Rick Florino of ArtistDirect.com spoke with ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian about the band's forthcoming album with Joey Belladonna on vocals, as well as their participation in The Big Four - alongside METALLICA, MEGADETH and SLAYER - on April 23rd in Indio, CA. An excerpt follows:

What is the significance of The Big Four to you personally?

"For me, it's the culmination of many years of work. It feels really great to know that people all over this planet still care so much about what these four bands do after all these years. In all modesty, the four of us are at the top of our game. We're better than we've ever been as bands. Many great heavy metal bands have come along over the years. It seems like every generation gets its own crop of bands. Since Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax started thrash metal back in the '80s, nothing really ever came along to—for lack of a better word—usurp what we did. Other than maybe the grunge movement and some of the nu metal in the '90s, I still think there's never been anything that's better as far as the music we make goes. Sure there are a ton of great bands out there that you could put under the same umbrella as us, but there will never be Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax again in the scene we started and created. With grunge, you could obviously look at NIRVANA, SOUNDGARDEN, ALICE IN CHAINS, and PEARL JAM. They were four giant bands, and they're all great in their own way. What we did was really special back then and it stands up and holds true today. There's a whole new generation of kids who are coming with their older brothers, their dads, or by themselves. Whatever it is we did really connects with people in a big way."

Where are you at on the new Anthrax album?

"The record is almost done. Joey's been singing. He's got about seven or eight songs pretty much finished at this point. We've got some other tracking to do—some guitars and lead breaks. Overall, I would think the record will be finished and mixed before the summer and we're looking at a fall release."

To read the interview in its entirety, click here.