Worship Music was and still is good. For All Kings was less-so for me. Now that we are finally getting the latest efforts of the band, which had been in making since 2023, here's a verdict: Cursum Perficio ("Your Journey's Over") is awesome. The band sounds great. Lot of people praising Joey; that praise is earned. And Scotty's lyrics this time around might just be their best. I gotta give one negative mark real quick; Persistence of Memory is 100 percent throwaway. Zero nuance, zero need. Woohoo, the track name is a reference, who cares. With that out of the way, let's look at the songs!
The Long Goodbye is lyric-heavy with a great chorus. One of my favorite things here is the way the bass complements the second half of said chorus. And since it's an Anthrax record, this means you actually get to hear the bass. And who doesn't love Frankie? It's For The Kids is a perfect translation of their 80s past to today. Don't miss the lyrics here. The intro is branded onto your brain from the first time you hear it. This song is probably where most will notice the start of a trend which will only continue - the guitar solos are awesome. Donais injects some great and tailored melodies across this whole album, so get used to it! And perhaps also how regularly unhappy he looks. Everybody's Got A Plan. The Mike Tyson tapes interleaved with band footage was fun. There's a great catchy chorus/breakdown here, and we all know what the lyrics are referring to. The Edge Of Perfection is a full-stop moment. Everything about this song is heavy-handed, from the blast beats to the knee-deep, needle precision lyrics. You can feel the age and maturity in this one, and it resonates with everybody who's existed long enough to "know". It's a little different from what they've done before and this is very welcome. Did I mention blast beats? Also, holy guitar solo - this one might be my favorite. Infectious is aptly named! The swapping between guitar tones is nice here, and the riff is a worm of the parasitic variety. Singing this one is a lot of fun. The eerie, off-kilter magic themes are executed really well. My only knock would be that chorus 2 drags just slightly without any extra add, but the breakdown makes you forget about it - it's so good it could've been another song. NYC 93. I didn't think I needed this song at first. Now I see I was wrong - it simply occupies its own space and isn't trying to compete with anything. It's pretty crazy and relentless, and Scott probably had fun shouting on this one. That "do it!" outro is just hilarious to me. I love it. Cursum Perficio. The third in what I consider a trio of crush-heavy messages along with Long Goodbye and Edge of Perfection. It's the kind of thing you need to hear but don't want to admit, 'specially when you're on the down-low. Aside from that, it's got a haunting intro that resurfaces multiple times for compounding effect. This may be my runner-up favorite. T.O.M.B. I keep finding myself singing this chorus too. I also keep confusing the intro of this song with NYC and Watch It Go. They share a lot of similar vibes. One of my favorite heavy moments is Frankie's reprisal of the main riff about 3:40 in. You can crank that shit up ALL day. This is one of Anthrax's weirdly-not-Pantera-but-insanely-almost-Pantera songs, and I'm all here for it. Watch It Go - I should probably mention that I've literally made entertainment out of reading (accurately) savage reviews of their 8-ball-Stomp 442 era. Watch It Go is like if someone went back and imagined even one of those tracks being good. Seriously, compare this to In A Zone. HAHAHA. So there was potential beneath that heap after all! I also really appreciate the morbid-funny title here, like throwing a nation out of a window as though it were a frisbee. Just brilliant. My Victory feels a little like Anthrax's version of Spit Out The Bone, though less meandering - and that's a good starting point. I don't have a lot else to say about it, but I can't imagine anybody disliking it even if it wasn't their favorite. The Circus Left - Yes, the bonus track, which you may never hear! It's basically a dismembering of narcissists, with a fun hardcore vibe that never, absolutely never, stops chugging. If you can get your hands on it, do it. It has that satisfying "you found a bonus nugget" feel that you didn't know you needed.
This album somehow manages to span Anthrax's entire fucking career, and not just by little references to Captain Trips. That's impressive, considering not just that their history spans far from endless home runs, but that they've managed to do all of it well! And can we just acknowledge how fucking youthful these guys STILL look? LOOK AT CHARLIE!! Cursum Perficio is exactly what Anthrax should be. Most importantly, it's still fun.
