Anthrax Has Three Songs That “Don’t Sound Like Anything We’ve Done Before” on Next Album
There’s certainly been a lot of talk about Anthrax‘s long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s For All Kings, with various members of the band saying they’re in various stages of pre-production and writing for the new album. Honestly, it’s amazing anything’s getting done with everyone off doing their own things — Joey Belladonna’s fronting a Dio tribute band, Frank Bello‘s playing bass with Satyricon, Scott Ian’s been playing guitar with Mr. Bungle, and Charlie Benante’s on the never-ending Pantera run.
Yet during a recent interview with Metal Hammer, both Benante and Ian were on hand to discuss the work that’s being done on the next record. And while they’re still working on it, Benante had a little more to say about some of “13 or 14 songs” they’ve written.
“There’s a song which has the same kind of epic feel as ‘In The End’ [from 2011’s Worship Music] and ‘Blood Eagle Wings’ [from For All Kings]. It revolves around the journey we’ve been on in the band. And there are three songs that don’t sound like anything we’ve done before. One called ‘The Edge Of Perfection’ I had way before COVID, and it has just stayed with me — the melody and the chords, but also the aggression.”
“In The End” is easily one of the better songs out of modern Anthrax’s repertoire, so that’s an exciting piece of information. Here’s hoping one of those three songs that “don’t sound like anything we’ve done before” is a super downtuned nu-metal banger where Belladonna scats like a 63-year-old Jonathan Davis.
Ever one to temper expectations, Ian revealed that nothing’s etched in stone just yet when it comes to the album’s songs.
“None of the songs are actually finished-finished. Joey’s [Belladonna, vocalist] sang on nine of them. I’ve got lyrics to write for four of them. I think all the songs will be good enough to come out in some way, shape or form.”
This album has been taking forever to come to fruition. Yes, everyone’s busy so of course it would take a while, but still. As a fan, I want new Anthrax yesterday. Eight years to wait for a new album from a band like Anthrax feels like an eternity. As a metal fan and understander of how things go, I want Anthrax to take as much time as they need to make the best fucking record they can. We’ve seen ’em do it with Worship Music (and to a slightly lesser extent For All Kings), so hopefully it will be worth the wait again.
