ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello recently spoke with Kristen Dunleavy at MyYearbook.com about the band's new album, Worship Music. An excerpt is available below:

Q:How does it feel to finally be able to put this album out?

Bello: "It’s a wonderful record that we’re really psyched about. I can’t believe I just used the word wonderful. [Laughs] We have this amazing, great, heavy record, which we’re really excited about and we really worked hard on. We gave everything on this record – blood, sweat, tears. It took a lot of years of our lives and it’s coming to this culmination. People are digging it, it’s getting great reviews, and I can’t wait until the actual fans hear it."

Q: Critics are already calling it the metal album of the year and it’s not even out yet.

Bello: "That’s scary to hear, and it’s the ultimate compliment. We put so much work into this record. I know every band sells their new record, they promote it and say it’s the best thing they’ve ever done, but I can’t say I like an Anthrax album more than I do this one. Usually when we record an album, I let it go and I don’t start listening to it until we’re touring. But I haven’t stopped listening to this record in its entirety. I’m hearing from other reviewers that they don’t want to stop the record; they have to listen to it throughout, which is really a test of the songs."

Q: Scott Ian has said that when work on this album first began in 2007, there was essentially no Anthrax. What was going at that time that fractured the band in such a way, and how did you all manage to come together again?

Bello: "I think it was the frustration of it all, and communication, quite honestly. Communication and not being together - I was playing in another band for a while, HELMET, and it just fractured. That’s the best word for it. I wasn’t available to go to Chicago with [drummer] Charlie and Scott, so they wrote one or two songs. Then I came in and joined them and it was just time. We knew what we had. All of a sudden, it just started to take momentum. We just didn’t know who was going to sing on the record. All the trials and tribulations have been well-documented, as you know. It’s just a pleasure and I can’t be more psyched for what Joey Belladonna is doing with the record."

Click here for the complete interview.

Worship Music was released on September 13th in North America via Megaforce Records and on September 14th in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records.

The tracklist is as follows:

'Worship' (intro)

'Earth On Hell'

'The Devil You Know'

'Fight 'Em Til You Can't'

'I’m Alive'

'Hymn 1'

'In The End'

'The Giant'

'Hymn 2'

'Judas Priest'

'Crawl'

'The Constant'

'Revolution Screams'

Worship Music is the first new studio album from Anthrax in eight years, and the first with vocalist Joey Belladonna since 1990's Persistence Of Time. Check out BraveWords.com's review of Worship Music here.