The long drought is officially over. For all of those ANTHRAX fans who have been waiting for the band to finally release new music, “Fight ’em ‘Til You Can’t”, the first track available from the upcoming album “Worship Music”, has just gone on sale at iTunes.

“Worship Music” is the first new studio album from ANTHRAX in eight years, and the first with vocalist Joey Belladonna since 1990’s “Persistence of Time”.

What a way for the band to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

The “classic ANTHRAX-sounding” “Fight ’em ‘Til You Can’t” is a song about killing zombies, and is the one new track that ANTHRAX —
Belladonna, guitarists Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano, drummer Charlie Benante and bassist Frank Bello — has played live since they Belladonna rejoined the line-up a year ago. ANTHRAX offered the track as a free download last month, and fan comments in chat rooms have been overwhelmingly ecstatic.

In addition, ANTHRAX is revealing the CD cover artwork for “Worship Music”. Renowned comic book artist Alex Ross, who has worked with Marvel Comics and DC Comics and is known for his “Marvels”, “Kingdom Come”, and “Astro City” illustrations, created the original painting for the cover.

Ross also did the original artwork for ANTHRAX‘s “We’ve Come For You All” and “Music of Mass Destruction” albums.

The early feedback from press on “Worship Music” has also been simply stellar: Alexander Milas, editor of Metal Hammer called the album “a riff-shitting, fire-breathing, doubt-crushing monster of a record. Welcome back, boys!,” while VH1/“That Metal Show”‘s Eddie Trunk said, “This album is fucking amazing! Metal album of the year so far! Congratulations. Just killer.”

The 11-track “Worship Music” was produced by ANTHRAX, Rob Caggiano and Jay Ruston and recorded over a four-year period at studios in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Belladonna‘s return to the band prompted some of the songs originally recorded to be re-crafted with fresh lyrics or tweaked to better suit his
overall vibe and energy. Some of the songs were completely replaced with brand-new songs and, of course, all have Belladonna‘s inimitable vocal
stamp on them.

“Worship Music” is loaded with stand-out tracks. While “Judas Priest” is a nod to the huge influence that band has had on the members of ANTHRAX and metal heads everywhere. “I’m Alive” is beautiful and grand with a build that demands audience participation.
“Crawl” is dark and moody, and filled with a lot of the emotion and stress the band was feeling when it was written. “Fight ’em ’til You Can’t” is a song about killing zombies, and who doesn’t love a good zombie song? The song “Earth on Hell” is classic ANTHRAX thrash. “The Devil You Know” is best-described as “an AC/DC groove filtered through an ANTHRAX lens,” while “In The End” is epic-sounding and ANTHRAX‘s way of remembering the late Ronnie James Dio and Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott.

You can hear the “killer” new “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t” right HERE:  http://anthrax.com/

VH1 Classic proclaims 11-11-11 as “National Metal Day,” a day-long celebration of all things metal. The metal bonanza begins November 1, 2011 with metal-focused concerts, specials, movies and videos each night leading up to grand finale on 11-11-11. On “National Metal Day” catch the highly anticipated premiere of Banger Films‘ groundbreaking documentary series “Metal Evolution” at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

“Nobody is more metal than VH1 Classic,” said Ben Zurier, EVP Programming Strategy, VH1 and VH1 Classic. “Celebrating National Metal Day on 11-11-11 gives us a platform to honor metal artists, and take metal music one step further than anybody has before. We’ve lined up a tremendous collection of concerts, movies and specials, highlighted by the brand new series ‘Metal Evolution’ — the ultimate history of metal and the larger-than-life characters who have written it.”

Kicking off the countdown to “National Metal Day,” VH1 Classic will program “The 11 Days of Metal” beginning November 1, 2011, featuring one of metal’s most influential artists each night. Artists including BLACK SABBATH, JUDAS PRIEST, METALLICA, Lemmy, MÖTLEY CRÜE and more will be showcased in various VH1 Classic concerts and specials. Programming details will be announced in the coming
months.

On “National Metal Day,” 11-11-11, metal maniacs can catch the premiere of “Behind The Music Remastered: Megadeth” at 9 p.m. ET/PT
followed by the premiere of Banger Films‘ (“Metal: A Headbangers Journey”, “Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage”) groundbreaking
documentary series “Metal Evolution” at 10 p.m. ET/PT on VH1 Classic. The premiere episode of “Metal Evolution” will focus on Pre-Metal,
the earliest sounds of metal that can be heard in the music of LED ZEPPELIN, DEEP PURPLE and JIMI HENDRIX. Subsequent episodes of
the series will explore genres ranging from British Heavy Metal to Glam Metal to Thrash Metal, and artists from IRON MAIDEN to KISS to
METALLICA and more. New episodes of “Metal Evolution” will premiere every Friday night at 10 p.m. ET/PT on VH1 Classic.

