RollingStone.com's Greg Prato has issued a new Q&A; with Phil Anselmo (PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS, DOWN, ex-PANTERA), in which he discusses the new Walk Through Exits Only album. An excerpt follows:

Q: Why did you decide to do a solo album now?

A: "To answer this with a question is pretty lame, but really my answer is, why not? It's something that really hit me organically. It wasn't something I was dwelling on. Three years back, it dawned on me, and once I feel inspired, I've got to get it out of me. So I grabbed a guitar and grabbed an amp and a recording apparatus, and just started putting these songs together. At the time when I was really starting to get "head down" into this project and record demos, I was producing two other records and I was doing the previous Down EP (The Purple EP). So really, this came about in a bunch of different on-and-off type sessions.

"It was an interesting record to make, because I wanted to change things up. I did not want to do your basic 4/4 thrash record that's already been done and heard, and probably done better, years ago. I wanted to fuck with the formula, and maybe step out of tradition. And for me, I wanted to make a record that could sit next to anything that is out there that is considered extreme or over-the-top. But I wanted to make a record that would be very, very hard just to slide into some genre or sub-genre of extreme music. Whether I did that or not, we'll know in a year or so. That was my intention, and I feel pretty good about it. I wanted to make an ugly-sounding record. I wasn't after all the shiny gloss of a mainstream record. I wanted to make an ugly sounding, very hard-hitting, percussive record."

Read the full Q&A; at RollingStone.com.

Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals release the new album, Walk Through Exits Only, today, July 16th via Anselmo's Housecore Records (MRI/Megaforce). Walk Through Exits Only is available digitally, on CD and on vinyl.

Produced by Philip Anselmo and Michael Thompson, and recorded over the past couple of years at his New Orleans studio, Nodferatu's Lair, with his band The Illegals - Marzi Montazeri/guitar, and drummer Jose Manuel "Blue" Gonzales, Walk Through Exits Only is abrasive, aggressive, anthemic and 100% Anselmo. The album's eight songs are as unstrained as it gets, from 'Battalion Of Zero' to 'Usurper's Bastard Rant', to the album's title track that goes against the grain and right through the exits. Brash, brutal guitars cut through punishing percussion as Anselmo screams with uncompromising ferocity and uncontainable fire.

Tracklisting:

'Music Media Is My Whore'

'Battalion Of Zero'

'Betrayed'

'Usurper Bastard's Rant'

'Walk Through Exits Only'

'Bedroom Destroyer'

'Bedridden'

'Irrelevant Walls And Computer Screens'

Album stream:

'Bedridden' video:

BraveWords' review of Walk Through Exits Only can be found here.

Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals will take to the road for their first-ever tour, dubbed Technicians Of Distortion, which will kick off July 31st in Tulsa, OK. Support on the tour comes from WARBEAST and AUTHOR & PUNISHER. Tickets are on sale now at this location.

Tour dates:

July

31 - Cain's Ballroom - Tulsa, OK

August

2 - Wooly's - Des Moines, IA
3 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
4 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL
6 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
7 - The Intersection - Grand Rapids, MI
9 - Royal Oak Music Theatre - Royal Oak, MI
10 - Danforth Music Hall - Toronto, ON
11 - Heavy MTL Festival - Montreal, QC
13 - The Palladium - Worcester, MA
14 - Upstate Concert Hall - Clifton Park, NY
16 - Best Buy Theatre - New York, NY
17 - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA
18 - The Fillmore - Silver Spring, MD
20 - The Masquerade - Heaven Stage, Atlanta, GA

Tour promo video Part 1:

Tour promo video Part 2:

Tour promo video Part 3:

On August 4th, Anselmo will be at Reckless Records in Chicago, IL (1532 N Milwaukee Ave #1) to sign copies of the album starting at 3 PM. Copies of the CD and LP will be available for a special price at the event, but fans that buy it beforehand should save the receipt and bring it to the in-store. For more information go to this location.

"It wasn't about doing a paint-by-numbers thrash or heavy metal record," Anselmo explained about the project. "It's an angry album that only I could do. I don't see anybody else out there screaming about the same shit I'm screaming about. On this album, there isn't any wordplay, there isn't any hidden message, it's all right there in front of you."

Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals lineup:

Philip H. Anselmo - Vocals

Marzi Montazeri - Guitars

Bennett Bartley - Bass

Jose Manuel Gonzales - Drums