Fans of ANTHRAX will have to wait a little longer for the band’s long-awaited new studio album. In a recent interview with Australia’s Everblack podcast, drummer Charlie Benante confirmed that while the first single and music video will arrive in May, the full album has been pushed back to September 2026.
When asked if the album was still set for a May release, Benante clarified (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “No, it doesn’t come out in May. We’re putting out our first song and video in May. The record is not coming out till September. We pushed it back a little bit. We just had to do a couple of other things to it. And then we had to, of course, get a release date set. So it got moved to September. And that’s it. It’s coming out in September, but the first song and video will be out in May.”
Benante also spoke about the excitement building around the new material. The band has been teasing a snippet of one of the songs during recent live shows. He explained: “We play a little piece of one of the songs. We played it on this Canadian run [with MEGADETH and EXODUS] that we just came back from. But I could see us kind of expanding it a bit for our friends in Australia [on the upcoming Australian tour in late March], maybe playing a little more, because, for me, it’s become so hard to just contain this, because I’m so excited about it. I’m so happy about it. This record is really, really good.”
Earlier this year, bassist Frank Bello offered a glimpse of the album’s sound in an interview with Long & McQuade’s Dan Coniglio: “I’m very proud. It’s so heavy. Some parts are really hard to play — really hard to play, which I’m happy to say, ’cause I like the challenge of it all. Joey‘s [Belladonna, ANTHRAX singer] vocals — I don’t understand how the guy could sing like that, but he still is killing it. And I’m very psyched.”
The album’s mixing sessions, as well as some of the recording, took place at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in Northridge, California. ANTHRAX once again teamed up with producer Jay Ruston, who previously worked on 2016’s For All Kings and 2011’s Worship Music.
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