More details revelaed about the new Anthrax album and the first single

Charlie Benante, the drummer for Anthrax, discussed the band’s much anticipated new studio album in an interview with Australia’s Hear 2 Zen podcast, as per Blabbermouth. The album is scheduled to be released later this year in North America through Megaforce and in Europe through Nuclear Blast. The LP’s mixing and recording sessions were conducted at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in Northridge, California. Producer Jay Ruston, who previously directed the albums “For All Kings” in 2016 and “Worship Music” in 2011, collaborated with Anthrax once more.

The first single and video comes out in May. The first song that we’re gonna release is definitely a love letter to our fans. It’s kind of, ‘Man, you stuck with us for so long. This is the type of music that we play. This is the type of music that I think you love to hear from us.’ So we’re coming out of the gate with a fucking banger of a song. And that’s how we’re gonna roll out this album. This album is not what I would call for the faint of heart. There’s a lot of aggressive parts to it. There’s just 10, 11 songs that are just so good, and each one, after that one finishes, you get to the next one, it’s, like, ‘Wow, this is just as good as the last one.’ And then the next one comes on, it’s, like, ‘Holy shit, this one…’ So it’s jam packed with fucking songs. You know what I mean?

What is the title going to be?

I will tell you that the title is a very strange title [laughs], I’ll tell you that. And it came to me one night. And it just kind of… Oh, man, where we are at this point in our careers, in our life, the title pretty much — it dictates where we are. And it’s something that when I was thinking about this record and then this title came up, it just hit me so hard, like, ‘Wow. This is so appropriate.’ So we kind of went with it.

And the cover art?

I’ll tell you a story about the cover too. I was looking for this type of artist to do this cover that I had in my head, and I wanted something that resembled a — remember the Harry Houdini posters from back in, like, the ’30s and then the Coney Island type of art? I wanted something that looked like that. And then one night I’m watching this — there’s this magician, his name is David Blaine. And he’s one of my favorites. He just makes my fucking head spin sometimes. Anyway, it’s, like, this docuseries that I’m watching, and I’m watching the first episode, and at the end of the episode they basically summarized the whole episode with a piece of art, and when this piece of art came up on the screen, I just looked at it and I was, like, ‘That’s it. That’s the style of art that I’m looking for.’ So I went to the credits and found the artist’s name, and then we contacted him and he knew Anthrax, and he said, ‘I’d love to do it.’ And he did it. Him and I talked about the cover and the concept and the style and the look and everything, and, man, he just did a fantastic job on this.

Charlie responded as follows when asked if Anthrax would offer Australian fans a sneak peek at any of the new songs when the band goes on a four-date tour of the nation later this month.

Wow. I think we’re gonna play a little snippet of something. But I would like to expand on it a little more, maybe not play such a short little piece. Maybe play a little bit more, you know what I mean? Don’t give so much of an appetizer. Let’s give an appetizer and then a cocktail with it.

Benante responded as follows when asked how the composition process for Anthrax’s latest album differed from how he and his bandmates approached the creation of their earlier projects.

I will tell you that there’s songs on this record that I don’t know if I could have written these songs 15, 20 years ago. I really kind of dove down and found a new way of doing things. And some of the songs on this record, musically speaking, ’cause I handle most of the music in the band, Scott does most of the lyrics, and Frank helps with the melodies and stuff like that. And, actually, [Frank] has one of the songs on this record — it’s mostly from him, his riffs, and that’s a good one too. But I would say that after the pandemic hit, like, I don’t know, man. I think with a lot of us things changed, and I think we all went kind of deep, deep somewhere else. And I think that’s what happened for me. I just kind of came out of the whole pandemic with a new light on things and a new life and a new way of doing things.

Benante also discussed Anthrax’s ongoing collaboration with Ruston, who has produced records by numerous artists, including Steel Panther, Uriah Heep, Avatar, and Amon Amarth.

