New Anthrax album... official press release

Fat Freddy wrote:

Marc Mason wrote:

Was Bush let go in favor of this guy, or did he just move on? Because, the vocal style that Dan uses here in this live gig is very similar to Bushy. This definitely doesn't sound like a re-invention.

Bush was let go in favor of a reunion with Joey BellaDonna. After a short tour there was talk of a new album with BellaDonna but he flaked out on them and split the band. Supposedly Bush was contacted about re-joining them but by then I guess Bush decided not to bother with a band that had given him the bum's rush so they looked for a new singer and found this Dan Nelson guy.

Oh, snap, nizza. I have both the Alive 2 (Belladonna) and Music Of Mass Destruction (Bush) DVDs, and thought that the Belladonna gig was just a one-off deal. I didn't know that the band was looking to record that lineup. Was Spitz to be included? I would figure that Belladonna would be falling all over himself trying to get things right so that he could be back in front of that band. How did he blow it?

I don't know if he "flaked". I think he was expecting to get paid for his work and they would sort that out after the tour and when he didn't get any real commitment from the other guys they wanted him to do more shows and he said no.

Here is Charlie talking about Anthrax's new album:

Mark Eglinton of The Quietus spoke with Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante. Selections from the interview follow:

Q: The new record "Worship Music" was scheduled for a May release, is that still going to happen? And what stage are you at?

Charlie Benante: "Well, that was always the plan and it’s possible that it’ll still happen that way, it kind of depends how things go. The drums are done, but the vocal parts and some of the guitar stuff is happening now, and we haven’t mixed it yet. We haven’t decided where it will even be mixed - LA and New York are possible. As far as how it will sound, it will have elements of Spreading the Disease type stuff and some elements of newer stuff like We’ve Come For You All.

Q; Nobody had really heard of Dan Nelson. What was it about him that made you want him on board?

CB: "Dan’s style has a lot of the qualities John Bush had, but also he has the kind of voice that’ll suit some of our older songs. The problem is that he has to play catch up and that is never easy, we’ve been playing for twenty five years, and to catch up on that is almost impossible, but we’re really happy with how he’s doing."

Q; Joey Belladonna sang on arguably your most commercially successful material. What exactly happened with Joey?

CB: "Honestly, I could name lots of different things on lots of different days but all in all the differences were musical and the direction that Anthrax the band wanted to go and the way Joey wanted were two different things. As far as being in contact with him I am not, but I mean it’s not like Joey doesn’t have all my numbers and everything..."

Q; Do you think that your more light-hearted approach and lyrics hampered your progress over the years?"

CB: "That’s a good question. How you do depends a lot on whether your label pushes you or doesn't push you and I don’t think lyrics really make a difference. Being in a band for us was all about having a good time and our lyrics are really just our personalities coming out and we wouldn’t change that."

Q; What did you think of Death Magnetic?

CB: "Well it’s right back to what they do isn’t it. They haven’t really made a true thrash record since maybe '...And Justice For All' anyway, but yeah it’s a good album, no doubt."

Do you think that if bands released records like "Among The Living" or "Master Of Puppets" now, people would buy them like they did?

CB: "Yeah, absolutely."

Q; You’ve had your share of line-up change over the years. How much damage does that do?

CB: "You know, our main changes were singer changes, the early one then from Joey to John Bush. Then after the reunion tour in 2005 that’s when things started to go a bit wrong. But people change and what they want changes, and I‘d never blame anyone for that. It hurts the chemistry but also having someone new can add a whole new dynamic to the band... You have to remember that in heavy metal, people don’t like change and are like, 'If it ain't broke please don’t fix it!'"

Q; Have there been moments where you thought 'Smurf it, I’ve had enough’?

CB: "Seriously?, not really as bad as that. But there are times when we’re on a plane to London, then Amsterdam, then back to London, then to Australia and back to LA, when I wonder if there are better things to do. It’s all about being an adult and dealing with more adult subjects now. You might think that missing something your kid does at school doesn’t matter, but it definitely does."

Q; Would you factor that into touring this record? Metallica came home between some dates?

