During an appearance on Full Metal Jackie‘s nationally syndicated radio show, Scott Ian of New York thrash metal pioneers ANTHRAX, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, reflected on the evolution of the band’s songwriting process. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I very much feel like we look at songwriting very much the same way as we did 40 years ago. We’re just trying to do our best in the moment, we’re trying to do the best we can in the time that we have to make a record.
“Every record is very much a photograph, or, if I wanna be more ‘artsy fartsy’ about it, a painting of that time in our lives and very representative of that time in our lives,” he explained. “And it’s the same going forward at this point, going into a record that will hopefully come out in ’22.”
Elaborating on ANTHRAX‘s approach with the material it is writing for the follow-up to 2016’s “For All Kings” album, Scott said: “We’ve been at it for a little while now. We actually started writing in ’19 — pre-COVID — and kind of stepped away from things when COVID happened. We were all separate and apart and we would kind of revisit some of the demos, but we weren’t actively working on it. And that’s actually started up again over the last couple of months, as far as kind of reopening the books on the new material and thinking about it and working on it.
“Yeah, it’s the same as it’s always been,” he said. “I would have to think by the time we get to the other side of the writing process and we decide we’re ready to go record it, I would have to assume it’s certainly going to represent this time in our lives. And the world having gone through a pandemic, I would imagine certainly that’s in some way, shape or form going to come out through this next record. I can’t tell you how yet, but I would have to think it’s going to.”
ANTHRAX is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2021 with a number of special activities and events. Formed by Ian and bassist Dan Lilker in Queens, New York on July 18, 1981, ANTHRAX was one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the East Coast and quickly became regarded as a leader in the genre alongside METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH.
Active over the past five decades, ANTHRAX has released 11 studio albums, been awarded multiple gold and platinum certifications, received six Grammy nominations, toured the world since 1984 playing thousands of shows, including headlining Madison Square Garden and playing Yankee Stadium with the “Big Four”.
“For All Kings” was called by some critics ANTHRAX‘s strongest album to date. Its arrival followed a five-year period during which the group experienced a rebirth of sorts, beginning with ANTHRAX‘s inclusion on the “Big Four” tour, and continuing with the 2011 release of comeback LP “Worship Music”.
