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Track Listing: A.I.R Lone Justice Madhouse S.S.C./Stand Or Fall The Enemy Aftershock Armed and Dangerous Medusa Gung-Ho

"Spreading the Disease" is the second album from now-legendary thrash outfit Anthrax. It is the first album to feature Joey Belladonna and Frank Bello. It was released on October 30th, 1985.

The album opens up with the track "A.I.R", which features some incredible riff-work from Dan Spitz and Scott Ian. There's a lot of melody going on in "A.I.R", specifically in the middle of the song, right before, and during the solos. Joey Belladonna really shines on this track, giving fans their first taste of his style and sound. It was a good choice to open the album with, but it seems to drag on a bit with a running time of 5 minutes, 45 seconds.

There really are a slew of classics on this album, including the infamous "Madhouse." Tracks such as "Gung-Ho", a ripping, thrashing opus, and "Armed and Dangerous", a soulful ballad, really shine on this album, and show the yin/yang balance Anthrax managed to perfect.

The track that I personally love the most is "S.S.C/Stand or Fall", which has a very thick Asian/Middle eastern vibe in the beginning and transitions into a brutal, heavy, and insane thrash epic, with melodic riffs, and great vocal harmonies.

Overall, "Spreading the Disease" is an album that will live on in infamy forever in the thrash hall of fame. This album bleeds energy and great musicianship. The production on it isn't half bad, either; a rarity for 80s era thrash albums. Anthrax made their mark on music with this album alone. It put them on the map, and really brought them into the eye of the public. Every fan should have this album in their collection.