I Am the Law

Judge Dredd as subject matter gives this track a campy grandeur that Anthrax leans into fully. The song is longer and more cinematic than typical thrash fare, building through shifts in tempo and dynamics rather than sustaining a single blunt force. There are guitar passages that feel almost triumphant, interspersed with heavier sequences that convey the authoritarian weight of the character. Belladonna's delivery takes on theatrical dimensions, capturing the character's self-righteous certainty — a voice that genuinely believes it is the law. The runtime gives the song room to develop like a comic book arc, complete with rising tension and declarative resolution. This approach — marrying nerd-culture source material to metal with complete earnestness — was somewhat radical for 1987, and it opened a door for a different kind of metal listener: one who grew up reading comics and watching genre films, who found in Anthrax a band that shared their reference points. The song rewards patience; its best moments arrive after the halfway mark.