Anthrax
Cursum Perficio
Nuclear Blast Records
While the album’s title and songs like ‘The Long Goodbye’ suggest this might be the last we hear from Anthrax, Cursum Perficio finds them playing like a band reborn. Long-time fans needn’t worry; ‘It’s For The Kids’ is a full-throttle thrasher, and the visceral ‘The Edge Of Perfection’ is performed so fast it appears to be spinning backwards. Yet the band aren’t treading water either; there’s plenty of variety on offer and the mosh parts found on ‘Infectious’ are sure to turn pits into seething masses wherever they’re unleashed. What Cursum Perficio evidences is an evolution in songwriting; only the brief intro clocks in at under four minutes, but things never feel forced or unnecessarily elongated, quite the opposite. Anthrax are confident in their own ability and don’t feel the need to decorate these tracks with bells and whistles; as such, the likes of ‘NYC 93’ are stripped to the bone until all that’s left is pure, unadulterated song. The band still have plenty of tricks up their sleeve (the heart attack-inducing stop on ‘Watch It Go’) to ensure that this flows like an old-school album. Rather than being a finale, Cursum Perficio proves itself the fountain of youth.
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Review by Peter Dennis