melodically refined and also, at times, the most whimsical.

They performed in brightly colored shorts, affixed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stickers to their guitars and penned songs about their favorite Stephen King novels.

Hailing from multi-culti New York City, Anthrax also was among the first acts of their ilk to venture far outside the bounds of the genre, dropping a tongue-in-cheek, novelty rap metal hit, "I'm the Man," in 1987, thereby prefacing the hip-hop-abetted nu metal boom, which they further helped catalyze with their collaboration with Public Enemy on a reworking of the seminal rap group's "Bring the Noise."

But even though they sold more records than Slayer in their heyday and were way more fun live than Megadeth, Anthrax was the band who saw their fortunes fall the furthest in the mid- to late '90s when all of said acts struggled to find their footing in the post-grunge era.

Nowadays, though, Anthrax has returned to strong form, reuniting with glory years vocalist Joey Belladonna for a fierce thrash throwback in last year's "Worship Music."

Prepare to genuflect, dudes.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.