Anthrax guitarist and founding member Scott Ian made waves recently during an interview with Rolling Stone Brasil when he said the band’s brand-new album, Cursum Perficio, could be the band’s last studio recording. He added during the interview with the publication, that the band’s decision would essentially hinge on how the band feels about its situation following the tour cycle for the album, which was released Sept. 12. Should the band decide to call it quits following the tour, then Cursum Perficio will prove to be a mostly positive final offering from Anthrax. That is proven through its musical and lyrical content alike. Throughout the course of the album’s 50-minute-plus run time, the musical arrangements show the band having moved in a really different direction again while also displaying its own share of familiarity. The lyrics that accompany the musical arrangements make for their own interest. All things considered they make Cursum Perficio one more of this year’s top new hard rock and metal albums.
Cursum Perficio, Anthrax’s latest full-length studio recording (its 12th album and first in over a decade) is an offering that audiences will agree is a welcome return from the band. That is proven through its musical and lyrical content alike. Right from the album’s outset, ‘The Long Goodbye,’ this is made clear. The rich balance of Ian’s work on guitar alongside bassist Frank Bello’s solid bass line and drummer Charlie Benante’s steady time keeping makes the song’s opening bars a solid first impression. As front man Joey Belladonna joins in, his vocal delivery adds its own layer of enjoyment to the whole. Front hat point on the composition keeps the energy flowing even being more of a pure hard rock composition than thrash style arrangement.
The fire and energy exhibited in ‘The Long Goodbye’ is especially interesting considering the song’s seeming lyrical theme, that being the matter of losing a loved one to dementia. According to available information, Ian wrote the song in regard to watching his father’s decline due to Alzheimer’s disease. It is a topic that is sure to resonate with plenty of listeners. This critic’s own grandmother lost her battle with Alzheimer’s disease some years ago, so it is certainly relevant in this case. Such a theme would make one think that such a theme would call for a more “emotionally heavy” style composition. Instead, what audiences get here is a work that is the exact opposite. The thing is that anyone watching a loved one’s mental decline from this disease knows that feelings of sadness and depression are right alongside feelings of anger and frustration from feeling powerless against the silent killer. To that end, the approach taken to the song’s arrangement makes even more sense. The whole makes the song in general a solid opener and solid proof of the impact of the album’s overall content.
On a completely different note, the album does not stick to the emotionally heavy. In fact it also tackles popular American literature in the form of ‘Infectious.’ Just as with the band’s classic song, ‘Among The Living,’ ‘Infectious’ is a tribute to author Stephen King’s timeless novel, The Stand. Musically speaking, this song is another departure from the thrash works that have made Anthrax a household name for decades. It is a rich, heavy, hard rock that one could argue even has some blues-based sludge metal leaning. Keeping that in mind, the song’s musical arrangement, complete with its old school style guitar solo, makes the whole such a unique, engaging and entertaining work if only for its musical arrangement.
Getting back to the song’s tribute to The Stand, the song could just as easily be seen as a social commentary, what with a line, such as, ”Hey, true believer/All lit up with the fever/Do I make you sick/I’m an overachiever/Throw back and a half/Yet I’m ahead of my time/You know who I am/Now show me the crime.” That line alone could easily be interpreted as being a person saying to the masses who blindly follow certain matters or people that those individuals are the polar opposite of the speaker. The sense of cynicism in that statement really does resonate even today in the real world. To that end, it and the mood set through the song’s arrangement makes this song yet another clear example of the impact of the album’s overall content.
As the record nears its end, audiences hoping for some vintage Anthrax thrash do get just that (and in fine form) in ‘Watch It Go.’ Running just under six minutes, this song’s arrangement blends that familiar thrash approach with more sludge metal a la Black Label Society (and even Pantera). The whole makes for a composition that is easily one of the album’s best musical presentations.
The anger and “punch” of the musical arrangement in ‘Watch It Go’ resonates even louder when it is considered alongside the song’s socio-politically charged lyrical theme. The commentary is made especially clear in the song’s chorus, which finds Joey Belladonna singing, “There’s no way to reason/With the wrong side of history/Treason/The dream has died/Go strong in your beliefs/It’s hard to imagine/The hell that I intend/My means to an end.” That line stating that “There’s no way to reason/With the wrong side of history” is a clear allusion to the attempt to get members of the MAGA cult to come to their senses. It is true, too. There is no reasoning with them. Belladonna then encourages people on that right side to “Go strong in your beliefs.” That is all we can do. When this message is considered along with the rest of the song, the whole makes the overall statement clear and even more resonant. When the overall message here is considered along with the themes and topics discussed in the other songs examined here, and that whole with the rest of the album’s lyrical content, the whole gives audiences even more to appreciate.
When the overall engaging and entertaining lyrical themes are considered alongside the album’s overall musical body, the whole proves Cursum Perficio to be a solid new offering from Anthrax that deserves its own spot among the year’s top new hard rock and metal albums. Cursum Perficio is available now. More information on the album is available along with all of Anthrax’s latest news at:
Website: https://anthrax.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anthrax
Twitter: Anthrax (@Anthrax) on X
| Anthrax (@Anthrax) on XThe Hardest Ever. @skisum @scott_ian @thefrankbello @jbelladonna @jonshadfall1 |
Anthrax live photo by Courtney Ware – @2022