Anthrax "Volume 8: The Threat is Real"

Volume 8: The Threat Is Real is the eighth studio album by American thrash metal band Anthrax. The album was released on July 28, 1998 by Ignition Records and debuted at number 118 on the Billboard 200 chart. The record was produced by the band and Paul Crook. It features the song "Crush", which appeared in the video game ATV Offroad Fury for PlayStation 2 and in the game's soundtrack. Other released singles from the album were "Inside Out", "Piss N Vinegar" and "Born Again Idiot".

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, in a mixed review for AllMusic, wrote that the album is a continuation of the band's "writing slump" which started with 1993's Sound of White Noise. He said that there aren't many "memorable songs" on the record, and went to call it "transitional album" leading the band to "new, uncharted territory". Stephen Thompson of The A.V. Club found the album to be "aggressive to the point of being exhausting". Martin Popoff in his Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal remarks how the band put a bit of everything in the songs, including multiple speeds, "humor scattered here and there", "big grungy guitars", "meat and potatoes riffing and roaring vocals from Bush", while "experimenting with some different textures and dynamics". The result is not just "an accessible thrash metal record", as is typical with Anthrax.

Track 15 is a hidden track after 2:32 of silence at the end of track 14.

Recording information:

Co-produced by Anthrax.
Arranged by Anthrax.
Mixed at Platinum Island.

Mastered at Sterling Sound.