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Anthrax's First LP In Five Years Has Southern Rock,
Roger Daltrey
 
Long-delayed We've Come for You All hits stores May 6.

by Jon Wiederhorn

After five long years of legal battles and label
hassles, influential thrash-metal band Anthrax are
finally ready to unleash their new record, We've Come
for You All, as well as a few surprises.

"After five years of not having a studio 
 
 
album, it was just [about] making something that was
strong enough to overcome all the bullsh-- we've had
to deal with over the past five years of trying to get
a record made," guitarist Scott Ian said. "We were
stuck on a label that went bankrupt, and then we ended
up with another company that was heading in the same
situation. The legalities of getting stuck like that
is just insane."

Most of the album, due May 6, is fast and jagged. In
the middle of "Black Dahlia" Anthrax turbocharge the
blast beat until they're as furious as Cannibal
Corpse. Also surprising is "What Doesn't Die," which
features stop-start riffing on its chorus that
wouldn't sound out of place on a Korn record. And then
there's "Cadillac Rock Box," with its wicked Southern
rock lick and mean slide guitar.

But the biggest shocker on We've Come for You All is
Who singer Roger Daltrey's background vocals on
"Taking the Music Back." At the chorus, the hard-rock
legend screams the words "I am" over every line, and
during the bridge he releases a colossal "Won't Get
Fooled Again"-style howl.

"Working with him was mind-blowing," Ian said. "As I'm
sitting there, I'm thinking, 'I'm in the chair that
Pete Townshend has been sitting in for the last 35
years, and I started playing guitar because of him.' "

The strange collaboration came together because Ian's
girlfriend's mom is friends with Daltrey and his wife,
which led to an unexpected phone call last year.

"She asked if we wanted to go to dinner with Roger and
his wife," Ian recalled. "I was like, 'Roger, who?' I
didn't know who she was talking about. But he turned
out to be the coolest, nicest guy, and we just sat
there drinking wine for four hours and he entertained
us with amazing stories of being in the Who."

When Daltrey found out Ian's band was working on a new
record, he volunteered to lend a hand. But when he
heard the track he was supposed to sing on, he was a
bit taken aback.

"I don't think he understood at first," Ian said. "He
just kept saying, 'This is heavy, heavy stuff.' And I
was thinking, 'This isn't that heavy compared to some
of our other tracks,' but I understood where he was
coming from. It took him like 40 minutes of just
listening to it and letting it sink in, and then he
was like, 'Oh, I see. Now I understand. There's a
verse and a chorus.' Then he seemed pretty stoked." 

The strangest part of the experience came when Daltrey
finished his first take and asked Ian what he thought.

"He would go, 'Tell me if that's good,' and I'd say,
'Well, why don't you do it again.' I was standing
there thinking, 'Oh my God, I'm telling Roger Daltrey
what to sing.' And then when he did the scream for me
I was just overwhelmed."


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
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