Legendary Rock Interviews recently caught up with ANTHRAX frontman Joey Belladonna. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

LRI: I remember that at the time some people had mixed opinions on the follow-up, State Of Euphoria. Looking back, to me it just stands as another classic.

Belladonna: "There was a weird moment for the band at that time to be honest. It seemed like for whatever reason we were looking for a little bit longer of a break to just kind of gather up material. I’m really happy with the outcome of the end product considering what we had in front of us. I’m not sure I was given all the best parts to sing over or the best parts to begin with but I think we all did as good of a job as possible. It’s just that if you compare it to Among The Living or this album, Worship Music, there is a lot more room vocally to explore than there was on State Of Euphoria."

LRI: To me, the most heartbreaking thing about you being out of the band was that Persistence Of Time really felt like you guys were hitting your stride and it was all clicking. Did it feel like the group was starting to become more serious or dark at that time?

Belladonna: "As time went on we all starting drawing from different influences, and now looking back it does feel like Persistence was a darker or heavier album and I think that’s just the evolution of the band that has continued on to this day. You master one area of sound and you just kind of progress and advance. I think everything was just a little darker."

LRI: Were you a fan of the Joe Jackson version of 'Got The Time' when the band brought it in?

JB: "No, not necessarily. I wasn’t a fan of the original version at all and was like 'What?' at first glance and not knowing what anybody was going to do with it. Then we did it then it was like 'Ahh Ok, I get it.' You have to give some things a chance and that is definitely an example of that, if it were me I would have never thought of doing that but it turned out great. We were really able to do new things and try new things and were growing as a band. We were hitting our stride and it was a damn shame the way things broke down between the band and I after that. I still don’t understand why it had to be ripped apart and I be the one who wasn’t part of it, it’s too bad. I could go on to you for hours about it but no matter what the rational was it didn’t seem like it was something that couldn’t be easily fixed without it having to come to that."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

As previously reported, Anthrax are gearing up for their second North American tour with TESTAMENT and DEATH ANGEL in support of their comeback album, Worship Music. Tour dates are as follows:

January

22 - House of Blues - Las Vegas, NV
23 - House of Blues - Anaheim, CA
24 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ
27 - Egyptian Room @ Murat Center - Indianapolis, IN
28 - Piere's Entertainment Center - Fort Wayne, IN
29 - Expo Five - Louisville, KY
30 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC

February

2 - Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA
3 - Promowest Pavilion - Columbus, OH
6 - Crocodile Rock - Allentown, PA
7 - Rams Head Live! - Baltimore, MD
8 - Best Buy Theatre - New York, NY