I would say [Jay] understands us more so than anyone else, and especially helping Joey achieve his goals as a vocalist. He just has such a really good working relationship with Joey as well. And I think that’s a very important thing, because sometimes the way we do things is not always the way other bands do it. Back in the day, we would all meet in a rehearsal place and I would bring my riff tapes with me and show everybody the riffs. Now I don’t do it like that anymore. I’ll just do a demo at my house and send it to everybody. And then I’ll send a video of the way the riff is played and then Scott will either call me or send me a thumbs up: ‘Let’s work on that one.’ And then we would get maybe four or five of those ideas and then we’d meet up and then we’d kind of start playing it. And that’s the way it’s been.

Upcoming shows:

• Monday, March 23, 2026 – Brisbane, Australia – The Fortitude Music Hall
• Wednesday, March 25, 2026 – Adelaide, Australia – Hindley Street Music Hall
• Thursday, March 26, 2026 – West Melbourne, Australia – Festival Hall Melbourne
• Saturday, March 28, 2026 – Newtown, Australia – Enmore Theatre
• Wednesday, April 1, 2026 – Tokyo, Japan – EX Theater Roppongi
• Thursday, April 2, 2026 – Nagoya, Japan – Diamond Hall
• Friday, April 3, 2026 – Osaka, Japan – Gorilla Hall Osaka
• Saturday, May 23, 2026 – Athens, Greece – Athens Olympic Stadium
• Tuesday, May 26, 2026 – Sofia, Bulgaria – Vasil Levski National Stadium
• Thursday, May 28, 2026 – București, Romania – Arena Națională
• Friday, May 29, 2026 – Belgrade, Serbia – OpenAir Corner – Luka Beograd
• Saturday, May 30, 2026 – Bratislava, Slovakia – National Football Stadium
• Monday, June 1, 2026 – Budapest, Hungary – Barba Negra
• Tuesday, June 2, 2026 – Nuremberg, Germany – Löwensaal
• Thursday, June 4, 2026 – Gdańsk, Poland – Mystic Festival 2026
• Friday, June 5, 2026 – Plzeň‑Město, Czechia – Metalfest Open Air 2026
• Saturday, June 6, 2026 – Maastricht, Netherlands – South of Heaven Open Air 2026
• Tuesday, June 9, 2026 – Dresden, Germany – Reithalle Dresden
• Friday, June 12, 2026 – Leeuwarden, Netherlands – Into the Grave Festival 2026
• Sunday, June 14, 2026 – Ferrara, Italy – Ferrara Summer Festival 2026
• Monday, June 15, 2026 – Zagreb, Croatia – Boogaloo Zagreb
• Tuesday, June 16, 2026 – Vienna, Austria – Raiffeisen Halle im Gasometer
• Thursday, June 18, 2026 – Dessel, Belgium – Graspop Metal Meeting 2026
• Saturday, June 20, 2026 – Clisson, France – Hellfest 2026
• Sunday, June 21, 2026 – Luxembourg City, Luxembourg – Den Atelier
• Wednesday, June 24, 2026 – Stockholm, Sweden – Gröna Lund
• Thursday, June 25, 2026 – Oslo, Norway – Tons of Rock 2026
• Friday, June 26, 2026 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Copenhell Festival 2026
• Sunday, June 28, 2026 – Lyon, France – Groupama Stadium
• Tuesday, June 30, 2026 – Ramonville‑St‑Agne, France – Le Bikini
• Wednesday, July 1, 2026 – Bordeaux, France – Le Rocher de Palmer
• Thursday, July 2, 2026 – Viveiro, Spain – Resurrection Fest 2026
• Saturday, July 4, 2026 – Cartagena, Spain – Rock Imperium Festival 2026
• Tuesday, July 7, 2026 – Lisboa, Portugal – Estádio da Luz
• Thursday, September 3, 2026 – Montréal, QC, Canada – Parc Jean‑Drapeau
• Saturday, September 5, 2026 – Harrison, NJ, USA – Sports Illustrated Stadium
• Sunday, September 6, 2026 – Harrison, NJ, USA – Sports Illustrated Stadium
• Thursday, September 17, 2026 – Louisville, KY, USA – Louder Than Life 2026
• Friday, September 25, 2026 – Los Angeles, CA, USA – BMO Stadium
• Sunday, September 27, 2026 – Los Angeles, CA, USA – BMO Stadium
• Tuesday, September 29, 2026 – San Antonio, TX, USA – Alamodome