Cursum Perficio

About

“The first goal was getting motivated.” That’s what <b>Anthrax</b> drummer and chief songwriter Charlie Benante says about the veteran thrash band’s first album in a decade. “It takes a lot to write a record, and I wasn’t really up to it for a long time. When I started to get the urge again, things just started to happen. You start to accumulate things, and you start placing them, and they become songs.” The result is <i>Cursum Perficio</i>, Anthrax’s 12th album since forming in 1981. In part, the record documents the band’s trajectory from Queens, New York, metalheads to international superstars and members of thrash metal’s so-called Big Four, alongside Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth. “There’s a lot of talk about this whole journey that we’ve been on for decades now,” he says of the lyrics he co-wrote with Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian. “Myself and Scott have been dealing with family loss, and stuff like that never leaves you,” he says. “We were talking about the past, and our kids, and I said, ‘Where did it all go?’ That line stayed with him, and he put it in <b>‘The Long Goodbye,’</b> which is about his dad and Alzheimer’s. It’s a pretty heavy song, and I know what it means to him. I relate to it. I think we all can relate to it because we’ve all dealt with loss.” <b>“Everybody’s Got a Plan”</b> opens with vocalist Joey Belladonna quoting former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson: “Everybody’s got a plan…until they get punched in the face.” “I remember when Tyson said that, and it resonated with us because there’s been so many times where people will say shit online to us—or anybody—and they say it because it’s online and they’re not interacting in person.” <b>“NYC 93”</b> takes the listener back three decades to the year Anthrax released <i>Sound of White Noise</i>, the band’s first record with Armored Saint’s John Bush on vocals. “It’s a moment in time in New York when things were crazy,” Benante says. “It was another chapter of Anthrax, and we were just living through it and enjoying it. We put the sound effects at the beginning and end of the song—ambulances, garbage trucks, fire engines—because that’s what New York sounds like.” The album’s Latin title translates roughly to “the end of a journey.” Which begs the question: Is <i>Cursum Perficio</i> Anthrax’s last album? “I don’t think it’s the last one, but The Beatles made 12 albums, and this is our 12th,” Benante points out. “If we don’t make another record, I’m fine with that. But I can’t take this long again.” <b>Our Favorite Track:</b> Epic anthem <b>“The Edge of Perfection”</b> is one of the best songs Anthrax has released in the last 30 years. “I wanted to take the listener on a journey with that long intro before the vocals come in,” Benante explains. “And the emotion of the song really hit me and the other guys. It brought back some parts of older records, too. We knew it was something special.”

via Apple Music