Of the metal I've listened to so far I think Anthrax might be the strongest. I'm still not a huge metal fan at all, but the song lyrics seemed to try to be more creative and the instrumentals did show case a lot of talent. The album does have a lot of banging at the beginning, but by the end the sound sort of smooths out into something better. Overall, it makes a more appealing argument for metal and seems to have more thought processed geared toward the lyrics.
History: For Anthrax, their third studio album Among the Living, would be known as their breakthrough album and one of their more popular ones with fans and critics. What I personally find interesting since I am a fan of Stephen King's is how a couple of the songs are based on his stories. Among the Living is based on the character Randall Flagg from The Stand, and A Skeleton in the Closest gets inspiration from the novella, "Apt Pupil."
