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Among the Living is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Anthrax. It was released on March 16, 1987, by Megaforce Records in the US and by Island Records in the rest of the world. The album is dedicated to Cliff Burton of Metallica, who died in a bus accident six months before its release while Metallica were on tour with Anthrax as the opening act.

Veteran engineer Eddie Kramer, at his first venture with a thrash metal act, co-produced the album. Recording proceeded smoothly, but different visions for the sound of the final release created disagreements between Anthrax and the producer during the audio mixing.

Anthrax members described the album as their major breakthrough, as it marked the progression from the band playing in small clubs to arenas and stadiums. The album was critically acclaimed, and promoted the band among the "Big Four" of thrash metal. The band's second gold record, Among the Living was certified gold by the RIAA on July 31, 1990.

Background
The original members of Anthrax grew up in New York City listening to 1970s rock and hard rock[2] and turned to heavy metal in the 1980s, profoundly influenced by bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Motörhead.[3] Drummer Charlie Benante was also a fan of bands playing music considered extreme at the time, such as Raven and Venom,[4] and he and guitarist Scott Ian enjoyed hardcore as much as metal.[5] Guitarist Dan Spitz, originally in the band Overkill,[6] was an accomplished, trained musician,[7] while Joey Belladonna had a background as a singer in cover bands of arena rock acts Journey, Foreigner and Bad Company.[8] The integration of these differing musical sensibilities resulted in Anthrax's second album, Spreading the Disease, praised by critics for showing decisive progress from the band's debut release, Fistful of Metal,[9] and for introducing a unique sound, which opposed the fast and heavy riffing of thrash metal with Belladonna's clean and melodic vocals.[10] That album also marked the beginning of the songwriting method that would see the band through its most successful period. Benante would create riffs and rough musical structures for all the songs,[11] that would later be developed, integrated and arranged with the other musicians.[7] Ian composed all the lyrics and worked on them with Belladonna to create vocal melodies that were fit to his high-pitched, melodic singing style.[12]

Anthrax had spent about six months in 1985 recording Spreading the Disease, their first album for the major label Island Records, which sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide.[13] They had been on tour to support the album since its release, both as headliners in small clubs and as an opening act for other bands.[14] When opening for W.A.S.P. and Black Sabbath on their tour supporting the album Seventh Star, Anthrax played for the first time in mid-sized arenas and were thrilled by the experience and by audiences' reaction to their music.[15]

After a brief stop to rehearse new songs in July 1986, Anthrax joined longtime friends and Megaforce Records labelmates Metallica[16] on the European leg of Metallica's Damage, Inc. Tour supporting Master of Puppets.[17] In Sweden on September 27, Metallica bassist Cliff Burton was killed when the band's tour bus skidded off the road.[18] His death profoundly impacted the thrash-metal community in which he was a highly regarded figure,[19] and the members of Anthrax dedicated their new album Among the Living to his memory.[4] In 2012, Ian said in an interview that part of the reason "... the album sounds so angry is because Cliff died. We'd lost our friend and it was so wrong and unfair."[20]

Track listings
All credits adapted from the original releases.[100]

All tracks are written by Anthrax, except "I Am the Law" and "Imitation of Life" by Anthrax and Danny Lilker

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Among the Living" 5:16
2. "Caught in a Mosh" 4:59
3. "I Am the Law" 5:57
4. "Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)" 4:54
5. "A Skeleton in the Closet" 5:32
Side two
No. Title Length
6. "Indians" 5:40
7. "One World" 5:56
8. "A.D.I./Horror of It All" 7:49
9. "Imitation of Life" 4:10
2009 deluxe edition bonus tracks
No. Title Writer(s) Length
10. "Indians" (alternate lead) Anthrax 5:39
11. "One World" (alternate take) Anthrax 5:55
12. "Imitation of Life" (alternate take) Anthrax, Lilker 4:26
13. "Bud E Luv Bomb and Satan's Lounge Band" Anthrax 2:45
14. "I Am the Law" (live in Dallas) Anthrax, Lilker 6:03
15. "I'm the Man" (instrumental) Anthrax, John Rooney 3:04
Total length: 78:18