In a new interview with Wall Of Sound’s Duan James, ANTHRAXIt is Ian Scott offered an update on recording sessions for the band’s long-awaited follow-up to 2016 “For All Kings” album. He said, “It’s going really well. We’ve got nine songs so far. Charly (blessing) recorded drums on nine songs, I’m almost done on guitars on four. Then I came across these (Mr.) SPOILS Appointment. But Frankie (bello, bass) and I’m going back to the studio, like, the first week of June to finish all the guitars and bass, work on some vocal ideas. Then the vocals and lead guitars will probably start soon after. Then there will be another drum session somewhere down the line, probably because there are more ideas that we haven’t really had a chance to get properly arranged yet. So there will be another drum session in the next few months.”
As for a possible release date for the next ANTHRAX album, Scott said, “I’m not going to put a deadline or a date on anything, but I’d like to think that a record would be made by the end of the year. Then we’d start again next summer, you know, probably. It’s a very loose, loose program in my mind.”
Earlier this month it was announced that Ian, blessing And bello had been in the studio with the producer Jay Rustonlaying down basic tracks in preparation for the singer Joey Belladonna to record his voice and for the lead guitarist Jonathan Donais to add their leads and solos.
At the time, Scott wrote on social media: “We started recording the new album last week and the first session was awesome! The songs are killer, challenging and very fun to play – Riff-O-Rama. The sounds are awesome in 1986. Can’t wait for y’all to hear what we do.”
Charly added, “We walked into the studio and started recording our new record. I think the songs are next level for us. The first batch I recorded was a bit difficult as far as my drums go. The next batch will be recorded in between my @panteraofficial schedule Can’t wait to record the next batch… great things to come! has always been our mission @anthrax”.
A month earlier, blessing was requested by Robert Cavuoto of Metal Rules if his busy touring schedule in 2023 with PANTHER will delay the publication of ANTHRAXthe new LP. He replied, “We’re actually going to start recording the record in two weeks. But it probably won’t be out until 24 anyway. But the good part about it is that we’re going to start recording it. So that’s is great .”
Explain why it took so long to ANTHRAX to complete the process of writing a new LP, Charly said: “If we hadn’t been affected by this whole global pandemic thing, it probably would have come out two years ago, three years ago. But we all know what happened. But now, given that some of the songs were (written) before the pandemic hit, they’re old to me. So now there’s a bunch of new songs that kind of got into the mix. That’s so a good thing. You can’t get enough of them… We’re still working on the older ones because we really like a lot of them.”
Last January, Ian told Metal Edge that he and his bandmates had “11 musical arrangements”, as well as “a few” lyrics, that they were working on for their next album. “Obviously I’m going to work on more words and we’re getting there,” he said. “Hopefully at some point we can get into the studio (this year) and record them.”
blessing also wondered loudly if ANTHRAX could focus on releasing EPs for the foreseeable future rather than full-length albums, as has been the case for much of the band’s four-plus-decade career.
“What if it wasn’t a complete album? asked the drummer. “If we put out six songs, then we put out six more songs. I know from a record label perspective that really doesn’t work, but these days…”
“Yeah. Everything is so different now,” Ian said jumping in. “NOOSEnow says why even make full albums. I understand. I understand all sides. I always love a full album, but at the same time, I completely understand the idea of the point of giving someone 11 songs. Most people don’t listen to albums anymore. So, yes – why not analyze it? I don’t know. All I know is that at some point in the next few months we’ll probably have 14 or 15 things and then we have to decide when we’re going to record it and how we’re going to release it.”
“Think about it,” blessing continued. “Whether ANTHRAX released five songs and you have those five songs, and you’re absorbing them in such a different way these days too. I think that’s maybe the way to go, rather than giving everybody 11 songs and it’s like, ‘Oh – I only got a chance to listen to the first four or five. ‘ I don’t know. I just think maybe the business model is different.”
