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Daniel Benyamin’s Life After Music is more than an album—it’s a philosophical and artistic critique of modern music culture in

The “Big Four” icons have finally broken their ten-year silence. On May 15, 2026, Anthrax officially debuted their explosive new single, “It’s For The Kids,” the first glimpse into their twelfth studio album, Cursum Perficio.

Set for release on September 18, 2026, via Megaforce Records, the track is a relentless, guitar-driven “banger” that drummer Charlie Benante calls a “love letter” to the fans who have endured a decade-long wait for a new full-length record. Accompanied by a visceral music video directed by Don Argott, this launch marks the beginning of the most anticipated chapter in Anthrax’s 45-year history.

“I Will Persevere”: The Meaning Behind Cursum Perficio

The title of the new record, Cursum Perficio, is steeped in Hollywood mystery and personal grit. The Latin phrase—notoriously engraved on a tile in the entryway of Marilyn Monroe’s final home—translates literally to “I will persevere” or “I accomplish my course.”

For Anthrax, the title is a testament to their longevity. This marks the longest gap between albums in the band’s career, following 2016’s For All Kings. Drummer Charlie Benante has been vocal about the high stakes for this release, telling the Everblack podcast that every song on the record “stands on its own” and that the band purposefully discarded older material to make room for new tracks that “destroy” their predecessors.

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Inside the Studio: A Dave Grohl Connection

Cursum Perficio was produced by longtime collaborator Jay Ruston, who previously helmed the band’s critical successes Worship Music (2011) and For All Kings (2016). In a “Nuclear” reveal for fans, it was confirmed that significant portions of the recording and mixing sessions took place at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in Northridge, California.

The album features the band’s classic lineup—Joey Belladonna, Scott Ian, Frank Bello, and Charlie Benante—alongside lead guitarist Jonathan Donais. This marks the first time since 1990’s Persistence of Time that the band has recorded an album entirely as a five-piece with the same consistent lineup from their previous effort.

The Don Argott Visuals: “It’s For The Kids”

The official music video for “It’s For The Kids” was filmed last December under the direction of Don Argott (Last Days Here, Framing John DeLorean). Known for his gritty, documentary-style aesthetic, Argott’s direction matches the high-octane energy of the single, which fans have already begun dissecting as a sharp critique of political inaction regarding modern social crises.

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‘Cursum Perficio’ Official Track Listing

1. Persistence of Memory
2. The Long Goodbye
3. It’s For the Kids
4. Everybody’s Got a Plan
5. The Edge of Perfection
6. Infectious
7. NYC 93
8. Cursum Perficio (Title Track)
9. T.O.M.B.
10. Watch It Go
11. My Victory

FAQ: Anthrax ‘Cursum Perficio’ Release

When does the new Anthrax album come out? Cursum Perficio will be released on September 18, 2026, via Megaforce Records in North America and Nuclear Blast in Europe.

Why did Anthrax take 10 years to release a new album? The band cited extensive touring, the global pandemic, and a perfectionist writing process as the primary reasons for the delay. Charlie Benante revealed they “threw out a bunch of old tunes” mid-process to ensure the new material was superior.

Where can I pre-order the new Anthrax album? Pre-orders and pre-saves are live now via Megaforce Records and major retailers like Rough Trade, featuring limited edition “Transparent Magenta” vinyl and a deluxe 2LP/CD box set.

Band Bio: Anthrax

Formed in 1981, Anthrax is one of the “Big Four” of thrash metal alongside Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth. With over 10 million albums sold and six Grammy nominations, the band is a pioneer of the genre, known for blending thrash speed with melodic hooks and a legendary New York attitude. Cursum Perficio is their first studio album in a decade.

STAY LOUD: Catch the full breakdown of today’s stories on the Loaded Radio Daily Podcast with Scott Penfold, or crank the hard rock and metal 24/7 on our live digital stream at LoadedRadio.com.

TL;DR:

Anthrax has released their first new single in a decade, “It’s For The Kids,” ahead of their new album Cursum Perficio arriving September 18.

The post [WATCH] Anthrax Unleashes “It’s For The Kids”: The Brutal Lead Single From Their First Album in a Decade appeared first on Loaded Radio.

The post Anthrax Announce New Album ‘Cursum Perficio’ appeared first on The Razor's Edge.

Blue Medusa, the new band from former Arch Enemy vocalist Alissa White-Gluz, have shared their second single.

