Belladonna fired from band

In early 1992, shortly after reportedly signing a $10 million record deal with Elektra Records and following their appearance in Married… with Children , Belladonna was fired from Anthrax over creative and stylistic differences. After firing Belladonna, the remaining members of Anthrax auditioned several vocalists including Mark Osegueda of Death Angel and Spike Xavier of Mind Over Four . However, Armored Saint vocalist John Bush was the standout favorite and had in fact been floated as a potential replacement for Belladonna a few years earlier, due to questions about his reliability stemming from drug and alcohol abuse. The band’s first album with Bush and for Elektra, Sound of White Noise , was released in 1993. Produced by Dave Jerden (then-known for his work with Jane’s Addiction and Alice in Chains), the album marked a change from Anthrax’s earlier work, with a dark sound influenced by alternative rock , and it received mostly positive reviews. Critic Dave Connolley of AllMusic wrote that Bush “has a lower-register voice than Belladonna, and the result is menacing, premeditated, and sinister.” The song ” Only ” was released as the album’s first single. In the liner notes for Return of the Killer A’s , Ian said that James Hetfield told him it was a “perfect song”. In keeping with the band’s eye for unlikely collaborations, classical composer Angelo Badalamenti provided music for “Black Lodge” (a nod to Twin Peaks ). This album demonstrated that Anthrax had fully shed its cartoonish persona in favor of mature, thoughtful songwriting, which began with Persistence of Time . The success of Sound of White Noise dissolved any fan worries that the band would not recover from their split with Belladonna; it was certified gold by the RIAA nearly two months after its release, and gave Anthrax their highest chart position to date at number seven on the Billboard 200 . The album also saw Anthrax continuing to headline arenas and theaters or amphitheaters, taking several bands such as Suicidal Tendencies , White Zombie , Quicksand , Fight and Clawfinger out as supporting acts.