Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian addressed fans questioning the band’s decade-long wait between albums in a recent conversation with TalkShopLive.
Ian discussed the band’s long-awaited twelfth full-length studio album, “Cursum Perficio,” set to arrive on September 18, explaining why the writing and recording process took as long as it did.
“It didn’t really take a long time,” Ian said. “We started working on this album for real in the beginning of ’22, and I had the finished copy in my hands in November of ’25. So whatever that math is — three, almost four years from when we actually really started writing it to recording it and mixing it.”
Ian went on to explain the timeline that led fans to perceive a 10-year gap, pointing to the band’s touring schedule and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So when people say 10 years, I get it — on paper, from 2016 to 2026, it’s 10 years, but you gotta remember, we toured ‘For All Kings’ until the end of 2019,” he continued. “And then we had COVID, which we weren’t in any kind of head space to really be working. We would send demos to each other, but it wasn’t till we got in a room together again as a band in early ’22 that we started arranging the new music.”
Ian also reflected on the renewed energy the band brought to the record once they reunited in person.
“And we were so happy to just get to do it again, and I really think that’s what you hear on this album,” he added. “That’s that energy of us getting to be a band again after those two years of COVID. We were just thrilled to be there.”
The finished product backs up that sentiment, arriving as an 11-track collection that showcases the band firing on all cylinders after their extended hiatus.
“Cursum Perficio” runs through “Persistence of Memory,” “The Long Goodbye,” “It’s For the Kids,” “Everybody’s Got a Plan,” “The Edge of Perfection,” “Infectious,” “NYC 93,” the title track “Cursum Perficio,” “Target On My Back,” “Watch It Go,” and closes with “My Victory.”
The band built anticipation for the record through a steady rollout of singles. “It’s For the Kids” landed first back in May, followed by “The Edge of Perfection,” with “Everybody’s Got a Plan” serving as the third single and arriving alongside its own music video.
Anthrax lines up “Cursum Perficio” as the direct follow-up to 2016’s “For All Kings,” marking the first new full-length material from the thrash veterans in roughly a decade. The album will be released through Nuclear Blast Records in Europe and Megaforce in the United States.
“Cursum Perficio” is scheduled for release on September 18.
