State of Euphoria

State of Euphoria
Studio album by Anthrax
Released	September 19, 1988
Recorded	April–June 1988
Genre	Thrash metal
Length	52:35
Label	Megaforce Records, Island Records
Producer	Mark Dodson, Anthrax
Anthrax chronology
Among the Living (1987) State of Euphoria (1988) Persistence of Time (1990)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Sputnikmusic	[2]
Ultimate Guitar Archive	[3]

State of Euphoria is the fourth studio album by the American heavy metal band Anthrax. It was released on September 19, 1988 through Megaforce/Island Records.

Album information

The album was produced by Anthrax and Mark Dodson, with Alex Perialas engineering. The album reached #30 on the Billboard 200 chart in late 1988 and was certified Gold by the RIAA. The songs "Who Cares Wins", dealing with the plight of the homeless, and "Antisocial" were released as singles with accompanying music videos.

The song "Misery Loves Company" was based on the Stephen King novel Misery, while "Now It's Dark" was inspired by the David Lynch film Blue Velvet, specifically the behavior of the sexually depraved, self-asphyxiating, murderous sociopath Frank Booth, as played by Dennis Hopper. The song was years later made into simlish for the radio on the The Sims PC game. The song "Make Me Laugh" is critical of Televangelism, a popular target of thrash metal bands of that period.

The back cover of the album contains a parody picture of the band drawn by Mort Drucker, a caricaturist best known for his artwork in Mad Magazine.

Reception

Although the album contains some of what would become Anthrax's best known songs such as "Antisocial" and "Be All, End All", critical reception was lukewarm. The album failed to live up to the expectations, commercial and otherwise, set by the band's previous releases, Among the Living and the I'm the Man EP.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Be All, End All"	Anthrax	6:22
2.	"Out of Sight, Out of Mind"	Anthrax	5:13
3.	"Make Me Laugh"	Anthrax	5:41
4.	"Antisocial" (Trust cover)	Bernie Bonvoisin, Norbert Krief	4:27
5.	"Who Cares Wins"	Anthrax	7:35
6.	"Now It's Dark"	Anthrax	5:34
7.	"Schism"	Anthrax	5:27
8.	"Misery Loves Company"	Anthrax	5:40
9.	"13"	Anthrax	0:49
10.	"Finale"	Anthrax	5:47

Personnel

• Joey Belladonna – Lead vocals
• Dan Spitz – Lead guitar
• Scott Ian – Rhythm guitar, Backing vocals
• Frank Bello – Bass guitar, Backing vocals
• Charlie Benante – Drums
• Anthrax – Producer
• Mark Dodson – Producer
• Carol Freedman – Cello
• Alex Perialas – Engineer, Associate producer
• Jon Zazula – Executive producer
• Marsha Zazula – Executive producer
• Bridget Daly – Assistant engineer
• Don Brautigam – Artwork
• Gene Ambo – Photography
• Mort Drucker – Artwork
• Paul Speck – Assistant engineer

References

1. ^ State of Euphoria at Allmusic
2. ^ http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/12473/Anthrax-State-of-Euphoria/
3. ^ http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/compact_discs/anthrax/state_of_euphoria/index.html