ANTHRAX's FRANK BELLO On 'For All Kings': 'There's A Lot Of Heavy, Fast, Crunchy Stuff'

ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello has spoken to GigsAndFestivals.com about the band's forthcoming album, "For All Kings", which is due in February. He said: "I am excited. You know what's crazy? After a long time doing records for so many years, it's easy to just phone it in, but the great thing that I love about my band is we can never do that. We never did that one day in our life — not one record, not one note of a riff. I'm proud to say that because I like the fight of the band. I think we outdid 'Worship [Music]', and I think we tapped a good vein of writing."

Asked if there was a lot of pressure to follow up the well-received "Worship Music", which came out in 2011, he said: "I don't think any of us felt any pressure. All you want to do is record the best stuff you could put out. When you're writing, you say, 'Would I like this as a fan and get off on it?' When we write a record, we live with the songs — we listen to them over and over, pull parts out, put pieces in, and if it's not sitting well, it won't be an ANTHRAX song."

He continued: "We wrote a lot of songs for this record — more than ever — but these eleven songs, we put them together the right way on the record to really make the album live. It's a flow, and it takes you on a ride. There's a lot of heavy, fast stuff, there's a lot of crunchy stuff, and lyrically it's heavy. Whoever liked 'Worship'; if you liked that, I think you'll be really happy with this."

Bello also talked about the commercial and critical success of "Worship Music", which marked ANTHRAX's first studio release since the return of singer Joey Belladonna. He said: "We always had a great record, and Joey coming back added the special cherry on top. We always had great songs, and just having Joey come into it and putting his tone and his voice on it just made it what we needed it to be."

He continued: "This current ANTHRAX right now, I'm really excited about. In a weird way, it feels like a new band, because I think we really tapped into something that people caught on to, and that's just a natural thing — you can't fake that shit. It's a really good time for ANTHRAX right now."

"For All Kings" will be released on February 26, 2016 via Nuclear Blast in Europe and Megaforce in the U.S.

"For All Kings" will be available in Europe on the following formats:

* Boxset (including a digipack, picture-2LP, poster, card, slipmat)
* 2CD digipack (including a bonus live CD)
* 2LP (black vinyl in gatefold)

Nuclear Blast mailorder exclusive:

* Nuclear Blast boxset (including a digipak, poker cards, buttons, dice)
* 2LP (clear, blue, yellow vinyl in gatefold)
* CD + 2LP Bundle (CD+ black vinyl bundle)

"For All Kings" track listing:

CD1

01. You Gotta Believe
02. Monster At The End
03. For All Kings
04. Breathing Lightning
05. Suzerain
06. Evil Twin
07. Blood Eagle Wings
08. Defend/Avenge
09. All Of Them Thieves
10. This Battle Chose Us
11. Zero Tolerance

CD2 (Bonus Live CD)

01. Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't
02. A.I.R.
03. Caught In A Mosh
04. Madhouse

2LP

Side A

01. You Gotta Believe
02. Monster At The End
03. For All Kings
04. Breathing Lightning

Side B

01. Suzerain
02. Evil Twin
03. Blood Eagle Wings

Side C

01. Defend/Avenge
02. All Of Them Thieves
03. This Battle Chose Us
04. Zero Tolerance

Side D

- Etched -

Pre-order "For All Kings"here.