THE BIG FOUR SONG CHALLENGE SERIES - Matchup 176

Anthrax "Breathing Lightning" (2016) VS Megadeth "Post American World" (2016) VS Metallica "Halo On Fire" (2016) VS Slayer "Take Control" (2015)

In spite of being a bit of a touchy-feely song, "Breathing Lightning" is really good.  It's anthemic, it has a soaring chorus and even kicks a little ass along the way.  If this album had dropped "Impaled / You Gotta Believe" in favor of "Soror Irrumator" and put this second, this album would have been better off.  "Breathing Lightning" is a song that, in spite of its major key acoustic passages and lyrics about hearing the angels singing manages to get you pumped up, to inspire you.  You can get behind shit like this and that chorus will get stuck in your head.  And afterward, you'll feel better.

"Post American World", at any other point in our history, would seem like a song title and subject matter full of bluster and a bit far-fetched.  I gotta admit now this song sounds a lot more eerie than it did in February.  Extra points to Kiko and Dave for their solos and Chris Adler for shredding like a motherfucker during same.

"Halo On Fire" strikes me as another "sound-alike" moment where the parts when Hetfield isn't singing sound like someone trying to imitate Metallica instead of the genuine article.  There are some okay moments toward the middle section (the harmony leads and solo stand out), but aside from that there's not much use I have for this song.  It's okay I guess, but that just doesn't seem like enough.  (It also has no business being over eight minutes.)

"Take Control" is in a different key than Slayer usually use, so we're off to a better start than "Repentless".  It's got more twists and turns and certainly feels more menacing.  I daresay I even kind of like it.  If I was judging by mere aggro, this would win today's matchup hands down.  Because it was better than I was expecting, I will give it a point ahead of Metallica.  Unfortunately:

"Breathing Lightning": 4
"Post American World": 3
"Take Control": 2
"Halo On Fire": 1

...that don't mean much today.

UPDATE TOTALS:

Metallica: 20
Megadeth: 18
Anthrax: 15
Slayer: 8

ALL TIME TOTALS:

Anthrax: 453
Metallica: 445
Slayer: 439
Megadeth: 405

Stay tuned!

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