Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante discussed the band’s next studio album during an interview with Examiner.com’s Elliot Levin.

“Well there’s a lot of songs so it’s taking long because of the quantity”, says Benante. “I was out in LA a week and a half ago, I spent two days in the studio there working with Jon (Donais) on guitar leads and stuff. That was smoking, that’s coming together really well.

Asked how it’s working out with Jon Donais as the new lead guitarist, Charlie answers, “Great. Jon’s a great guy, very mellow but his guitar style and the guitars he’s putting on the record is just f*cking awesome.”

On whether the new songs are similar in style to the last album, Worship Music, or if the band are trying some new ideas out too, Charlie states: “It’s sounding like Anthrax. The songs that were heavy on the last record are heavy on this one, the songs that were fast on the last record are faster on this one. So it’s definitely moving in that direction. For some reason it just flowed. The songs, and the amount of them, just flowed. I think it was because I was inspired by the last record, and the success of the last record. Good momentum goes a long way.”

Read the full interview at this location.

Anthrax will provide a head banging send-off for the iconic Sunset Strip House of Blues on Wednesday, July 29th. The band will headline what will be the last metal show ever to play the HOB before it shuts down on August 7th to make way for a new hotel/housing/retail complex.

Tickets are on sale now through Ticketmaster, the Live Nation app, and at the HOB Box Office. Log on to Ticketmaster for more details.

"Every show we've done at the Sunset House of Blues has been a party," said Anthrax's Frank Bello. "Everyone who we're friends with who's not on tour shows up, either to jam or drink or just hang out. And I'll really miss that. Sunset Boulevard has lost its last great place to play."

Charlie Benante added, "The memories that have been created will always live on for anyone who went to the HOB. I feel honoured and privileged to have this last chance to blow the roof off of the HOB. The Strip will soon end up looking like a corporate strip mall, no memories there."

While the band is still putting together ideas for the show, there will likely be some cool surprises. "You never know what we'll come up with," laughed Bello.

Anthrax is currently in the final stages of recording a new album that is expected out in early 2016.

In keeping with the goal of finding the "best of the best" for their fans regardless of who manufactures it, the members of Anthrax have produced a new bourbon, The Devil You Know, priced at $59 and available now at this location.

"If we find something we really like and that we actually drink ourselves, we think maybe our fans might like it too, so we want to make it available for them," said Anthrax's Scott Ian. "We really enjoyed Indians, the bourbon we produced last year, and obviously our fans did as well as it sold out really quickly."

Consequently, Anthrax - Ian, Charlie Benante, Frank Bello, and Joey Belladonna - decided to do another round of "taste testing”, this time working with Kentucky-based Knob Creek to produce two barrels of a high-end bourbon, The Devil You Know, now part of the distillery's "small batch bourbon" collection. Both barrels were aged for nine years, a process that results in a much richer more distinctive taste. And every bottle purchased ships with a card personally autographed by the band.

The Devil You Know will taste like no other bourbon, due to the blend of specially selected aged bourbons and rye whiskeys, as well as the wood barrels they were aged in. "We had a great time sampling the different bourbons to find the one we thought was the best," added Bello," and we hope our fans have the same good time drinking it. Responsibly, of course."

Later this year, Anthrax will join Slayer for their European tour with support act Kvelertak.

Confirmed dates:

October
25 - Tilburg, Netherlands - 013
26 - Paris, France - Le Zenith

November
7 - Vienna, Austria - Gasometer
21 - Newport, UK - Centre
22 - Plymouth, UK - Pavilion
24 - Manchester, UK - Apollo
25 - Glasgow, UK - O2 Academy
27 - Birmingham, UK - O2 Academy
30 - London, UK - O2 Brixton Academy

More dates to be announced.