ANTHRAX are gearing up for their long-awaited return with a brand-new studio album titled Cursum Perficio, set for release on September 18 in North America via Megaforce and in Europe through Nuclear Blast. Before the full record arrives, the band will introduce fans to the new era this Friday, May 15, with the release of the first single, “It’s For The Kids”, which is available for pre-save.
The mixing sessions for Cursum Perficio, along with portions of the recording, took place at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in Northridge, California. Once again, ANTHRAX teamed up with producer Jay Ruston, who previously worked on For All Kings (2016) and Worship Music (2011).
The band also shot an official music video for “It’s For The Kids” back in December, further building anticipation for the new era.
The album title itself carries a layered meaning. Cursum Perficio is a Latin phrase famously found inscribed at the home of Marilyn Monroe in Los Angeles. While it is often interpreted as “My journey ends,” the phrase more accurately translates to “I will persevere” or “I am completing my journey.”
Reportedly, the album will feature 11 tracks, including titles such as “Persistence Of Memory,” “The Long Goodbye,” “Everybody’s Got A Plan,” “The Edge Of Perfection,” “Infectious,” “NYC 93,” “Cursum Perficio,” “T.O.M.B.,” “Watch It Go,” and “My Victory.”
Speaking in a previous interview with BraveWords, guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante discussed the meaning behind the album’s title with some humor. Ian joked: “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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