Anthrax has officially adjusted the release schedule for their long-awaited new studio album. The currently untitled record will now arrive this fall, distributed in North America via Megaforce and in Europe through Nuclear Blast.
During a recent appearance on Australia’s “Everblack” podcast, drummer Charlie Benante discussed the highly anticipated project. The tracking and mixing sessions were partially conducted at Studio 606 in Northridge, California, the renowned recording facility owned by Dave Grohl. For this latest outing, the veteran band reunited with trusted producer Jay Ruston, who previously steered the ship on both 2016’s For All Kings and 2011’s Worship Music.
Charlie provided a concrete update on the updated timeline.
“No, it doesn’t come out in May. We’re putting out our first song and video in May. The record is not coming out till September. We pushed it back a little bit. We just had to do a couple of other things to it. And then we had to, of course, get a release date set. So it got moved to September. And that’s it. It’s coming out in September, but the first song and video will be out in May,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Acknowledging the fact that the band has recently been incorporating snippets of unreleased material into their live sets, he revealed his eagerness to share the new tracks with audiences around the world.
“We play a little piece of one of the songs. We played it on this Canadian run [with Megadeth and Exodus] that we just came back from. But I could see us kind of expanding it a bit for our friends in Australia [on the upcoming Australian tour in late March], maybe playing a little more, because, for me, it’s become so hard to just contain this, because I’m so excited about it. I’m so happy about it. This record is really, really good.”
Discussing the group’s strategy for promoting the forthcoming studio effort on the road, he emphasized their deep commitment to supporting the new material with an extensive touring cycle.
“The Anthrax record is a very important release to us. So we’re gonna, of course, make the time to fulfill doing as many shows as we possibly could in support of this record.”
Continuing his thoughts on the modern music industry landscape, Benante expressed absolute confidence in the album’s consistent quality from front to back.
“It’s such a different time nowadays. If this was 20 years ago, we’d be talking differently about how we’re going to march this record out. But these days it’s, like, I often said, what does a new record mean to people these days? I just feel like music has become so disposable that if I was gonna make a record, another record, and put my heart into it, I want people to anticipate, I want them to get ready to hear it. Because this record is not three or four songs deep of good songs and then the rest is s**t. Every song on this record stands on its own. I mean, when one song finishes and the next one comes up, it’s just, like, ‘Holy s**t. This one’s f**king just as good as the last.'”
