THIS WEEK I’M LISTENING TO…ANTHRAX – Cursum Perficio (Nuclear Blast)

Has it really been ten years since Anthrax last released a studio album? Well, yes. It has been a long wait for Anthrax fans since February 2016’s ‘For All Kings’ appeared in the racks but the unveiling of ‘Cursum Perficio’ should make the hefty delay between releases worthwhile. ‘Cursum Perficio’ – the title, roughly translated means something like ‘my journey is over’ and was, trivia fans, apparently engraved in the entrance of Marilyn Monroe’s house – is a great album (no point beating about the bush here) and one of their strongest releases in a while. If you can recall the buzz you got when you first heard ‘Sound Of White Noise’, be prepared for a re-run.

photo by Travis Shinn

11 tracks zip by in 50-odd minutes, with slower – in relative terms – tracks like ‘Everybody’s Got A Plan’ providing the perfect counterweight to the metal thrashing mad cuts like ‘It’s For The Kids’, a song which does have ‘future live favourite’ stomped all over it. Elsewhere, ‘NYC 93’ has that ‘Madhouse’ catchiness that the guys like to spring from time to time, the lengthy ‘The Edge Of Perfection’ opens with an ‘Only’-style bludgeoning and gives way to a song of delightful melancholy (albeit with some really tasty guitar work from Jon Donais) and the album runs off with the more straightforward noses-to-the-grindstone pounding of ‘My Victory’.

Joey Belladonna and Scott Ian, Bristol, 6 October 2020

Ten years is admittedly a long time between releases, but, as I’m sure you appreciate, quality tops quantity every time.

Video clips:
‘The Edge Of Perfection’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqbhWhN4F74
‘Everybody’s Got A Plan’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr-GVF_Qzdw
‘It’s For The Kids’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj5u8OagODo

John Tucker September 2026