ANTHRAX To Enter Studio In October

ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante has issued the following update:

"Lemme have an iced venti americano with six pumps of vanilla and leave room for cream. This has been repeated from my mouth daily throughout the summer; how do I say this in Japanese?

"I am going to Japan and Korea; I am psyched! I think everyone knows that Japan is one of my favorite places to play. If it was closer to the USA, I would move there. The people, the food, the way they package your scone (that sounds weird),the toys, the gear, the electronics, I could go on. It's an awesome place. This will be the first time playing there with Dan [Nelson, vocals] in the band, he is going to shit himself! I am very EXCITING!

"We will be playing a bit of everything, old and new and a surprise or two. Dan, Frank [Bello, bass] and Rob [Caggiano, guitar] have this great samurai sword dance that they will do at the start of the show, it's very Cirque du Soleil... oh shit, that was a surprise...DAMN!

"Korea will be a first for ANTHRAX; we have never played there before. I am looking forward to this. I know it's going to be a very big show, I am ready!

"We're entering the studio in October to start recording. We wanted a Halloween vibe. I wanna do my drum tracks dressed like Ringo."

ANTHRAX will make its first-ever appearance in Korea as the headliner of the 10th annual Dongducheon Rock Festival, set to take place August 14-17 in Dongducheon. ANTHRAX will perform at the event on August 17.

As previously reported, ANTHRAX has also scheduled a headlining show on August 15 at Club Citta in Kawasaki, Japan.

ANTHRAX utilized the services of bassist Joey Vera (ARMORED SAINT, FATES WARNING) for its appearance at the Heavy MTL festival on June 22, 2008 at the Heavy MTL festival at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. "Frankie [Bello, ANTHRAX's longtime bassist] wasn't able to make the Montreal gig due to a family obligation," the band's manager, Izvor Zivkovic of Split Media, told BLABBERMOUTH.NET in a June 20 statement. "Our old friend Joey is stepping in last minute and helping us out."

Check out photos at HeavyMTL.com.

An audience recording of three brand new ANTHRAX songs — as performed by the band on May 28, 2008 at Double Door in Chicago, Illinois — can be heard by following these links:

"Fight 'Em Til You Can't": Audio
"Revolution Screams": Audio
"Vampyres": Audio

The Chicago concert was the group's first with new singer Dan Nelson, who officially joined ANTHRAX in December 2007 as the replacement for Joey Belladonna.