ANTHRAX's FRANK BELLO On Upcoming Album: 'This Is The Next Level'

Mark Strigl of the "Talking Metal" podcast recently conducted an interview with ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello. You can now listen to the chat using the Spreaker widget below. A couple of excertps follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the upcoming ANTHRAX album :

"Do you know what the fun part is? Now we are in this mixing mode of the record. You know, you write a record, and there's a lot of hard work, and there is a lot of everything going on — emotion and all that good stuff — that gets the songs to where they have to be. You nitpick. And we've purposely taken our time with this record, because, thankfully, from the reception and the success of [2011's] 'Worship Music', we were humbled and we feel really fortunate to be in the position where people are saying that ANTHRAX is back and with a vengeance. And we truly feel like we are. So we really wanted to take our time with the record, and make sure it was the right record. And I think it is the right record. If you like 'Worship', this is the next level. And I'm not a salesman of this stuff; I'm a fan of this music. I have to say this, because I can't wait to play these songs. I've been jamming the newest songs just in my living room, and I can't wait to play them live. There's so much energy and such great riffing and the vocals — it's just all the above. If you like the last work that we did with 'Worship', you're gonna love this. I'm so stoked on this."

On what he means when he says that the new ANTHRAX album is taking things to the "next level":

"I'll put it in perspective, and this is the truth. I was doing my bass, and we were writing the record and all that stuff, and you're jamming and stuff, and this is how I know the riffing… I'm just saying the challenging riffing on this record… Scott [Ian, guitar] and I, one time, we were jamming one of the songs, and both of us were shaking our hands, 'Wow! That's a pain in the ass.' But it was so good, you had to have more. You know what I mean? It's one of those things that makes you wanna… for me as a bass player, makes me wanna play. That, to me, that's my ultimate compliment. It's, like, 'Wow! I wanna play this.' And I know I'm in the band… blah blah blah… I have to hype the record. I'm just being a fan. I am genuinely stoked to see where… I think we tapped into something really great with our writing right now. It's something we haven't really touched yet. I mean, we've made a lot of great records, but I think we're… When I say 'new level,' I think it's the next level to 'Worship', man — I really feel like that."

On how many songs ANTHRAX completed for the new album:

"Ooh, man. We have a bunch of them. The hard part is… God, I think we wrote 18 songs for this record, but I'm pretty sure we're only gonna put 10 [or] 11 [tracks on the CD]. It's gonna be hard to choose. But, like I said, there was a lot of creating going on and some really good vibes. And it's really fun hearing the mixes. Our producer, Jay Ruston, is now sending us mixes of the record and getting our thoughts and our input on what we need and what we don't need. And this is the payoff — it's all coming to fruition. It's, like, wow! I can't wait to play these songs live, and people hear this and hopefully feel the way I do about them. So it's that payoff time. So it's kind of cool."

ANTHRAX's new CD will include such songtitles as "The Battle Chose Us", "You Gotta Believe" and "The Evil Twin".

ANTHRAX recently completed a six-week North American tour with VOLBEAT. The band's setlist included the new song "Soror Irrumator (Lords Of The Rock)", ANTHRAX's contribution to the the second installment of "Catch The Throne: The Mixtape", for HBO's Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series "Game Of Thrones".