Anthrax: "Worship Music" Artwork Unveiled

The long drought is officially over. For all of those Anthrax fans who have been waiting for the band to finally release new music, "Fight 'em 'Til You Can't", the first track available from the upcoming album "Worship Music", has just gone on sale at iTunes. "Worship Music" is the first new studio album from Anthrax in eight years, and the first with vocalistJoey Belladonna since 1990's "Persistence of Time". What a way for the band to celebrate its 30th anniversary. 

The "classic Anthrax-sounding" "Fight 'em 'Til You Can't" is a song about killing zombies, and is the one new track that Anthrax - Belladonna, guitarists Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano, drummer Charlie Benante and bassist Frank Bello — has played live since they Belladonnarejoined the line-up a year ago. Anthrax offered the track as a free download last month, and fan comments in chat rooms have been overwhelmingly ecstatic. 

In addition, Anthrax is revealing the CD cover artwork for "Worship Music". Renowned comic book artist Alex Ross, who has worked withMarvel Comics and DC Comics and is known for his "Marvels","Kingdom Come", and "Astro City" illustrations, created the original painting for the cover. Ross also did the original artwork for Anthrax's"We've Come For You All" and "Music of Mass Destruction" albums.

The early feedback from press on "Worship Music" has also been simply stellar: Alexander Milas, editor of Metal Hammer called the album "a riff-shitting, fire-breathing, doubt-crushing monster of a record. Welcome back, boys!," while VH1/"That Metal Show"'s Eddie Trunk said, "This album is fucking amazing! Metal album of the year so far! Congratulations. Just killer."

The 11-track "Worship Music" was produced by Anthrax, Rob Caggiano and Jay Ruston and recorded over a four-year period at studios in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Belladonna's return to the band prompted some of the songs originally recorded to be re-crafted with fresh lyrics or tweaked to better suit his overall vibe and energy. Some of the songs were completely replaced with brand-new songs and, of course, all have Belladonna's inimitable vocal stamp on them.

"Worship Music" is loaded with stand-out tracks. While "Judas Priest" is a nod to the huge influence that band has had on the members of Anthrax and metal heads everywhere. "I'm Alive" is beautiful and grand with a build that demands audience participation. "Crawl" is dark and moody, and filled with a lot of the emotion and stress the band was feeling when it was written. "Fight 'em 'til You Can't" is a song about killing zombies, and who doesn't love a good zombie song? It's the one new track that Anthrax has played live since they started touring with Belladonnaa year ago, and has been getting tremendous audience response. The song "Earth on Hell" is classic Anthrax thrash. "The Devil You Know" is best-described as "an AC/DC groove filtered through an Anthrax lens," while "In The End" is epic-sounding and Anthrax's way of remembering the late Ronnie James Dio and Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott.




ANTHRAX - Fight'em 'til You Can't by NuclearBlastRecords