“Metal Evolution” is an 11-episode docu-series produced by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn of Banger Films and is based on the groundbreaking “Heavy Metal Family Tree.” The “Heavy Metal Family Tree” is a 26 sub-genre genealogical chart which reveals the vast complex progeny of heavy metal — from Early Metal and Shock Rock to Thrash, from Progressive Metal to Grunge and Nu Metal. Using the chart as his road map, host/producer and metal head turned anthropologist Dunn, crisscrosses the globe exploring the vast history of heavy metal across its 40-plus-year history and beyond.

From bars and back alleys to the biggest open air festivals, Dunn will visit the pioneers of British and American hard rock who laid metal’s sonic foundation, as well as the current leaders of contemporary metal. Whether you love metal, documentaries or just great stories, “Metal Evolution” will be the ultimate examination into the history of heavy metal music.

A much-anticipated follow up album to the successful eponymous debut of a rock band packed with successful veterans — guitar hero Joe Satriani, drummer Chad Smith, former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony and frontman Sammy Hagar — has garnered a bevy of buzz and rumors that the band is setting straight today with the official announcement of the album title, full track listing, release date and more: “Chickenfoot III” (not “IV” as previously implied), produced by Mike Fraser (AC/DC, METALLICA), is set for worldwide release on September 26 by earMUSIC/Edel and from eOne Music in North America in a special 3D designed package. The album’s lead single, “Bigfoot”, is set for release on August 2.

“I am very proud of the new album,” says lead singer Hagar. “We’re calling the album ‘Chickenfoot III’ because it’s so good, the songs are so tight, it’s like we jumped right past having to make a second record.” He adds, “We’ve established a real trust, Joe and I, we truly bring out the best in one another, and that spreads to the whole band.”

“Chickenfoot III” features 10 tracks with so many moments of epiphany that one can barely take them all in on first listen. Colossal, stadium-shaking riffs abound on earth-movers such as “Alright, Alright”, “Last Temptation”, “Bigfoot”, and “Lighten Up”. Tradition meets innovation on the Nashville pop-tinged “Different Devil”, the Delta-blues flavored “Something Going Wrong” and the aching rock ballad “Come Closer”. “Come Closer” marks a dramatic twist in that singer Hagar wrote the words first and guitarist Joe Satriani composed the music to suit the lyrics. Elsewhere, CHICKENFOOT tackles issues such as mortality in “Up Next” and the world’s economy in “Three and a Half Letters” on hard-as-nails cuts that rock the body while filling one’s senses.

“Chickenfoot III” track listing:

01. Last Temptation
02. Alright, Alright
03. Different Devil
04. Up Next
05. Lighten Up
06. Come Closer
07. Three and a Half Letters
08. Bigfoot
09. Dubai Blues
10. Something Going Wrong

Regarding why the chemistry between the CHICKENFOOT bandmembers works so well, Hagar said in a recent interview, “Chemistry is the most magic thing you can have in a band. You can have four of the greatest musicians in the world, and if they don’t have chemistry, the music ain’t gonna be great. And you’ve seen it in a lot of other bands out there, in supergroups that have tried to be together over the years. It doesn’t always work. CHICKENFOOT works. I don’t know why. I think we’re all grown up. Nobody cares, no one needs the money, no one’s trying to get famous, we’re not looking for fame and fortune. We just wanna play the kind of music that we love and we grew up on and continue that type of music and most people aren’t doing that.”

Anthony recently said that the album was a “lot heavier” than the band’s self-titled 2009 debut, adding, “I think we’ve really evolved as a band . . . we were a lot more comfortable jamming with each other, and I think we dug a lot deeper. There’s a lot more meat to these new songs.”

According to Hagar, the “Chickenfoot III” album cover and first video will both be in 3D.

“We took a giant step on this record,” Hagar told the Artisan News. “It still sounds like CHICKENFOOT, ’cause it’s the same guys, but I think the experience that we had together on tour and the success of the last record really opened us up to who and what we are.”

Smith will have two new records out within a month of each other, since the new RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS album, “I’m With You”, arrives on August 30. Smith will not tour with CHICKENFOOT this time due to his commitments with his main band.

Teaser #2:

Published by rbtaleman

Heavy metal (fiend/friend?) Writer, frustrat(or), frustrat(ee), decorated U.S. Navy veteran, Husband(twice), father(three times), grandfather(of seven), FM radio veteran, Concertgoer, music collector, muscle car aficianado. Grown up since five. Child since 45. View all posts by rbtaleman