Are you like us, anxiously waiting for Anthrax to release the follow-up to their fiery 2016 album For All Kings? Well, it seems we will need to exercise a bit more patience. While the band initially aimed for a 2024 release, the new record is now slated for sometime in 2025.
"We're taking our time and not rushing anything because we want it to be exactly how we want it," rhythm guitarist and lyricist Scott Ian explained to Guitar World. The band has adjusted their approach due to life changes, acknowledging, "We're not in a place in our lives anymore where we could have dropped everything and said, ‘Alright, we've got two months of studio time. Let's finish writing and then get in there and record it all and do the vocals. Mix, master and we're done – like in the old days.' We have families and commitments now, so it can't work that way anymore and hasn't in a long time."
Despite the delay, Anthrax is making significant progress. They have tracked nine songs and are working on another four, which still need leads, lyrics, and vocals. The band aims to finish these tracks by the end of the year, with a full release expected in mid-2025. They want to ensure that their first new music in a decade is polished to perfection. Ian emphasized, "We don't want our first new music in a decade to be in the public's hands until every dotted eighth note is just right."
The band is not aiming to outshine their previous work. Ian stated, "I don't think we've ever gone into a record saying, ‘We really need to top the last one,' because if you did that, you're self-fulfilling a failure." Instead, he is enthusiastic about the new record: "But I'm definitely loving this record. There are crushing riffs and great, hooky choruses. Even some of the thrashiest songs have great choruses. We're always looking for the hook, and I think we've accomplished that."
The band's current challenge is selecting which songs will make the final cut. Ian notes that while they've written a couple of songs in the vein of 2016's "Breathing Lightning," he is more excited about the shorter, faster tracks reminiscent of their thrash metal heyday. "With the songs we've written, we'd be able to put together a nine- or 10-song record that would be thrashier than anything we've done in a long time," Ian said. "But there would also be a way to make it a very different kind of album depending on which songs we choose."
Guitarist Jonathan Donais shared Ian's excitement about the material, particularly a track with a black-metal feel that surprised him. "I thought all the songs they sent me were great and definitely sounded like Anthrax," Donais said. "And then I heard this one that had a black-metal feel to it that I never would have pictured Anthrax doing, and it sounds so awesome. I remember thinking, ‘Man, after being together for 40-something years and still being able to throw curveballs like that is awesome.'"
"Knowing that the music kicked ass motivated me. When I got a song, I listened to one section at a time to wrap my head around it," Donais added. " And then I listened to music from other players I love, like Dimebag, Zakk Wylde, and Paul Gilbert. After that, I looped the rhythm and went with whatever vibe I was getting. If I liked what I did with the first two bars, I just kept going."
Ian was also full of praise for Donais' solos. "Jon has this insane ability to put together really melodic leads," he remarked. "They're memorable to the point where you could sing the solos, and, to me, that's such a great skill."
Drummer Charlie Benante began writing riffs for the new album back in 2019, but the pandemic brought a halt to their activities. "Nobody was feeling very creative – certainly not in that first six months to a year, anyway," Ian recalled. "It was more kind of, ‘Let's just be home with our families and see if the world's gonna end or not.'" By 2021, as live shows resumed, creativity was reignited, and the band resumed work with renewed energy.
Anthrax did pre-production at Ben Grosse's studio The Mix Room in Burbank and worked at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Los Angeles. Ian humorously noted, "At a certain point we couldn't get into 606 anymore. Some band called the Foo Fighters had it booked out for a month."
Ian also brought a range of gear to the studio but settled on his familiar Jackson King V for most of the recordings. He noted: "There's something angrier about the King V, especially on fast songs."
Despite the lengthy and sometimes disrupted process, Ian is optimistic about the outcome. "I think this is going to be the album that brings back album sales," he said. Although he quickly added, "I'd like to think this record will be a slew of songs that people are going to be very excited about hearing live for the next few years."
