[Cover photo credit to Travis Shinn]
Multi-Grammy Award-nominated New York Heavy Metal band Anthrax, made up of Scott Ian (guitar), Charlie Benante (drums), Frank Bello (bass), Joey Belladonna (vocals), and Jonathan Donais (guitar), have announced their 12th full-length studio album, Cursum Perficio, out September 18, 2026 via Megaforce Records.
It marks the band’s first record in ten years since 2016’s For All Kings. The phrase Cursum Perficio is Latin for “My journey has come to an end,” “My journey is over,” or “I complete my journey.”
The albums first single and video, “It’s For The Kids”, are out now.
Cursum Perficio will be available in the following formats:
As a standard CD; Target exclusive CD with a fabric patch of the album cover; standard black double LP with pop-up gatefold; Target exclusive double LP, red zoetrope with pop up gatefold; Amazon exclusive double LP, purple zoetrope LP with pop-up gatefold; merch exclusive lilac vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold; Metal Injection exclusive white vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold; Talk Shop Live exclusive signed with red ripple vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold; Indie exclusive – red, orange yellow vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold.
The band dove into recording the album during 2022, working out of Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in Los Angeles. Produced by Jay Ruston and Anthrax, the album is “angry, aggressive, and alive”, drawing from their history and traditions in a careful way.
Scott Ian says:
It was quite a journey from the inception of this album to its completion. We were supposed to make this in 2020, but the universe had other plans for everyone. After the Pandemic, we got to be a band again. When we started working on the record, we were just happy to be in a room together. It was so exciting that it was like being reborn in a way. All of that energy and emotion went into the music. The fear of being forced out of our lives and the joy of coming back together are present. The title ‘Cursum Perficio’ feels like ANTHRAX. It resembled what we went through to get to the point of finishing the record.
Charlie Benante adds:
There was an awful lot of growth between Worship Music in 2011 and CURSUM PERFICIO. This album is a culmination of everything we’ve learned. I was watching a Marilyn Monroe documentary, and I saw ‘Cursum Perficio’ written on a tile in her last home. When I found out what the phrase meant, it immediately clicked with me. We aren’t saying this is our last record, but our journey has come to an end. I believe we’ve completed the task.
Benante says about the song and video for “It’s For The Kids”:
I don’t necessarily like doing videos and this one had elements of things that I really love. There were fans in it, they showed up, they enjoyed it, it made me enjoy the video just seeing them enjoy it. Hearing the song for the first time, their reaction to it, and just the interaction with them was just great. I think the director did a great job on it. It’s kind of a throwback to our first ever video, ‘Madhouse.’
So I think fans are gonna see it and think ‘oh look at that, I see what they did.’ But yeah, great song and a great video. ‘It’s For the Kids’ is one of the songs that I felt was so strong, and the riff behind it and the rhythm behind it was almost like a tug of war, it’s like a push pull. It has this tension to it where the drums are just playing at a high pace speed, and the guitars are doing pretty much quarter notes with it. And the drums are just going full speed ahead. One of my favorite songs on the record and one of my favorite riffs. I really think this song is a gift to ANTHRAX fans who have been with us throughout the years. This basically is ANTHRAX at its best. Fast paced, thrashing, melodic fucking metal.
