ANTHRAX have officially unveiled the title of their long-awaited new studio album: Cursum Perficio. Originally scheduled for a May release, the record is now set to arrive in September 2026 after the band recently signed with Independent Artist Group, prompting a shift in their rollout strategy.
As previously reported, drummer Charlie Benante confirmed that while the full album was delayed, fans won’t have to wait long for new music, with the first single and video arriving in May and additional songs planned ahead of the release.
In a new interview with BraveWords, Benante and guitarist Scott Ian discussed the meaning behind the album’s Latin title, though Ian joked about their qualifications to interpret it: “You’re asking the wrong people. Neither of us majored in Latin or went to medical school.”
Benante then revealed the deeper inspiration behind Cursum Perficio, which was sparked by an unexpected source: “There was a whole idea going around about, all the four bands, the Big 4 bands, kind of getting to the point where, ‘Wow, this may be the time that this could be the last record’. And I was watching this Marilyn Monroe documentary. She has this plaque in her house, which said, ‘Cursum Perficio’ which means ‘My journey has come to an end’ or ‘My journey is over’. And we were talking, and ‘What about this?’. We don’t really have to say that this is the end.”
Ian added that the title also reflects the band’s own journey in bringing the album to life: “I look at it as, it’s also the journey of this album.”
That journey has been anything but straightforward. Although For All Kings was released back in 2016, the band spent nearly three years touring behind it before plans for a new album could even begin to take shape.
Ian broke down the timeline in detail: “Because we started – it literally was, just the other day, the ten year anniversary of For All Kings. But I think what most people don’t realize, because they’re not in the band, and they don’t analyze the minutiae of ANTHRAX’s schedule, and they haven’t lived it, but, For All Kings came out in early 2016 and we didn’t finish that touring cycle until November of 2019. And then, the idea was, ‘All right, we’re going to take off for the holidays and then we’ll gear up in 2020 and start writing and start putting together the new record’. There was already stuff going back and forth.”
He continued: “Early 2020 COVID hits. So then, you know, tack on another two years of, kind of, us as a band not creatively being together, but individually working on things and absorbing things. So that right there, that’s like five years. I get it, it’s been 10 years, but really it’s only been five as far as us making a record because it was three years of touring and two years of not knowing if we were ever going to be in a band again because nobody knew what the f**k was happening. I remember we’d be texting each other, blah, blah, blah, ‘You think we’ll ever get to play a show?’”
Despite the long gap, excitement around the new material continues to build. Ian singled out one track in particular, “Edge of Perfection”, as a standout moment on the album: “Even just as an instrumental. I was like, ‘I think this is the best thing we’ve ever written’,” he stated. “And now, even now as the completed song, I think it’s the best ANTHRAX song of all time. And that’s putting it up against anything on Among The Living. I think it’s the best song we’ve ever written”
Beyond the music itself, ANTHRAX are also putting significant effort into the album’s visual presentation. Benante revealed that Cursum Perficio will feature elaborate packaging, including a pop-up element, while praising the artwork created by illustrator Mark Stutzman: “I mean, we’re gonna do a lot on this record with the visuals, because it’s stunning. The album cover is stunning. It’s a beautiful piece of art.”
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