DOWN vocalist Phil Anselmo (ex-PANTERA) is featured in a new interview wit Icon Vs Icon discussing his new solo album, Walk Through Exits Online. An excerpt is available below:

Q: Obviously, this is a very personal record for you. Where are you looking to for inspiration for this album?

Anselmo: "I wanted to make a record that was as extreme as the most highly respected forms of extreme heavy metal, like black metal or death metal but I didn't want to even come close to those topics really because it has been done so many fuckin' times before. Don't get me wrong, black metal's cornerstone bands that lead the way and they have bands that are very innovative and trying to do something different within the genres and sub-genres of black metal. Death metal, you definitely have a preconceived notion of what those lyrics might be like. The more real I could be lyrically, even if it was a lyric that didn't necessarily mean one thing, the more down-to-earth it came across the better it was for me in general. I wanted to make a record that was lyrically realistic, if that makes sense — more realistic to anybody's real-life experience instead of ideology, nationalism, gore or even H.P. Lovecraft worship. Don't get me wrong, I am an H.P. Lovecraft worshipping fool! It's just been done before.I wanted to make something that was very organic, down-to-earth and mix that stuff with sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek type of shit, which is a big part of my life. My sense of humor is whacky! There are a lot of parts on the record where I am laughing at myself, which at my age, you fuckin' better learn to laugh at yourself or you're in big fuckin' trouble! (laughs) So, ya know, man... I just wanted to be as real as possible. Fuck!"

Q: Speaking of being real, the last time we spoke you had just started working on putting together your autobiography. You have been working with Corey Mitchell on that project. What has the experience been like for you and where are you in the process?

Anselmo: "Baby steps still. I still don't think with everything that has cropped up and popped up in the last nine months to a year, when am I really going to have time to sit down and grind this motherfucker out? Honestly, I will probably be working on this book all the way through December into the next year. It is going to be a grind. I still think we are not even near being close to being close. For me, it is a little nerve-racking and I hate to use the word hesitant but that word is a true reality for me, so I am no going to hide it. No worries! It will get done but right now, it has almost been put on the back burner because of the Down touring cycle just coming to an end and the solo record is just taking off. I have some touring to do with that and then we have the horror convention in October. Obviously, or maybe not so obviously, in November, I have some heads down Down writing to do for the next EP. It is going to be a lot of cram work and sleepless nights but you know what? That is why I am here for God's sakes. I am the type of guy who if he sits around and does nothing for long enough, I will start feeling guilty. I guess I won't be feeling so guilty in the next few months! I will be working my lil' ol' balls off!"

Go to this location 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.