Cro-Mags frontman Harley Flanagan has outlined the musical influences shaping the band’s upcoming album, which pulls from classic heavy acts including Motörhead, Bad Brains, Discharge and Black Sabbath, he told WSOU 89.5 FM.
Flanagan discussed how the new record is taking shape in the studio and where his songwriting draws its energy. The album features nine songs already recorded, with more material ready to capture over the coming weeks.
“We’re almost done with the new album,” Flanagan said. “So we have something that should be [released], I’d say, early next year. I don’t know when exactly. But we got nine songs tracked [and] six more songs written that we’re gonna be tracking in a couple weeks… I always try to get a couple of extra in there, so six will probably turn into eight.”
The frontman explained how his musical foundation continues to shape what the Cro-Mags create. “It’s everything I grew up on,” he said. “I’m always evolving, but it’s all those same ingredients. I mean, you got some Motörhead, you got some Bad Brains, you got some Discharge, you got all that stuff whipped up, some [Black] Sabbath. Everything heavy that I grew up listening to has always found a way to sneak into my music. All those things.”
The band is completing recording sessions for the new album, with the release expected in early 2025.
The upcoming album continues a major chapter for the Cro-Mags after signing with BLKIIBLK, the heavy metal imprint of Frontiers Label Group. The band’s new full-length is targeted for release in 2027 via the label, with 11 new songs in the works.
Flanagan is working on the album with Sepultura drummer Greyson Nekrutman and producer Arthur Rizk. The band’s first new song in six years, “Wired for Chaos,” will appear on the upcoming album.
Earlier in 2026, the Cro-Mags released a newly recorded version of their classic song “Hard Times” to mark the 40th anniversary of their landmark debut album “The Age Of Quarrel,” released in 1986. The album that preceded this new project, “In the Beginning,” came out on June 19, 2020, and marked the band’s first release in two decades after 2000’s “Revenge.”
The Cro-Mags’ influence on heavy music runs deep, standing alongside Black Sabbath, Motörhead, and Metallica as both an influence and a gamechanger in the genre. Following the release of their 1986 debut, the Cro-Mags served as main support for Motörhead on the US leg of their Orgasmatron Tour.
