Persistence of Time

Persistence of Time is the fifth studio album by the American thrash metal band Anthrax. It was released on August 21, 1990, through Megaforce Worldwide/Island Records and was nominated in 1991 for a Grammy Award in the Best Metal Performance category.

The album included the singles, "Got the Time" (a Joe Jackson cover) and "In My World" (which was performed by the band on the Married... with Children episode, "My Dinner with Anthrax"). Persistence of Time was the last full Anthrax album to feature vocalist Joey Belladonna until 2011's Worship Music.

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Album information

Anthrax returned to the studio in the fall of 1989 with Mark Dodson (who produced the previous album, State of Euphoria) to start work on their fifth album. Recording of the album was difficult, with a large structure fire causing the band to lose more than $100,000 worth of gear and their rehearsal studio^[3] on January 24, 1990.^{[citation needed]} Following this disaster, the band moved to a different studio in late February of that year to finish work on the album.

The album's tone is decidedly more contemplative and mature than the bulk of Anthrax's previous work. Abandoning the humor and comic book references which were common on their previous albums, the lyrical focus of Persistence of Time is the need for tolerance and peace.^[4] Reaction to Persistence of Time was mixed, with critics and fans alternately panning and praising this darker sound. The band also introduced a progressive side of the music which had not been present in their earlier work, while also placing a reduced emphasis on typical thrash metal elements such as fast tempo and aggression.

This is the last full studio album to feature Joey Belladonna on vocals before John Bush took over vocal duties. Belladonna appeared on several songs on the 1991 EP Attack of the Killer B's before splitting acrimoniously from the band in 1992. He returned to the band in June 2010 to record the album Worship Music, which was released in 2011.

The introduction to the instrumental song "Intro to Reality" featured dialogue from an episode of The Twilight Zone called "Deaths-Head Revisited". "Keep It in the Family", "In My World", and "Belly of the Beast" were later re-recorded with the John Bush/Rob Caggiano line-up for the album The Greater of Two Evils.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[5]
The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	7/10^[6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[7]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[8]
Select	^[9]

Persistence of Time's highest position on the Billboard 200 chart was No. 24.^[10] It was certified gold by the RIAA on January 17, 1991.^[11]

Steve Huey of AllMusic gave the album a favorable review, saying that it "rivals Among the Living as Anthrax's best album". "The more cartoonish side of the band" is substituted by a "dark, uncompromising examination of society's dirty underbelly", which makes Persistence of Time "their most lyrically consistent album".^[5] Kim Neely of the American magazine Rolling Stone underlines the social tone of the lyrics and describes Persistence of Time as "a foray into the dreary, gray bowels of urban hell", praising singer Joey Belladonna for "railing against every societal ill known to city-bred man". He concludes saying that the album "ain't the most uplifting thing to listen to, but it's real."^[12] A similar concept was explained by a review by The New York Times of November 18, 1990, which said that "the music carries the exhilaration of a desperate struggle."^[13] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff praised the "admirable Prong/Pantera/Metallica '90s minimalism at work here", but found "the overall effect just so dense and relentless that it just wears you out by hangover's end."^[6] Loudwire ranked the album #25 on their list "Top 90 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 90's".^[14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Anthrax except "Got the Time" by Joe Jackson

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Time"	6:55
2.	"Blood"	7:13
3.	"Keep It in the Family"	7:08
4.	"In My World"	6:25
5.	"Gridlock"	5:17

Side two
No.	Title	Length
6.	"Intro to Reality" (instrumental)	3:23
7.	"Belly of the Beast"	4:47
8.	"Got the Time" (Joe Jackson cover)	2:44
9.	"H8 Red"	5:04
10.	"One Man Stands"	5:38
11.	"Discharge"	4:12
Total length:		58:40

Japanese edition bonus track
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"Protest and Survive" (Discharge cover)	Garry Maloney, Tony "Bones" Roberts, Roy "Rainy" Wainwright, Kelvin "Cal" Morris	2:22
12.	"Discharge"		4:12
13.	"'Backwards Message Quiz'" (Spoken track by Charlie Benante played in reverse; set up a quiz mentioned in the Japanese-language booklet. Removed from 2007 and all future reprints of the Japanese CD.)		0:13
Total length:			61:15

