ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian is featured in a new interview with The Dallas Observer. An excerpt is available below:

Q: Do you hate the label thrash metal?

Scott: "No. It was just a term used to separate what we were doing from our predecessors. And I get it. We could play faster than the bands that came before us. I never say that we play thrash metal. I just say that we are a metal band."

Q: Anthrax broke out in the '80s. Why was that particular decade so big for metal?

Scott: "I don't know why the '80s were such a big time for metal. The bands that are now called the Big Four all came around at that time. We all were around the same age and we listened to the same bands. We unknowingly started a scene. It was just the right music at the right time. It was just an alternative to whatever was big at that time. People gravitated to the music we were making. I've been so lucky to find something that I like to do and I've made a career out of it. That's all the motivation I need to keep making music. It's what I love to do. Why would I want to stop doing it?"

Q: A lot of metal bands have a hostile attitude towards organized religion. When you title your new album Worship Music, are you poking fun at religious music?

Scott: "Not as far as I am concerned. My personal view is that music is as just a valid thing to worship as anything else on this planet. Music has been around longer than religion. I think music is, obviously, extremely important. Maybe if more people worshipped music, the world would be a better place."

Click here for the complete interview.

Worship Music is ANTHRAX' first studio album in eight years, and its first with vocalist Joey Belladonna since 1990's Persistence Of Time. The band is currently on the road in the US with TESTAMENT and DEATH ANGEL supporting the record. Remaining tour dates are as follows:

October

28 - South Side Music Hall - Dallas, TX
29 - Emo's East - Austin, TX
30 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX

November

1 - House of Blues - Orlando, FL
2 - Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale - FL
4 - House of Blues - Myrtle Beach, SC
5 - Fillmore Charlotte - Charlotte, NC
6 - The Fillmore - Silver Spring, MD
8 - Northern Lights - Clifton Park, NY
10 - Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA
11 - Palladium - Worcester, MA
15 - Town Ballroom - Buffalo, NY
17 - Stage AE - Pittsburgh, PA
19 - Rave - Milwaukee, WI