It sounds like the wait for a new Anthrax album won’t be a whole lot longer. According to the band’s longtime bassist Frank Bello, it’ll be out in May. He also teased that the new music they’ve been working on is “so heavy.”
Speaking to Long & McQuade’s Dan Coniglio, Bello offered some insight into how things have been going during the writing and recording of the band’s forthcoming twelfth studio album.
“The record will come out in May. I’m very proud. It’s so heavy,” Bello said. “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.”
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“If you like the last two records we’ve come out with and the past stuff, I think everybody’s gonna be happy, ’cause as fans, we’re very stoked,” he continued. “And it’s been a while, guys, so thank you for waiting. It’s been 10 years [since the release of the last album]. So we made sure it’s worthwhile.”
Bello was also asked about Anthrax’s creative process and whether it changed during the development of their new project. “We had to get over the COVID thing, like everybody else. We couldn’t be one of those bands that were doing it over video, ’cause the latency, number one,” he replied. “Say we were jamming on something, it would come out a half a second later. It’s, like, ‘Oh,’ and you lose the vibe. So we would just send files to each other and stuff like that. And then we got together when it was safe to get together, when they told us it was safe.”
“The three of us—Charlie [Benante, drums], Scott [Ian, guitar], and I—got together, as we’ve done all our lives, and started exchanging ideas,” Bello continued. “And from the files we’ve had, [we went through it and said], ‘What’s good? Is that good? Does that work here? Back and forth. And then you go home again and see what works. Then we start putting melodies to it, and then we put lyrics… It’s really like making a cake. It really is that.”
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“It starts with the foundation of the three of us getting the music together. Music [comes first] and then melodies, usually,” the legendary thrash bassist added. “Scott and I usually go back and forth with that a lot. Charlie comes up with a lot of great music ideas, but we all came out with a lot of music ideas in this. And then the melodies. Scott and I would work on that a lot. And it’s an open thing. “
Everybody can come in with ideas. That’s the idea. And then the lyrics would come on top,” Bello went on to say. “And to get it through us, to make sure, as fans, and we’ve been doing this for a while — we cut out a lot of stuff: ‘No’. ‘Yes’. ‘No’. ‘Yes’. ‘Cause you want the best, like everything else. Like mom and my grandmother said, it’s gotta be the best. Work ethic. Editing is really tough, and it’s hard.”
Finally, he added, “Sometimes you lose parts that you love, but if it’s not good for the song. It’s all about the song, man. At the end of the day, that’s all we’re about. It’s about the song. And still to this day. Period.”
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