*** 1/2 ANTHRAX “Persistence of Time” <i> Island</i>

Anthrax has always been the least apocalyptic of new-metal bands, obsessed with Mad magazine instead of the post-nuclear battlefield; playing at a spare, crunching walk where the competition screeches through warp-speed diminished-seventh chords. They’ve been the first in the genre to accommodate outside influences, too, from hip-hop to power pop to hard-core punk. (Anthrax’s biggest hit, “I’m the Man,” is basically a rap song.)

Here, Anthrax use the bricks of their sound to construct something different, way closer to the dissonant post-punk of Gang of Four or Fugazi than to the death spew of Sodom or Vio-Lence.

The title song might be the first mature speed-metal meditation on middle age, and “Blood” seems to be a full-on attempt at the fusion of metal and dub, with Anthrax’s patented blocks of pitched white noise taking the backbeat. The lyrics are heavily anti-racist, anti-hatred, pro-togetherness. And the Joe Jackson cover even fits in. “Persistence of Time” is more or less an art album within the context of Anthrax, and a small masterpiece of metal.