Personnel

Band members

Joey Belladonna – lead vocals
Dan Spitz – lead guitar, backing vocals
Scott Ian – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Frank Bello – bass, backing vocals
Charlie Benante – drums

Production

Anthrax – producer, liner notes
Mark Dodson – producer, basic tracks engineer
Steve Thompson, Michael Barbiero – mixing at Electric Lady Studios, New York
Greg Goldman, Brian Schueble, Marnie Bryant, Ed Korengo – assistant engineers
Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk, New York
Jon and Marsha Zazula – executive producers, management
Don Brautigam – artwork
Waring Abbott – photography

Crew

Rick Downey – lighting, management
George Geranios – sound
Paul Crook – lead guitar tech
Bill Pulaski – band
Mike Tempesta – rhythm guitar tech
Troy Boyer – bass tech
Walter Gemenhardt – drum tech
Art Ring, Maria Ferrero – management

Charts

Chart (1990-1991)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)^[15]	30
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[16]	45
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)^[17]	10
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[18]	35
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[19]	4
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[20]	15
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[21]	46
UK Albums (OCC)^[22]	13
US Billboard 200^[23]	24

Chart (2020)	Peak position
Scottish Albums (OCC)^[24]	86
UK Independent Albums (OCC)^[25]	27

Certifications


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)^[26]	Gold	500,000^{^}
^{^} Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

^ "Anthrax - Got the Time". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
^ "Anthrax - In My World". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
^ "Anthrax's Frank Bello - Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?". YouTube. LoudWire. April 9, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
^ "26 Years Ago: Anthrax Release Persistence of Time". Loudwire. LoudWire. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
^ ^a ^b Huey, Steve. "Anthrax: Persistence of Time". AllMusic. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
^ ^a ^b Popoff, Martin (August 1, 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. p. 2006. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (2004). (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. p. 20. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
^ Perry, Neil (September 1990). "Killing Time". Select. No. 3. p. 74.
^ "Persistence of Time Billboard Albums". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
^ RIAA Gold and Platinum Search for albums by Anthrax. Retrieved on May 19, 2013.
^ Neely, Kim (October 4, 1990). "Album Reviews:Anthrax - Persistence of Time". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 8, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
^ Pareles, Jon (November 18, 1990). "Home entertainment/recordings: and keep in mind". The New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
^ "Top 90 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the '90s". Loudwire.
^ "Australiancharts.com – Anthrax – Persistence of Time". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Anthrax – Persistence of Time" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Anthrax – Persistence of Time" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ "Charts.nz – Anthrax – Persistence of Time". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Anthrax – Persistence of Time". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ "Swedishcharts.com – Anthrax – Persistence of Time". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ "Anthrax Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ "American album certifications – Anthrax – Persistence of Time". Recording Industry Association of America.

External links

Persistence of Time at Discogs (list of releases)

v t e Anthrax
Scott Ian Charlie Benante Frank Bello Joey Belladonna Jonathan Donais Dan Lilker Greg Walls Greg D'Angelo Neil Turbin Dan Spitz Matt Fallon John Bush Paul Crook Dan Nelson Rob Caggiano Jon Dette
Studio albums	Fistful of Metal Spreading the Disease Among the Living State of Euphoria Persistence of Time Sound of White Noise Stomp 442 Volume 8: The Threat Is Real We've Come for You All The Greater of Two Evils Worship Music For All Kings
Live albums	Live: The Island Years Music of Mass Destruction Alive 2 Gigantour Caught in a Mosh: BBC Live in Concert The Big Four: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria (with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer)
Extended plays	Armed and Dangerous I'm the Man Penikufesin Inside Out Summer 2003 Anthems
Compilations	Attack of the Killer B's Return of the Killer A's Madhouse: The Very Best of Anthrax Anthrology: No Hit Wonders (1985–1991)
Songs	"Madhouse" "I Am the Law" "Indians" "Antisocial" "Got the Time" "Bring the Noise" "Only" "Black Lodge"
Video albums	Music of Mass Destruction Alive 2 - The DVD Anthrology: No Hit Wonders (1985–1991) The Big 4 Live from Sofia, Bulgaria
Related articles	Discography Band members Stormtroopers of Death Nuclear Assault Armored Saint The Damned Things Headbangers Ball Tour Clash of the Titans American Carnage Tour
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This page was last edited on 11 February 2024, at 15:41

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