Mark Morton at The Examiner recently caught up with singer PHIL ANSELMO (DOWN, ex-PANTERA) to discuss his new album Walk Through Exits Only. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

Q: How long did it take to bring Walk Through Exits Only together? A tertiary listen would make one think it was spontaneous and almost stream-of-consciousness, but because of its aura of "the sound of anger" it also comes across as a very calculated and deliberate recording.

Anselmo: "Oh, it was very calculated. Still, I think the misconception might be the full-on anger aspect. I think that has a lot to do with my younger years and the expression on my face a lot of the time. I am misread a lot. Honestly, as erratic as this album is, as agitated as it is, everything that is on this album was absolutely meant to be there. Even lyrically; it might not be conventional, it might not be traditional – but that is exactly what I was trying not to be. I did not want to approach this record any traditional way, shape or form.

As I said, music is a vast world, and I am a guy and a musician who believes that not all the notes have been hit yet, not all the time signatures have been met yet, and not all the instruments available to extreme music (or heavy metal or whatever) have been utilized. Really, this album is a good springboard for me. I actually crave more. I know the album just came out, but I’m ready to write the new one right now!"

Click here for the complete interview.

PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS released the new album, Walk Through Exits Only, on 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'

'Bedridden' video:

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