Anthrax struggled for a few months trying out new singers. They finally settled upon John Bush, formerly of Los Angeles's Armored Saint. Bush had been invited by Johnny Z to try out for the band. He was exactly what Anthrax was looking for, not just as a singer, but as a member of a hard working band. "Once the phone call came, I asked a lot of questions. I wanted to know where everyone's heads were at. I said ‘I want to create, I want to contribute,' ‘cause I like doing that, I like writing." Leaving Armored Saint was a difficult decision for John, who had spent ten years with them. "Musically speaking, I was really happy with Armored Saint—we all were. John explains. "We made great music. Unfortunately, not enough people were exposed to it to have somewhat of a financial security with it. Look, I'm not a martyr, and anyone who says, ‘I just do it for the music,' is already really successful. Being broke sucks. You need some stability in life, however, and it just seemed like the chances of becoming successful were getting slimmer and slimmer. As spiritual and hokey as this may sound, it felt like it wasn't meant to be. Believe me, walking away from Armored Saint wasn't easy."

Their new album, Sound of White Noise, came out in April of ‘93. It was a new start for Anthrax. They had a new singer and a new label. They had a new producer, Dave Jerden, who had worked with John Bush in the past with Armored Saint's Symbol of Salvation. John Bush was contributing to the song-writing, which was a major thing Scott, the main lyricist, wanted in a singer. The lyrics, according to Scott, were "a lot more personal, a lot darker." Firing a lead singer is a gutsy thing to do. It was a huge risk, but it was well worth it. By taking a chance, Anthrax took a big leap forward musically.

Again, Mother Nature tried getting in the way. The album was recorded at El Dorado studio in Hollywood, which used to belong to Marvin Gaye. The flat roof with a brick wall going all around the side started filling up with water during rains almost as heavy as the average Anthrax riff. The water went from there into the air conditioning vent, out onto the console. Dave Jerden went to investigate and found a decaying dog's head blocking the drain.

The musical direction of the band had changed a little bit, mainly reducing the importance of speed. Charlie says, "it's more in the realms of (traditional) metal." But that does not mean Anthrax lost their heaviness. That could not be any further from the truth. "Some of the frustration came out in the music on this new album, Danny explains. "We were all in a different frame of mind than we'd ever been before—really pissed off." Anger sure is not hard to find on this album. "Packaged Rebellion" was inspired by 1992's Lollapalooza tour and how it was promoted. "By being a Lollapalooza-type fan and going to Lollapalooza you're supposed to be participating in some kind of rebellion or something, but you're not," Scott explains in anger. "It's the big corporate mainstream making millions of dollars." He also says,

Elektra did a good job promoting this album. Before the album's release, Frankie did a 30 market promotional jaunt which included visiting metal radio stations and music and video stores. Not all ties to MTV had been broken yet. MTV's "Headbanger's Ball" did a five week promotion to fly a viewer to six club dates through the US and Mexico. The first single and video was for the song "Only." The video includes a guest appearance by Frank Silva, who had played the murderous character Bob on T.V. series "Twin Peaks," directed by David Lynch. A video and radio promo were made for "Room For One More." "Black Lodge" was something new for Anthrax. John described it as "slower and really moody." The song was inspired by "Twin Peaks" According to Scott, he and Charlie are "not only ‘Twin Peaks' fan, but big David Lynch fans in general." The song was co-written by Angelo Badalamenti, who had written the theme song to the T.V. series. A video was made for the song, as well as a radio promo. Many singles and EP's were made, one of which contained a cover of Kiss' "Love Her All I Can" with guest vocals from none other than Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. Obviously this must have been great for Anthrax, as Kiss is probably their biggest influence. A video and single were made for "Hy Pro Glow." Anthrax toured with bands such as Fight (band of former Judas Priest singer Rob Halford) in the U.S., Clawfinger in the U.K. and King's X and M.O.D. in Europe.

In 1993 and 1994, Anthrax played on many soundtracks and tribute albums. "Poison My Eyes" appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Last Action Hero. Their cover of the Smiths "London" appeared in the movie Airheads. Their cover of the Beastie Boys "Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun" was included on the CD Beavis and Butthead Experience. Probably most exciting for the band, they covered Kiss' "She" for the tribute album Kiss My Ass. The song was produced by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Originally Gene and Paul didn't want to produce it, but Anthrax begged and pleaded until they said they would.

In 1994, Anthrax's first live album, Live the Island Years, was finally released. It was held up for a couple of years by Island Records. Like Attack of the Killer B's, it helped fulfill Anthrax's contract with Island Records. The first eight tracks come from the Live Noize video. The final four tracks come from a small gig in 1992 at Electric Lady studio for a bunch of "really cool" WSOU radio listeners.