ANTHRAX will release their tenth studio album, Worship Music, on September 13th in North America via Megaforce Records and September 14th in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records.

In a new interview with MusicRadar.com's Joe Bosso, Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian discusses the album. An excerpt follows:

Q: Being that Worship Music is the first Anthrax record Joey (Belladonna) has been on in 21 years, did you feel a greater level of pressure or expectation?

A: "Only from myself, just from the matter of 'What's Anthrax going to sound like in 2011 with Joey Belladonna?' It's a question I've asked myself for years. Our album, Sound Of White Noise – what would that have sounded like with Joey? So this big question wasn't new, but now I was finally going to know the answer. It was a reality.

"Actually, to step back, we had already heard Joey sing with us before we went into the studio. On the day before the first Big Four show in 2010, we had a rehearsal with Joey, and he was unbelievable. He was singing songs from the John Bush era, and he just nailed it. The crew guys, who couldn't give a shit, even started cheering once they heard him. "So live, we felt great about what Joey was doing. Being in the studio is a different thing, though. But I'll tell you, he recorded his first track for the album, and the producer, Jay Ruston, sent an MP3 to everybody in the band. Within minutes, we were all e-mailing one another going, 'Holy shit, this is amazing!' One after another, the songs kept getting better and better. We're pretty thrilled."

Q: Anthrax have seen various members come and go over the years. Has it been hard to maintain a true band identity?

A: "No. No, I don't think so. We're Anthrax. The core has always been there. It's not like we're Anthrax with no original members. It's Anthrax with Charlie, Frankie and me. And then, over the years, we've had either John Bush or Joey on vocals, pretty much. To me, it hasn't been that confusing. There's really been only two years where all of those people haven't been in the group."

Read the complete interview at this location.

Worship Music will be available as a regular CD, CD digi, vinyl and MP3 download. Nuclear Blast Germany is also offering the album as a mail-order edition with 7" (featuring the REFUSED cover song 'New Noise') and two different double-LPs: splatter and orange vinyl.

Worship Music will be released in Japan on September 14th via Victor Records. This edition will include a remix of the album track 'Crawl' as a bonus track.

Check out audio samples from the entire album at this location.

Check out a brand new BraveWords.com's review of Worship Music here.

US fans can pre-order Worship Music from Bestbuy.com here and gain entry into a free exclusive Anthrax show; then go to Freesecretshow.com and enter your Best Buy 12 digit order number to get your free ticket. The show will be at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square NYC on Monday September, 12th at 8 PM. Bring your ticket, bestbuy.com receipt, and photo ID the night of September 12th to get into the show.

On Wednesday, September 7th, Anthrax will perform on NBC's Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The show technically airs on Thursday morning (September 8th at 12:35 AM, ET/PT).

Not only is Worship Music Anthrax’s first studio release in eight years, but the album marks the return of vocalist Joey Belladonna, whose last studio work with the band was 1990’s Persistence Of Time. Belladonna is now firmly back in the Anthrax line up with drummer Charlie Benante, guitarists Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano, and bassist Frank Bello.

“Getting Joey back in as our full-time, permanent singer solidified us as a unit like we hadn’t been in years,” said Ian. “All of us were on the same page creatively, working together, writing together, and becoming a band again.”
“I get goosebumps listening to the new music,” Benante admitted. “Scott and Rob’s guitars are absolutely on fire, Frankie kicks butt on bass, and hearing Joey sing, well, the band sounds like Anthrax – Joey’s back and it’s great.”

Added Ian, “This record is filled with not just four years of our lives, but with our lifetime in the band. It encompasses it all, and when I listen to the record, I can hear all the energy and love and hate and pain and laughter that went into this.”