“And even for us, playing songs live is like you put out a record with 10 or 11 songs on it with the idea that, ‘Oh man, I can’t wait to play this one live and I can’t wait to play this one live, “” Ian added. “On “For All Kings”, we certainly haven’t played all of these songs at any time. I think there are maybe six songs on the record that have been played – and that’s it. I almost feel like you’re wasting them. I understand the tracks on the album, but if you only release five songs, it would be easy to play all five on a new tour.”
“And easier to digest, too,” blessing agreed. “You’d appreciate it more if it only had five songs and, ‘These five songs are fucking killer. I can’t wait for the next five songs,’ knowing we’ll be releasing five or six more.”
Earlier in January, blessing said Ruben Mosque from We Go To 11 which ANTHRAX planned to hit the studio this spring to begin recording the new LP.
“Between the PANTHER (tour dates in 2023), we are going to work on this record, this ANTHRAX record,” he said. “We hope to have it finished before PANTHER go to Europe (end of May). I have a small window after that, before (PANTHERthe visit of the stadium with) METALLIC departures. At least if I finish my drum tracks the other guys can continue working on them. That’s the plan. Unless something else happens, but hopefully nothing will happen.”
last November, bello said SiriusXM that the band is “in no rush” to record the new album. “We want to make sure it’s the right record,” he explained. “We can’t just throw away something that’s not ready. So we’re really going to make sure it’s the right record and live with it for a little while. We’ve got some brutal stuff and some cool stuff coming – very heavy – we’ve worked. Anyone can say that when they’re working on a record. But the proof is in the pudding. I’m pretty proud of what we’ve come up with so far.
In August, Ian praised the production quality of some of the band’s recent albums, including 2011’s “Worship Music” And “For All Kings”. He said: (On) ‘Worship (music)’ And “For All Kings”, for me, we really found our sound. We have this base level where we are right now with (producer) Jay Ruston where we know it’s going to be great, and then we could push it even further. Especially with the songwriting that we have right now, going into what will eventually be a new ANTHRAX album, it just lends itself to even more aggressive production, which I think we’ll have no problem accomplishing.”
In April 2022, Scott confirmed at Metal injection This ANTHRAX already had a few songs written for the next LP. “All I can say is we’ll go into the studio when we’re ready,” he said. “I think we’re getting there. I think we have great songs. I think people will be very happy.
“Not to make a weird comparison, but this is our third album with Joey. In fact, it’s a funny comparison. I should just say this is our third album since our genre reboot in 2010 and our third album at the time was ‘Among the Living’. I’m not saying it’s (like this album), because it’s not “Among the Living II” in every way, but I just think we have great songs and there’s like a fucking mountain of great riffs. I think people are going to be very happy.”
Ian previously discussed ANTHRAXnext LP from during a July 2021 appearance on full metal jackie‘s nationally broadcast radio show. At the time, he said: “We’ve been working on it for a little while now. We actually started writing in 2019 – before COVID – and kind of got away from things when COVID happened. We We were all separated and separated and we were kind of going over some of the demos again, but we weren’t actively working on it.
“Yeah, that’s how it always was,” he said. “I should think that by the time we get to the other side of the writing process and decide we’re ready to record it, I should assume that it will definitely represent This time in our lives. And with the world having been through a pandemic, I certainly imagine that somehow shape or form is going to come out through this next album. I can’t tell you how yet, but I have to think it’s okay.”
ANTHRAX celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2021 with a number of activities and special events. Trained by Ian and bassist Dan Lilker in Queens, New York, on July 18, 1981, ANTHRAX were one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the East Coast and quickly became a leader in the genre alongside METALLIC, KILLER And MEGADETH.
Active for five decades, ANTHRAX released 11 studio albums, received multiple gold and platinum certifications, received six grammys nominations, has toured the world since 1984 playing thousands of shows, including headlining Madison Square Garden and playing Yankee Stadium with the “Big Four.”
“For All Kings” has been called by some critics ANTHRAXstrongest album to date. His arrival follows a five-year period in which the group experienced something of a renaissance, starting with ANTHRAXthe inclusion of in the “Big Four” tour and the pursuit of releasing a comeback LP “Worship Music”.