AMIABLE ANTHRAX

When Anthrax first hit the Santa Monica Civic stage Friday night, it looked more like a surf band that had accidentally wandered in from a nearby beach than a speed-metal outfit from New York. With three of its members casually attired in shorts and sneakers, the quintet wasn’t about to be mistaken for a glam-scam band like Motley Crue.

It was this kind of unpretentious attitude, along with the group’s unbridled enthusiasm, that transformed Anthrax’s show into a refreshing, if musically inconsistent affair. There was little of the self-importance and misogynist stage patter that muddles most heavy-metal shows. Unlike speed kings Slayer, this band of amiable shag-heads emphasized fun and frolic over braggadocio and darkness.

With firecrackers flying through the air, the slam pit spinning dizzily and bassist Frank Bello and guitarist Scott Ian darting about the stage like hyperactive schoolboys, the Civic was a hotbed of activity. Too bad this party didn’t establish more musical momentum. The band’s industrial-strength attack revealed an occasional gem, but there were too many moments when rapid riffs were flimsily dressed up as songs. If Anthrax ever does piece together an hour’s worth of molten rock, it just might become the Circle Jerks of speed-metal.