In a new conversation with THAT Rocks!, Scott Ian shared recent developments on Joey Belladonna’s role in the upcoming Anthrax album, which will be a follow-up to their ‘For All Kings.’
When reminded if they’ve been working on it for three or four years, the guitarist explained:
“We’ve only really been working on it for a year-ish, I would say. I mean, we have demos. Charlie [Benante, drums] has demos that he sent pre-COVID. But then, once lockdown and all that stuff happened, we just all walked away; nothing creative was happening at all with us through that whole period.”
Recalling how they started to progress again for the album, he continued:
“And then, slowly but surely, when we started playing shows again in ’21 and going into ’22, that’s when we started working again, really. And then in the last year, we really started to put stuff together, and Charlie and Frankie [Bello, bass] and I getting together and having writing sessions and arranging stuff, to the point where we finally went in the studio just recently and recorded nine songs that have drums, bass, and guitar done now.”
Ian also reflected on the remaining band members’ contributions to the making process, saying:
“And [guitarist Jonathan] Donais’s got a couple of lead breaks that are killer that he’s demoed and sent to us. He hasn’t actually officially recorded them yet, but I think he’s gonna get most of his stuff written, and then he’ll go in and record all of it. And I’m pretty sure we’ve got dates on the books for Joey [Belladonna, vocals] to start working as well with [producer] Jay [Ruston] next month. So, yeah, everything’s officially moving along at a decent pace now.”
Speaking to SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk on August 2, the musician detailed their schedule for recording sessions. He mentioned there would be another recording session in October or possibly November, and they hoped to have most of the recording done by Christmas or New Year’s. He then added the following about Belladonna’s parts:
“Joey, it doesn’t take him very long [to record his vocals]. Once he kind of wraps his head around it and kind of runs it through his filter, he’s a fast worker. So once he starts, it doesn’t take long. It’s more, I think, the onus on me of being happy with the lyrics I’m writing. ‘Cause I actually had, like, three or four songs written months ago, and then I revisited them like a month ago, and I threw ’em all in the garbage; I was, like, ‘This is crap.’ But I’m in a much better place with that now.”
So, the band hopes to release their twelfth studio album sometime in 2024. Yet, they can’t give an exact date for the album’s arrival. Anthrax also dropped a live album titled ‘XL’ on July 15, featuring the complete setlist from their recent livestream performance.
You can watch the guitarist’s full interview below.
