ANTHRAX have confirmed their twelfth studio album "Cursum Perficio" arrives September 18 via Megaforce in the United States and Nuclear Blast in Europe. It marks the band's first full-length release in a decade, following 2016's "For All Kings," and drummer Charlie Benante opened up about the long-awaited record during an appearance on Chris Jericho's Talk Is Jericho podcast.
The album's Latin title translates to "my journey has come to an end" or "my journey is over" — a charged phrase for a band entering its fifth decade.
The lead single "It's For The Kids" arrived earlier in May, and Benante was characteristically direct about its purpose: "The first song, we wanted to release something that really represents the band and shows that we're not slowing down." Whatever the title might suggest philosophically, the music offers no sense of farewell — only forward motion.
The recording process was spread across several years, with work beginning at Dave Grohl's legendary Studio 606 in Los Angeles in 2022. Jay Ruston produced the album alongside the band. Benante acknowledged the decade-long gap honestly, citing a lack of inspiration and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as contributing factors, alongside the natural creative rhythms of a band that has been making records together since the early 1980s.
Some of the most personal material on the album comes from guitarist Scott Ian's life experience. "The Long Goodbye" was written about Ian's father's battle with Alzheimer's disease. Elsewhere, Benante's working method involves creating detailed multi-part demo recordings that map out potential riff directions — a process that has yielded tracks like "The Edge Of Perfection."
The album will be available in multiple vinyl editions, including exclusive Target, Amazon, and independent retail variants with colored vinyl. For a band that has never been content to simply repeat itself, "Cursum Perficio" arrives as one of 2026's most anticipated metal records.