Ten years. A global pandemic. Thousands of miles of touring. Countless hours in the studio. Anthrax's new album has been a long time coming — and if the band's own barely-contained excitement is any indication, thrash metal fans are about to be rewarded in a big way.
Drummer Charlie Benante confirmed in a recent interview that the album has been pushed back to September 2026, with the first single and music video set to drop 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," Benante explained. "It's coming out in September, but the first song and video will be out in May."
The band has already been teasing snippets of new material during recent live performances — including their Canadian run alongside Megadeth and Exodus — and Benante made clear that holding back has been genuinely painful. "It's become so hard to just contain this, because I'm so excited about it," he said. "I'm so happy about it. This record is really, really good."
Guitarist Scott Ian echoed that sentiment with an enthusiasm that's hard to fake after four decades in the business. "It's like having just the most powerful weapon in the world at your disposal, but you're missing this one little thing and you can't use it," he said with a laugh. "I can't wait for people to hear it. Eight people have heard this album. I'm so excited."
As for the decade-long gap since 2016's For All Kings — Ian is quick to push back on that framing. The touring cycle for that album ran all the way through late 2019, and just as the band was gearing up to write again, COVID-19 derailed everything. "If you look at actual time we spent writing and recording the record, it's probably about three years," Ian said — a timeline he considers pretty standard for a band of Anthrax's caliber.
The album was recorded and mixed at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Northridge, California, with longtime producer Jay Ruston — who also helmed For All Kings and Worship Music — back at the helm. Benante has compared Ruston's growing role in the band's creative process to that of a George Martin-level collaborator.
Bassist Frank Bello has been equally effusive, calling the record "so heavy" and singling out vocalist Joey Belladonna's performance as some of the best singing of his career. "I think everybody's gonna be happy," Bello said. "It's been 10 years. So we made sure it's worthwhile."
What's remarkable is how unanimously the band speaks about this record — not with the polished language of a PR campaign, but with the barely-suppressed energy of musicians who genuinely can't believe what they've made. Benante put it plainly: "When one song finishes and the next one comes up, it's just, like, 'Holy shit. This one's just as good as the last.'"
The album's artwork was designed by Benante in collaboration with illustrator Mark Stutzman, whose work Benante discovered while watching a David Blaine documentary. "It's so trippy," Benante said of the final cover. "I'm really happy about that."
The first single lands in May. The album follows in September. After ten years, the wait is almost over — and Anthrax wants you to feel every second of it.
