For those of us old enough to remember a time before Grunge, Death or Nu Metal, when "Master Of Puppets", "Reign In Blood" and "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying" were fresh in the stores; a time when Thrash was the new king. The late eighties produced four truly significant bands of merit who would dominate this genre, fending off all pretenders and imitators to their crown. Of the 'big four', Anthrax produced probably their most memorable and genre defining work during this time "Among The Living", "State Of Euphoria" and to a lesser degree "Persistence Of Time". Then came the split from Spitz and Belladonna and with it the end of an era for the boys from New Jersey.

Fifteen years after the split of the "Among The Living" line-up it has returned, as the band put it "to celebrate the twentieth birthday of the inception of this version of the group". The cynics out there however would label the reformation as nothing more than a cash cow to be milked until its udders bleed. While there is little doubt that the financial rewards for such a reunion can't be denied I would like to believe that deep down somewhere in the souls of Messer's Ian and Benante their reasons were purely fan satisfaction driven, rather than for the love of cold hard cash.

Anthrax can be one of the few who when calling on their back catalogue can select from such a the wealth of material; and each one a classic in it's own right. Alive 2 covers the whole expanse of the pre Bush era, this set list really is a very best of....live. Leaving your skepticism at the door for the reason for of the reunion, and solely appreciate the album for what it is and it is then you realize, the Anthrax of 2006 are as slick and as potent as they ever were. Recorded in one evening in-front of their home town crowd, this really is what live albums are about. Raw, yet not poor production allows you to feel the atmosphere ensuring the album does not have a studio vibe that so many of today's live records unfortunately have.

This double disk edition comes with an equally impressive array of visual material, courtesy of a cram packed DVD. The whole set that makes up the live CD, live and in glorious Technicolor is of course present and correct, along with various other little tit bits. The most notable inclusion is of course the documentary that recounts the meeting of Belladonna, Spitz, Bello, Ian and Benante for the first time since their original split and their various stories of life on the road, reasons for the reunion and various other tales. All of which have an around the campfire feel about them. While this release may have sent larger shock waves around the rock world fifteen years ago, at the height of the bands powers, it still remains both compulsive listening and viewing. Who needs the cynics anyway!