Joey Belladonna’s Finally Recording His Vocals for the Next Anthrax Record

Man, it feels like we’ve been talking about the next Anthrax album for fucking ever. Every update has been “yeah, my parts are done” and “just waiting on vocals to be recorded” and so on and so forth. Well, it’s looking like a major step forward is being taken, as Anthrax frontman Joey Belladonna is actually in the studio working on his parts.

In a potato-quality video posted to his Instagram page, Belladonna revealed that he was in Los Angeles laying down his vocals.

“Hey everyone! Currently out in LA recording tracks for the new album. The video quality isn’t the best, but I just wanted to check in and say a quick hello before diving into the studio. Can’t wait for you all to hear what we’re working on!”

Me neither, Joey. It’s been eight years since the band’s previous release, so some fans (myself included) are chomping at the fucking bit to find out what’s coming down the pike.

You may recall that pretty much everyone in Anthrax has been busy doing their own things. Charlie Benante‘s been playing drums for Pantera, Scott Ian played guitar for Mr. Bungle for a while there, Frank Bello‘s been holding down the low end for Satyricon, Joey Belladonna’s been fronting a Journey cover band, and Jon Donais has been involved in some Shadows Fall stuff. So the whole process of putting together the band’s follow up to 2016’s For All Kings has been a bit drawn out.

Recently, in an interview with Metal Hammer, Benante said the band’s had “13 or 14 songs” written for the record. He also elaborated that some of those tracks “don’t sound like anything we’ve done before,” which is an exciting proposition.

“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.”

So here’s hoping we’re getting even closer to a new album announcement. Anthrax fans have been waiting long enough.