In the Studio with Anthrax

SCOTT IAN AND JONATHAN DONAIS: "WE WANT THIS NEW RECORD TO PUNCH PEOPLE IN THE FACE"

- Jon Wiederhorn

FANS CHAMPING AT the bit for the follow-up to the volcanic 2016 Anthrax album For All Kings will have to wait just a little longer. In early 2024, the band hoped to have the still-untitled record out by year’s end. Now they’re shooting for a release date 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 says. “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.”

When bands use phrases such as “It will be ready when it’s ready,” they’re sometimes stuck in limbo and are biding their time. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Anthrax. So far, the band has tracked nine songs and written and partially recorded another four. Those songs still need leads, lyrics and vocals, but it looks like they might be done before the end of the year and the full release will hit in the second or third quarter of 2025. At least that’s the plan; Anthrax just don’t want their first new music in a decade to be in the public’s hands until every dotted eighth note is just right — not that they’re striving to overshadow anything else they’ve done.

“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,” Ian says. “But I’m definitely loving this record. There are crushing riffs and great, hooky courses. Even some of the thrashiest songs have great choruses. We’re always looking for the hook, and I think we’ve accomplished that.”