Anthrax have released “Everybody’s Got A Plan,” the third single from Cursum Perficio, their long-awaited 12th studio album and first full-length record in ten years. The album arrives on September 18, 2026, through Nuclear Blast Records and Megaforce Records in North America.
The song is accompanied by a music video largely filmed on July 7, 2026, at Lisbon’s Estádio da Luz, where the New York thrash metal band performed as the opening act for Iron Maiden.
The footage follows Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, Frank Bello, Joey Belladonna and Jonathan Donais both onstage and behind the scenes. Live performances, dressing-room moments and scenes from the road are combined with vintage black-and-white boxing footage that reflects the song’s central line: “Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the face.”
The statement originates from a widely known quote attributed to former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Within the song, it becomes the foundation of a concise composition built around a riff that remained in Anthrax’s creative archive for several years.
Benante revealed that the idea dated back to the For All Kings period and that he had previously referred to its main motif as the “Van Halen riff.” Although the track was not completed for that album, the drummer remained convinced that it contained the elements needed to become an important Anthrax song.
“‘Everybody’s Got A Plan’ has always been one of my favorite songs on Cursum Perficio. The video basically shows the band on and offstage in a montage that matches the velocity of the song,” Charlie Benante said.
Cursum Perficio will end the longest gap between studio albums in Anthrax’s career. Its predecessor, For All Kings, was released in February 2016 and debuted inside the Top 10 of the Billboard 200.
The new material began taking shape years before its formal announcement. Early riffs and demos were developed after the For All Kings cycle, while the pandemic forced the musicians to exchange ideas remotely and delayed their return to a shared recording space.
Anthrax entered a more intensive phase of the sessions during 2022 at Studio 606, Dave Grohl’s Los Angeles facility. Jay Ruston, who worked on Worship Music and For All Kings, returned to produce the album alongside the band.
The songs passed through several stages of writing, recording and revision. Rather than rushing to complete the record, Anthrax continued refining the material until Frank Bello confirmed in 2025 that it was finished and moving into the mixing process.
The three released tracks suggest that the album will not be restricted to a single approach. “It’s For The Kids” represents its most immediate thrash metal side, while “The Edge Of Perfection” uses a more gradual and expansive construction. “Everybody’s Got A Plan” revives an idea conceived during the previous album cycle and transforms it into one of the record’s fastest songs.
