Fistful of Metal

Fistful of Metal
Studio album by Anthrax
Released	January 1984
Recorded	1983
Genre	Thrash metal, speed metal
Length	35:33
Label	Megaforce
Producer	Anthrax, Carl Canedy
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Anthrax chronology
Fistful of Metal (1984) Spreading the Disease (1985)

Fistful of Metal is the name of the debut album by American thrash metal band Anthrax. The album was released in January 1984 by Megaforce Records in the United States and by Music For Nations internationally.

History

The album featured original vocalist Neil Turbin (who would later form Deathriders) and bassist Danny Lilker who would later form Nuclear Assault.

Post release

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Danny Lilker and Scott Ian had been the original founders of the band, but Ian elected to fire Lilker shortly after the release of the album. Ian had several reasons for doing so, specifically: the band found him to be lazy and very unprofessional, he had failed to pay his share of the rent for the band's rehearsal sessions, he had required more than thirty takes (2 entire days worth of studio time) to record the song "I'm Eighteen."

As his replacement, the band hired drummer Charlie Benante's nephew, Frank Bello, who has played on every Anthrax album ever since.

Neil Turbin had contributed some of the main song ideas, lyrics, titles and arrangements to songs on the debut album. Ian wanted to have more control over the band, and Benante, who played guitar in addition to drums, wanted to be able to make more contributions to songwriting feeling the tracks on the first album were weak. Turbin was fired from the band and Ian and Benante started a songwriting partnership with Ian writing all the lyrics, and Benante began writing the music.

Reissues and Other Releases

Fistful of Metal was released as a double album in the U.K., featuring extra mixes of tracks that were not included on the U.S. edition^{[citation needed]}. In 2000, Megaforce repackaged and re-release a compilation of Fistful of Metal and the 1985 Anthrax EP Armed and Dangerous which featured some liner notes, but discluded any new mixes and bonus tracks and the original cover, which was replaced by a censored version.

Track listing

Personnel

• Neil Turbin – Vocals
• Dan Spitz – Lead Guitar
• Scott Ian – Rhythm Guitar
• Danny Lilker – Bass
• Charlie Benante – Drums