CB: "They do things on a completely different scale don’t they? But within our means we’ll try and maybe make it a kind of ‘tour for a bit/come home/go on tour again’ type thing and we’ll probably come to the UK."

Q; You play Bogota, Colombia next month with Iron Maiden. How did that come about?

CB: "They took us out on other shows and asked us to do this. It’s an outdoor park we’ll be playing and the best thing about it for me is that I get to play in front of however many thousand fans, AND I get to see Iron Maiden!"

Q; Finally, "Worship Music," is the pressure on or off?

CB: "For me you could say it’s off but maybe for the new guy you could say it’s on. I just want to enjoy what I am doing these days and just don’t want to do the whole smurfing record company game and so I want do things to work a bit more organically now."

well, judging by these below, I will stay away from the new Anthrax. This sounds terrible, sorta Slipknot meets Pantera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juiP1uPph90&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS7No6ZFnOQ&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8BfWSrOSG4&feature=related

Those songs sound like crap. In every sense. I'll pick this up in a couple of years when there are tons of them used online.

Anthrax should get John Bush back or retire. This new guy is annoying.

I seen them when they played with Maiden in Anaheim and it was the biggest joke to me. The singer was horrible! I was not impressed whatsoever. I was never a huge Anthrax fan anyways, but it pretty much sealed my disgust for them once I saw them.

Lurideath wrote:

I seen them when they played with Maiden in Anaheim and it was the biggest joke to me. The singer was horrible! I was not impressed whatsoever. I was never a huge Anthrax fan anyways, but it pretty much sealed my disgust for them once I saw them.

Their biggest problem now is not their singer. It's the terrible music itself. But anyway, last good Anthrax cd was Sound Of White Noise, differente but quite good, and in my opinion every one that followed had been worst than the one before.

xyz wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

It's Anthrax. I'll buy it.

Same here.

Sadly, I will do the same.

He sounds just like Bush on those songs.

Temple of Blood wrote:

He sounds just like Bush on those songs.

Maybe in a baritone kind of way but he adds a crappy Phil Anselmo imitation also. Bush had better control of his voice imo.

mc666 wrote:

as long as Charlie is playing on it, it's a definite buy for me. despite my lack of respect for the band as a whole.

Do you play drums? It seems like the only factor you care about in a band.

Quote :

heaviest album to date.

If I had a nickel...

If the singer wouldn't imitate cookie vocals, this could be a better album. I will pass this one up

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Quote :

heaviest album to date.

If I had a nickel...

I'll take a nickel for "best album yet".

I am going give the new guy a chance and assume that he was having a few off nights during those gigs that were posted on You Tube.

Troublezone wrote:

mc666 wrote:

as long as Charlie is playing on it, it's a definite buy for me. despite my lack of respect for the band as a whole.

Do you play drums? It seems like the only factor you care about in a band.

indeed i do, so i tend to listen for great drumming. it's far from the only factor i care about.

ultmetal wrote:

It's Anthrax. I'll buy it.

I'm not quite that big a fan of Anthrax, but the new guy does have a definite Dan Bush vibe about him. The new stuff I've heard on YouTube shows promise, and could be killer in final recorded form!

MetalFRO wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

It's Anthrax. I'll buy it.

I'm not quite that big a fan of Anthrax, but the new guy does have a definite Dan Bush vibe about him.

Does John have a brother named Dan?

Quote :

I'll pick this up in a couple of years when there are tons of them used online.

How about two months? Nothing to make me want to get this so far which is too bad. They've done some great stuff in the past.

As with most of the old thrash bands, I prefer their earlier work.

I have to hear actual samples of studio recordings to make a judgement on this one. No band blows me away live really theres always something I end up missing. I expect this to be a typical Anthrax release with just a different singer who might not turn out to be that bad after all. Hes not horrible and he sounds like he can pull of the Bush and Belladonna era Anthrax songs pretty well, but again I havent heard anything that wasnt produced so i'll have to wait. I dont think they would pick a guy to sing if they didnt think it wasnt going to turn out good.