{"id":4337,"date":"2011-11-13T23:24:31","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T06:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=4337"},"modified":"2011-11-13T23:24:31","modified_gmt":"2011-11-14T06:24:31","slug":"anthrax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/11\/anthrax\/","title":{"rendered":"ANTHRAX"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>ANTHRAX
\nHeavy-metal survivors put turmoil behind them for a\u00a0return to furious fighting form<\/h2>\n

Thrash-metal giant Anthrax has survived a number of challenges, from lineup changes and record-label headaches to the public-relations nightmare caused by a 2001 series of deadly terrorist attacks using the bacteria for which the band was first named 30 years ago. But the last few years have been especially uncertain, as Anthrax\u2019s lead-singer position became a revolving door through which its \u201980s-era singer Joey Belladonna, \u201990s frontman John Bush and short-timer Dan Nelson all passed at least once. Fans waited and wondered if they would ever bang their heads to a new Anthrax record again.<\/p>\n

When the revolving door finally stopped turning last year, it was Belladonna behind the mic\u2014and the result is Worship Music<\/em>, his first album with the group since 1990\u2019s Persistence of Time<\/em>. Belladonna\u2019s third and latest Anthrax stint started when drummer Charlie Benante\u2014who writes much of the group\u2019s music, with guitarist Scott Ian handling most of the lyrics\u2014was tinkering with a side project. \u201cI had these songs that were different from Anthrax, they were more mellow,\u201d Benante says. \u201cI was looking for people to sing on them, and he seemed right for one particular song.\u201d One thing led to another, and by May 2010 Belladonna was once again onstage with Anthrax.<\/p>\n

Worship Music <\/em>had been completed with Nelson in 2009, then scrapped when he quit (the singer maintains he was fired). While on the road last fall with fellow thrash titans Megadeth and Slayer, Benante and Ian continued developing those songs and coming up with fresh ones. \u201cEvery day on that tour we would work on the material,\u201d Bronx native Benante says. \u201cSome of the songs were totally torn apart and redone, and it made the album 100 percent better. When Joey sang on them, he made them another 100 percent better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 48, Benante says he feels no physical need to slow down the fast-and-furious drumming for which he\u2019s known. \u201cNot yet,\u201d he says with a chuckle. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t hit me like that.\u201d But he does note that Worship Music <\/em>purposefully broadens the group\u2019s scope. \u201cThis isn\u2019t just a one-dimensional thrash record,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are layers to this record, there are different emotions. You can make a record that\u2019s all just extreme stuff if you want, but at the end of the day that\u2019s all it\u2019s going to be. You still need a song.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Chris Neal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANTHRAX Heavy-metal survivors put turmoil behind them for a\u00a0return to furious fighting form Thrash-metal giant Anthrax has survived a number of challenges, from lineup changes and record-label headaches to the public-relations nightmare caused by a 2001 series of deadly terrorist attacks using the bacteria for which the band was first named 30 years ago. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[2824,2615,10156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4339,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337\/revisions\/4339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}