AnthraxCursum Perficio

Anthrax, the leg of the Big Four everyone always calls "the fourth one" and the most underrated of the lot, went quiet for ten years and finally put out its twelfth album. Let's get the verdict out of the way up front: it won't embarrass anybody, but it won't have anybody climbing the walls either. "Cursum Perficio" came out on 18 September on Nuclear Blast (Megaforce in North America), and it's their first studio album since 2016's "For All Kings". Jay Ruston produced it together with the band, and they tracked it at Dave Grohl's Studio 606. Even whether they went in to record in 2022 or 2023 depends on who you ask (that's what you get for sitting on it for ten years). The line-up is a familiar one: Belladonna on the mic, Scott Ian and Jonathan Donais on guitar, Frank Bello on bass, Benante on drums.

The name is Latin, roughly "my journey is over". The story goes that Benante spotted the phrase on some plaque in Marilyn Monroe's house. A farewell album? The band says "not necessarily the last", and meanwhile Scott Ian lets a thing or two slip. We don't know, and we're saying so in print. Don't fall for the swan-song talk.

Now for the record itself. Most of the praise goes to the same places: the riffs, Benante's drumming, the guitar work from Ian and Donais, and the 6:08 title track. Blabbermouth gave it 8/10 and reckons "The Edge of Perfection" is the best song they've written since Belladonna came back. Riff stopped at 7/10. The complaints pile up in one spot too, and if you ask me they're right. After a 1:07 intro the album doesn't open with a fast one. It opens with "The Long Goodbye", 5:34 of mid-tempo. That is not how a thrash album should throw its first punch (!) "Infectious" and "T.O.M.B." apparently only open up after a few spins, and some passages came across as too predictable. On a 53-minute album, once the slow burners stack up, you feel every minute. The singles were well chosen, though: "It's for the Kids", "The Edge of Perfection" and "Everybody's Got a Plan" are the album at its toughest. The video for "Edge of Perfection" was shot by Oscar winner Joel Harlow, and Rick Baker's in it too. Sales haven't gone badly either: number 1 on the UK Rock & Metal chart, 5 in Germany, 27 on the Billboard 200.

Don't fall for the swan-song talk.

So why isn't the score higher? Because the opening stumbles and the long tracks in the middle drag the album down. Anyone who waited this long and wanted at least one surprise for their trouble has a point. Why isn't it lower? Because the riff writing, the drums and the best three or four tracks have more life in them than most bands this age can manage. Then there's the money. The CD is €17.99, and the marbled 2LP, with a pop-up that jumps out when you open the gatefold (!), is €32.99. Vinyl collectors will pay up with tears in their eyes. Everyone else, make do with the CD, honestly.

Buy it. But don't give up during the first two tracks, the real business starts on track five...