Anthrax Prepares CD

"We have five songs done and they all have super heavy riffs,” ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian told KNAC.com recently about the progress of the songwriting sessions for their upcoming studio album, which is due to be released in early 2002. “It seems like a lot of bands, besides PANTERA, have gotten away from heavy riffs, with all this one-note melody stuff. We are returning to big fat riffs and really great grooves.”

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According to Ian, unlike the previous albums, where drummer Charlie Banante had written the bulk of the music, "all of us are collaborating on this one. It's really great!" The first album to feature new guitarist Rob Caggiano (formerly of BOILER ROOM)—as exclusively reported here back on August 14th—the forthcoming effort will be released through Beyond/BMG Records in the US and Nuclear Blast Records in Europe. Among the titles set to appear on the CD are the following:

1. Superhero
   
2. What Doesn't Die
   
3. Strap On My Old School
   
4. Taking The Music Back
   
5. Nobody Knows Anything
   
6. Expiration

In related news, former ANTHRAX guitarist Paul Crook has finally spoken out about his surprising departure from the group, the details behind which were not publicly revealed until now. In a statement released to the official ANTHRAX web site, Crook says that “as many of you had noticed and reported, there was someone else playing lead guitar for ANTHRAX at the Thrash of the Titans show in San Francisco. Additionally, the webmaster of the ANTHRAX page reported that I will not be performing with ANTHRAX on the JUDAS PRIEST tour and that ANTHRAX had been working with Rob Caggiano all summer. Since this information is being provided, I felt I had to speak directly to the fans who visit the ANTHRAX page and explain what is going on as well as share a few thoughts with you.

“The explanation for the above is really simple. My relationship with the band had reached a natural point where it needed to grow and get to the next level or our future together needed to be re-assessed. ANTHRAX made a business/ financial decision not to retain my services. Those are the simple facts, and that’s all there is to it. I can’t provide ANTHRAX’s reasons for their decision, as I don’t really know all of them. That information will need to come from them if they choose to disclose it. Though I was disappointed in their decision, it will not change my personal relationship with each of them. The guys continue to be very close friends of mine and I wish them nothing but the best. I know they wish the best for me as well.

“As for ANTHRAX’s new guitarist… Rob Cag has been a friend of mine for years. I actually mixed the BOILER ROOM (his previous band) demo that got them signed to Roadrunner. He’s a great player as well as a great guy. He deserves your support and I hope you welcome him with open arms.

“As for my next steps, I’m keeping very busy. I’ve received phone calls from a wide variety of people regarding my availability and participation in projects and am excited about the possibilities. But my focus right now is on 4 things…

“1) I continue to record songs for my solo effort and hope to have my record out by early Spring, 2002. About what you can expect? The style is really diverse. It will be a guitar player’s record (there will be some shredding), so I think music fans who are also musicians will enjoy it. But first and foremost, I’m a fan of metal and write what I like to listen to. I hope you, as metal fans, will like it, too.

“2) I am also writing/ recording with [former SKID ROW vocalist] Sebastian Bach for his next record. We’re great friends and work well together. I think the results are going to be amazing!

“3) I continue to produce acts as well as write songs for other artists. My business partner Scott Metaxas (remember NUCLEAR ASSAULT?) and I have a state of the art digital studio and have been working with quite a few bands as well as writing songs for other artists.

“4) I’ll be showing my face around the nation over the next few months performing guitar clinics for DigiTech. I love this company and their products. They have a new amp modeling processor called 'Genetx' and want me to promote it. Check my website www.gothamzone.com/crook for up-to-date information. Touring starts late September. The cities will be posted shortly.

“In closing, I’d just like to say THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for your support over the years. I’ve met some great people while playing with ANTHRAX and I really enjoyed speaking to many of you before and after shows. I have and will continue to spend as much time talking with fans as possible. I hope I earn your support with my future endeavors and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

“METAL, Paul”

In a subsequent posting on the message board of the ANTHRAX site, Paul Crook’s brother Mark addressed some of the comments expressed by various ANTHRAX fans regarding new guitarist Rob Caggiano’s interpretations and lead playing on the ANTHRAX tunes versus Paul's playing on the same material. According to Mark, “I haven't heard Rob play any ANTHRAX yet so I can't comment about him (though I suspect he's great as I heard his BOILER ROOM demo when Paul engineered it). But what I can say about Paul's playing is that from the very beginning, [ANTHRAX drummer] Charlie [Benante] asked Paul to keep things as true to the original as possible, right down to notes in the lead. There may be a little bit of freedom to interpret a note or 2 but it had to be as close as possible. That's not to be interpreted as negative as it is not... I'm just explaining fact. The band also didn't really want Paul to shred like he is capable of on his own solos on Stomp and Volume 8. as at the time they didn't necessarily feel it was the band's style. So Paul honored their wish and stayed as true as possible to the original songs and pulled back or adjusted his own solos to stay in line with Charlie's vision out of respect to the ANTHRAX legacy. Based upon what I am reading on this board from the band's current engineer, the fans who have been to shows and what Scott mentioned on KNAC (I didn't hear it but read the summary) regarding how the entire band is involved in the songwriting process now instead of just Charlie, it appears as if the band has loosened the reins a bit regarding playing. Charlie's written some amazing stuff in the past so the band has a big challenge ahead of them if they are all contributing songwriting ideas but I suspect the results will be a great thing.

“Paul absolutely loved playing lead for ANTHRAX and considered it an honor but he is really stoked about his own record. If you didn't think Paul shredded enough in ANTHRAX and wanted to hear more of him, there will be plenty of it in addition to just plain old digging in and crunching away. He just finished a song that I think will be called ‘Death March’ that is so evil (includes drummer Jim Roe from the death metal band INCANTATION). If you want to hear some of Paul's shredding, visit his website [at this location] and download some MP3s of solos in some of his songs. And for those of you who didn't pick up on it, that was Paul ripping during the closing credits of [John Carpenter’s new movie] Ghosts of Mars. A lot of it was lost in the mix and the music was cut down (Paul said it was longer when they played it in the studio), but there is some crazy sounds in there.”

Source: Blabbermouth