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anthrax,anthrax band,anthrax new album,anthrax new album 2023,anthrax tour,anthrax band members, ANTHRAX Is ‘Getting Close’ To The Recording Process For Their Next Studio Album

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante recently gave an update on the status of the songwriting sessions for the band’s follow-up to 2016’s “For All Kings” album

Speaking with Metal Edge, Ian said “We’re getting close. I can tell you we have 11 musical arrangements, and there’s lyrics to some of them. Obviously, I’m going to be working on more words and we’re getting there. I’m hoping at some point we’ll be able to get into the studio [this year] and record them.”

Benante also chimed in on the possibility of ANTHRAX releasing EPs in the future as opposed to full-length albums, saying: “What if it wasn’t a full album? If we released six songs and then we released another six songs. I know from a record company’s point of view that really doesn’t work, but in these days…”

“Yeah. It’s all so different now,” Ian said. “SLIPKNOT‘s saying now why even make full albums anymore. I get it. I get all sides of it. I still love a full album, but at the same time I totally understand the idea of what’s the point of giving someone 11 songs. Most people don’t listen to albums anymore. So, yeah — why not parse it out? I don’t know. All I know is at some point in the next few months we’ll probably have 14 or 15 things and then we’ll have to decide when we’re going to record it and how we’re going to release it.”

“Think about it,” Benante continued. “If ANTHRAX released five songs and you have these five songs, and you absorb it in such a different way nowadays, too. I think that may be the way to go, rather than give everybody 11 songs and it’s like, ‘Oh — I only had a chance to listen to the first four or five.’ I don’t know. I just think maybe the business model is different.”

“And even for us, playing songs live it’s like, you put out a record with 10 or 11 songs on it with the idea that, ‘Oh man, I can’t wait to play this one live and I can’t wait to play this one live,'” Ian added. “On ‘For All Kings‘, we definitely didn’t play all of those songs at any point. I think there’s maybe six songs on the record that got played – and that’s it. I almost feel like you’re wasting them. I understand album tracks, but if you put out just five songs it would be easy to play all five of those on a new tour.”

“And easier to digest, too,” Benante agreed. “You would appreciate it more if it was just five songs and, ‘These five songs are fuckin’ killer. I can’t wait for the next five songs,’ knowing that we will release another five or six.”

ANTHRAX are currently on the road with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY for a 24-date tour. Joining ANTHRAX and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY as special guest on this run is EXODUS. The run of dates launched on January 17 at the Revolution Concert House in Boise, Idaho and wraps in Oakland, California at the Fox Theatre on February 18.