Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante recently opened up about the band’s upcoming twelfth studio album, Cursum Perficio, and the motivation behind its lead single, “It’s For The Kids“. Scheduled for release on September 18 via Megaforce in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast in Europe, the record marks the group’s first full-length studio effort since 2016’s For All Kings, which debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200.
During an appearance on the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast hosted by wrestling superstar and Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho, the drummer explained the significance of the new track and the decade-long wait between albums.
Addressing the fan response to “It’s For The Kids“, which debuted earlier this month, Charlie Benante shared his excitement:
“Well, for me, I’ve been waiting so long for this moment because I’ve lived with this song for so long. And I knew once people heard it… You know how it is, man. It’s like when you have a song and you think it’s really good, but you can’t really… How do you know how good it is until people hear it and then you get that feedback? And it’s so important, for me at least, to hear that feedback. The first song, we wanted to release something that really represents the band and shows that we’re not slowing down. We’re hitting as hard as we feel we are. So it was definitely a statement. Someone said this was a love letter to our fans, and when they said that to me, I was, like, ‘You’re right.’ That’s exactly what this is,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
When discussing the ten-year gap following the release of For All Kings, Benante admitted that a combination of writer’s block and the global pandemic significantly delayed their progress.
“The honest answer I can give is, me personally, I didn’t have it to write. I didn’t feel it. It just wasn’t the right time. I was, like, ‘Well, I don’t have anything to say right now. I don’t think the band has anything to say.’ And then the whole pandemic happened, which we started to actually write before the pandemic, and then that happened, and then that set us back — what? — two years. But a lot of these songs on this record — there’s a song called ‘Target On My Back‘ [‘T.O.M.B.’]; that’s from 2015. There’s a lot of stuff that was old that I had, and then there’s some new songs that I felt, ‘This is too good to hold back and wait. I want this out,'” he explained.
He noted that as ideas accumulated, the creative process eventually reignited when he rejoined guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Frank Bello to rehearse the material live.
“A song like ‘It’s For The Kids‘ — I would do these demos and I would put them in a Dropbox, and then Scott would listen to them, and then he’d write me. He’s, like, ‘I didn’t even know about this song.’ And I’m, like, ‘Oh yeah.’ I would just do the demo and throw it in there. So all of a sudden, we started to get an abundance of these songs, and then we would get together — me, Scott and Frankie — and kind of play them live. And it was such a great feeling to be back with them and just playing some new songs. If you’re in a band, you kind of know what that feels like. It’s almost like spring training. You’re getting together with the guys again, and you’re doing the thing that you love, but yet there’s this new vibe happening. There’s these new songs that are being created. Man, it’s just a great feeling. And it took a while, but I guess it had to take a while,” he continued.
Beyond his own creative hurdles, Charlie Benante revealed that Scott Ian also experienced temporary writer’s block. However, the guitarist eventually delivered highly personal and emotional lyrics for the new record. The drummer specifically highlighted the track “The Long Goodbye“, which deals with Scott Ian‘s late father’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“I even know Scott at some point was having a little bit of a writer’s block, too, as far as the lyrics goes, because Scott writes the lyrics for the band. And Scott‘s such a great lyricist. His lyrics, to me — we’ll talk about things, and we talk about certain aspects of life or whatever, and sometimes we’ll just be talking, and he’ll use that in a lyric. Like the song ‘The Long Goodbye‘, for me, it’s a very personal and emotional song. It’s about Scott‘s dad, who had Alzheimer’s. And it’s called ‘The Long Goodbye‘, and that, to me, even when I talk about it, I think about his dad, ’cause I loved his dad. His dad was one of the greatest — just such a great person. And it makes me sad just to think about that whole thing that happened because it brings me back to my parents and stuff like that. But ‘The Long Goodbye‘ was one of those songs that, for me, the music was very emotional, and I remember Scott saying, ‘Dude, that melody in there is one of the best ones that we ever had.’ Same with ‘The Edge Of Perfection‘. Scott thought that was the best ever. And the funny thing about that song, ‘The Edge Of Perfection‘, is every time I do a demo, man, I do, like, an eight-minute demo, but the reason why I do that is because I like to put a different variation of the riff. If I’m doing, like, a minute and a half of the riff, well, then maybe at five minutes, the riff changes a little bit, because I want everybody to hear it as, like, ‘Well, we can do that part first and then bring…’ You know, just arrange it differently. And Scott and Frank are really good with arranging the song.”
The Latin phrase Cursum Perficio translates to “my journey has come to an end” or “I complete my journey”. Despite the definitive tone of the title, Charlie Benante clarified that Anthrax is not necessarily planning to retire. He explained that the concept came to him unexpectedly while watching a documentary about the late actress Marilyn Monroe.
“I’d been looking for a title for this record that pretty much summarized where we were and where I was at this point. And I’m not saying this is the last album, but the album title translates to ‘my journey has come to an end’, ‘my journey is over’. Two times this happened to me, and it was very strange, the way some things come to me without me even knowing it,” he continued. “I was watching this documentary on Marilyn Monroe, and in her home in L.A., in Beverly Hills, she had this tile, this plaque, and it said ‘Cursum Perficio‘. And when I was watching it and the narrator was saying what it was and what it meant, dude, a light just went off in my head. I’m, like, ‘That’s it. That’s the title right there.’ So when I brought it to the guys, they thought it was strange too, and they liked it. But everybody liked it. And that’s the one thing — if everybody likes it, that means it’s right. So we went with that title.”
The album’s visual identity was similarly inspired by television. After watching a series on illusionist David Blaine, the drummer sought out the artist responsible for the show’s Coney Island-style graphics, which reminded him of vintage Harry Houdini posters.
“And then the artwork for the cover, I was looking for an artist who did… I don’t know if you remember those old Harry Houdini posters, the way they looked, like a Coney Island type of art. It just had this look and this vibe to it. And I was watching this magician, David Blaine. He was doing this docuseries, and it was, like, a six-part series, and after every episode, there was a piece of art that would basically summarize the episode. And when I saw the art, I’m, like, ‘That’s it. That’s exactly the style that I want.’ So I went to the credits, and I found the artist’s name, and we contacted him, and he was, like, ‘Yes, I would love to do this cover for you guys.’ And I worked with him about it. And it’s a very strange kind of Salvador Dalí-esque type of piece of art. And there’s a a couple of Easter eggs in the art. I see fans trying to pick it out, ‘Oh, here’s something from this album’, ‘Here’s something from that album,’ which I love that they’re doing that. But each character on the cover has a backstory too, which will come out later,” he concluded.
Anthrax officially debuted “It’s For The Kids“, during a live performance on Tuesday, May 26. The concert took place at the Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria, where the thrash metal pioneers served as the direct support act for Iron Maiden.
For the new album, Anthrax once again teamed up with veteran producer Jay Ruston, who previously helmed both For All Kings and 2011’s Worship Music. Portions of the recording and mixing sessions took place at Dave Grohl‘s renowned Studio 606 in Northridge, California.
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“
