Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian has given fans an update on the progress of the band’s forthcoming album, which would serve as a follow-up to their 2016 record For All Kings.
Speaking to KnotFest, the rocker said that Anthrax started writing new tracks last year before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
“We started writing new Anthrax last year — obviously, without a crystal ball knowing what was going to happen in the world, but with the intent of having a record out this year,” Scott said.
“Obviously, that’s not happening now. So we’re still writing — we’re still working on it. The COVID has obviously put a crimp in our plans, because we can’t just get together and jam when we want to, and travelling has become not so easy, and all of that. So we’ve just been, slowly but surely, working on new material.”
He added, “And if anything, it just affords us more time to come up with more stuff.”
As for what the fresh tracks will sound like, Scott described them as being “faster and riffier.”
“If I had to say what this next record sounds like to me, or a vibe, in a way, it’s riffier — it’s a riffier record,” he said.
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“I think we’ve kind of proved to ourselves over the last two records that we’ve gotten pretty good at a certain style of Anthrax songwriting, and now we’ve taken a left turn away from that, because we don’t want to do the same thing again,” he explained.
“So if anything, I think this record is a little bit riffier, maybe a little less linear, and certainly faster.”
Despite saying the pandemic had allowed the band to work on a lot more songs than they were used to, saying the upcoming album will likely have “15 tracks.” Scott added that he didn’t want to “waste” material without being able to go on tour at the moment.
“We’re not releasing a double record, if it’s up to me, because what a waste of material that would be. But I just like the fact that we will have a lot of great material,” he explained.
“Maybe sometime early next year we’ll be ready to go in and make a record … I don’t wanna put a record out till we can play shows. For me, to put a record out in a vacuum, it makes no sense to me. I’m not gonna put a record out and not play proper gigs — I’m not gonna do that. So we have to be patient — everyone has to be patient.”
In saying that, the Anthrax muso said that the group are itching to get back on stage to perform for fans again – once the pandemic is over, of course.
“We can’t wait to play shows again. That’s all I wanna do. This is the longest, I think, we’ve ever not played a show. Our last Anthrax show was November 15th of last year.”
Check out ‘Got The Time’ by Anthrax:
