Thrash metal veterans Anthrax are building anticipation for their long-awaited twelfth studio record, Cursum Perficio, by unveiling a series of weekly animated short films. Dropping every Tuesday ahead of the album’s September 18 arrival via Megaforce in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast in Europe, the visual campaign dives deep into the backstory of each character featured on the cover artwork.
The New York outfit, featuring guitarist Scott Ian, drummer Charlie Benante, bassist Frank Bello, singer Joey Belladonna, and guitarist Jonathan Donais, collaborated with illustrator Mark Stritzel to design the striking cover. To bring the artwork’s universe to life, Emmanuel Cappellini animated the scenes based on original character concepts developed by Mark Stritzel and Charlie Benante.
Discussing the creative inspiration behind the animated rollout, Charlie Benante explained:
“When Tim Burton released ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas‘, they did this whole ad campaign, ‘Meet The Characters, Meet Jack, Meet Sally‘, and they gave a little description about them. This is what inspired the idea to release these stories about the characters.”
“When we came up with the art for the cover, we felt the characters needed to have a backstory and not just be an image on an album cover,” he continued. “For the magician, initially he was meant to be the younger version of Among The Living character — The Preacher [Among The Living was the band’s 1987 album]. He could have been a magician when he was younger and he is really sadistic. For the bride [Clara] and Dog, we wanted to make something that was another door into the cover and get a glimpse of who these characters are.”
The promotional series officially kicked off yesterday, July 28, with a spotlight on the Magician. Over the coming weeks, Tuesday updates will expand the album’s lore by highlighting the remaining figures:
- Woman In White
- Dog
- Winged Skeleton
- Hands (series conclusion on September 1)
Cursum Perficio marks the first full-length effort from Anthrax in a decade, following up 2016’s For All Kings, which broke into the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album’s title is a Latin phrase translating to “My journey has come to an end,” “My journey is over,” or “I complete my journey.”
The band began recording Cursum Perficio in earnest during 2022, tracking at Studio 606 in Los Angeles—the studio owned by Dave Grohl. Co-produced by Jay Ruston and Anthrax, the sessions focused on crafting an aggressive, high-energy album that honors the band’s classic thrash roots while expanding their signature sound.
Alongside the animated lore clips, the band recently dropped an official music video for the album’s second single, “The Edge Of Perfection“. Directed by Academy Award winner Joel Harlow (“Star Trek“, “Alice In Wonderland“), the cinematic clip blends live performance footage with a dark fantasy narrative where the protagonist crosses from a dream into a supernatural world of underworld evil.
The production features cameo appearances from martial artist Wes Scarpias, actress Ashley Edner-Tancharoen, actor Troy James, actor Rod Maxwell, actor Fedor Steer, and legendary Oscar-winning special effects make-up artist Rick Baker.
Cursum Perficio will be available across multiple physical formats, including pop-up gatefold packaging on all vinyl editions:
- Standard CD & Target-Exclusive CD (includes a cover art fabric patch)
- Standard Black Double LP
- Target-Exclusive: Red zoetrope double LP
- Amazon-Exclusive: Purple zoetrope double LP
- Metal Injection-Exclusive: White vinyl double LP
- Talk Shop Live-Exclusive: Signed red ripple vinyl double LP
- Indie Retailer-Exclusive: Red, orange, and yellow vinyl double LP
- Merch Store-Exclusive: Lilac vinyl double LP
Cursum Perficio track listing:
- “Persistence of Memory“
- “The Long Goodbye“
- “It’s for the Kids“
- “Everybody’s Got a Plan“
- “The Edge of Perfection“
- “Infectious“
- “NYC 93“
- “Cursum Perficio“
- “T.O.M.B.“
- “Watch It Go“
- “My Victory“