After the huge success of the trio’s savage debut single ‘Checkmate’, they’re back with another face-melter.

This one is titled ‘Flying Monkey’, and it’s a wickedly dark cut that finds Alissa and co. at their most vulnerable and vicious.

With a title that nods to the story of The Wizard Of Oz, it makes sense that there’s a cinematic flair to this one. Frantic and delightfully fun, there’s plenty of hidden references and double entendres to dig into here, and they’re all wrapped in the kind of riffs and harmonies that’ll get your heart properly racing.

The instrumentation of ‘Flying Monkey’ was composed by guitarist Dani Sophia, who states:

“Flying Monkey was written in this really liminal space, this waiting area in-between chapters in my life, and the melodies reflect the themes of the nightmares I was having at the time. No matter where I was, I kept hearing an out-of-tune music box playing in the distance…”

Alissa also had this to say about the track’s creation:

“Flying Monkey is exactly the kind of music I want to be making. I am so inspired by Dani and Alyssa. This Blue Medua album is almost like writing my memoirs and I have loved every aspect of creating it.”

The official music video for the track is also set to arrive later today (May 15).

Check it out from 4pm GMT below.

The post Blue Medusa Drop Explosive Single ‘Flying Monkey’ appeared first on Rock Sound.

Kevin Morby just released his masterpiece. Little Wide Open, out today, is the folk-rock singer-songwriter’s greatest collection of songs to date. The album presents an interconnected batch of reflections: on Morby’s Midwestern homeland and the adventures that have carried him far from it, on isolation and connection, on reckless youth and hard-won maturity, on how to navigate this life and what makes it worth living.

The post The Story Behind Every Song On Kevin Morby’s Masterful New Album <em>Little Wide Open</em> appeared first on Stereogum.

Falling Together, the new album from US-based progressive rock group Advent Horizon is out today.

The album marks the follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2023 release A Cell to Call Home. Falling Together is an album about holding your beliefs under a microscope, and determining whether they are truly yours, or whether they were planted there by others when you were young and impressionable.

Falling Together is available to order now here:
https://www.adventhorizonmusic.com/merch-region-selection
The band is now releasing the second single from the album.

To celebrate the album’s release, the band have shared a performance video for the album’s opening track, the 19-minute epic “In A Lone And Dreary World.”

Vocalist/Guitarist/Songwriter Rylee McDonald on the track: “‘I’ve always been a big fan of prog epics (Close to the edge, Hemispheres, 2112, Anesthetize, Crystalized etc), and have long dreamed of crafting an epic of my own. Years ago, Mike and I decided to write an epic track telling the story of someone raised in a sheltered community who builds up the courage to leave the safety of their home and explore the “dangerous and evil” world outside, only to discover that the world is actually a place of beauty and wonder. I wrote/recorded the first draft of this song back in 2018-2019 during the ACTCH writing sessions. It was immediately apparent that this concept was too big to fit neatly within ACTCH, so we set it aside, knowing that it would become the centerpiece of our followup album to ACTCH. Over the coming years, it blossomed into the single biggest piece of music I’ve ever composed. I’m immensely proud of how “In a lone and dreary world” turned out. It’s the longest, heaviest, most dynamic thing we’ve done to date, and I truly cannot wait to see people’s reaction to it.”

“Falling Together” is available on CD and vinyl here
https://www.adventhorizonmusic.com/merch-region-selection
and digital here:
https://adventhorizon.bandcamp.com/

You can hear the singles on streaming services now.
One additional song will be made available each month.

1. In A Lone And Dreary World (19:03)
2. Faiths Window (5:20)
3. Patience (4:53)
4. Past Life Parable (5:03)
5. Gravity I (2:35)
6. Gravity II (4:49)
7. Animals (5:34)

ADVENT HORIZON is:
Rylee McDonald – Vocals, Guitars, Keys
Mike Lofgreen – Drums and Percussion
Cason Wood – Bass, Keys, Trombone
Grant Matheson – Guitar, Keys, Vocals

The post Advent Horizon share share performance video for 19-minute epic “In A Lone And Dreary World” – new album ‘Falling Together’ out today appeared first on The Prog Report.

Get details on new tours featuring Black Veil Brides, Journey, Hayley Williams and more. Continue reading…

Posted on May 15th 2026, 1:50p.m.

Theme From Alex – Thirsty Broken Magic & Part Ghost (Self Released)
Matthew Alexander Powell continues his reissue campaign with the two albums from his previous band Theme From Alex. Thirsty Broken Magic dropped in 2003 and and Part Ghost in 2016, both are similar but different in their own ways.

