Belladonna Returns To Anthrax, 'Big Four' Is On
By: Carl Sundberg
Last updated May 10th , 2010

It's official. Joey Belladonna will return to Anthrax as their frontman. We reported last week that it was nothing more than a rumor, and that there was a possibility that the frontman duties could have gone to either Joey Belladonna or John Bush, due to cryptic internet posts on foreign websites, although we were leaning toward Belladonna as he was seen with guys from the band recently in a club in New York. But now the cat's out of the bag. 

"Im super excited about this," said guitarist Scott Ian. "Joey and the rest of the band came to see me play at a club in New York, I hadn't seen Joey for years, since the end of the reunion tour. Joey taps me on the shoulder, instant big hug, it felt like no time had gone by. The band dynamic is an interesting one - in Anthrax, Joey and I spent so many years of our lives together, we grew up together, we know each other so well, so it was like no time was lost."

Belladonna was of course Anthrax's original frontman from 1985-1992 and was on all their seminal albums and reunited with the band for a 2005-2007 reunion tour. According to Belladonna, this situation is different than that reunion. "I had been in touch with Charlie and Frank," Belladonna says. "Then I got a call from their manager who said that everyone wanted me back in the band. I thought 'Are you guys for real? You want me up there, fronting the band like it was before?' I was thrilled. We've already started to reconnect with the old ways of having conversations. Everything is easy going and feels really good."

The band will head to Europe to play the Sonisphere Festivals in August as part of the "Big Four" of thrash - which includes Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, playing for the first time together in over two decades. Then Anthrax will head back to the states to rehearse and work on the album that was shelved over a year ago with Belladonna onboard.

[Tags] Metal, Rock

Recent Related Articles