Thirsty Broken Magic is more of a solo album with Matt performing vocals/guitars/bass joined by Rob Reed (Magenta/Sanctuary/Chimpan A) on keys/programming and Ryan Ashton on drums.

Part Ghost is more of band project with Matt on vocals/guitar, Blare on drums and lead vocals on Comfort The Ride, Edd Sprague on guitars/vocals and Jamie Roberts on bass/vocals, who is now in Puzzle Tree with Powell.

Production wise Thirsty Broken Magic is handheld by Powell and Reed while Part Ghost is Powell and Lee Howells who also adds backing vocals alongside Beth-Anne Matthews and Dylan Thompson (ex-The Reasoning) whom Powell was in Shadow Of The Sun with.

Guests on Thirsty Broken Music are High Griffiths on lead guitar for Silver Lining and Edward Sprague on lead guitar for Refrain (who clearly made an impact as he joined the band for the next album).

So with all that preamble and who’s who out of the way we can actually get down to the music on these albums. Starting with Thirsty Broken Magic and Soul Tired kicks off with some early 2000’s alt rock riffs that were bang up to date then, Powell’s vocals perhaps not as refined as they are now but there’s a passion behind it for mixing grooving riffs with prog acumen.

She comes next and you can hear the Jeff Buckley influence strongly in the voice and acoustic guitar, the acoustics are very important to the whole album, creating the main rhythm of these songs as Light And Shade adds Creed/Staind style emotive balladry and the first of three Mantra’s splits the album up into chapters, the first two short interludes while the third is the outro of the record but features a hidden song (remember those) after some silence

Before I Know brings back the heavy, a slithering bass groove adding grunge to the alt metal as Breathe dreamily invokes some radio pop shifting to a short rockers Fra Diavalo. You can hear that Thirsty Broken Magic is very of it’s time but a lot of the styles visited here continue into Powell’s work after this and beyond.

I mentioned the vocals and they aren’t bad mind you, just still a bit raw which suits the style of the album as the woozy Silver Lining is followed by the soulful Sunburn, again highlighting the acoustic guitar. Carrying this through to Refrain which makes me think of Stone Temple Pilots and is the last ‘proper’ song here.

Thirsty Broken Magic is an album of potential, there’s a lot of things here that will be revisited over Powell’s career and on the follow up of course.

Part Ghost then is a record with a bit more time and experience behind it, the prog influences creeping in a bit more in terms of experimentation with styles, rhythms, and atmospheres. Big riffs swagger in on Broken Man the alt/grunge style still central to the music but as I said much more rounded.

Lyrically too things take a step up as they do vocally, the harmonies in particular work really well to make the album feel ‘big’. Brittlewing is spectral and dynamic, it sounds like a band playing these songs over a collection of musicians, we move into the riffy metallic world of Canute and it’s powerful Alice In Chains vibe.

Galaxy returns to acoustic balladry, ripe with emotion and some 90’s angst meeting a bit of prog rock scrubbing, Mad Season continuing the psychedelic/acoustic themes with repeating melodies, transitioning to Comfort The Ride, the albums longest song and it’s most affecting, hooked on a big bass line it’s got a flavour of Dream Theater’s balladry.

Into the back end of the record and the maturity is obvious with the brooding Play Dead and the propulsive Crashing Around You, the drumming here needs to be highlighted as it does on the on the Soundgarden-like Holy Water, a track which brings the woozy riffs of Cornell and co.

The influences are a lot broader on Part Ghost, more realised than on the debut. Bloodlines for instance is some introspective radio fodder segueing into album closer Torch which again features a big set of chorus riffs countered by stripped back verses.

So Part Ghost feels much more like a band project, the style of Thirsty Broken Magic doesn’t disappear it’s just reappraised with experience and performed by more musicians which adds to the definition of everything.

Revisiting these albums in preparation for his new solo album Matthew Alexander Powell is giving the audience gained through Puzzle Tree a look at how he got here. Theme From Alex is where volume met the singer/songwriter and both are worth exploring to chart the evolution. 9/10

The post SHANNON JAE RIDOUT: Northwestern US Folk Singer/Songwriter Issues Title Track From Two Busted Boots And A Broken Heart LP, Nearing June 12th Release On Anti-Corp Music appeared first on INFRARED MAGAZINE.