MetalSucks

Assuming, for a moment, that Anthrax really have hired Dan Nelson as their new front man, then it begs the question: who’s gonna play lead on their new album? Although we’d love to see Rob Caggiano return to the fold – his solos on We’ve Come for You All, a disc he also co-produced, were pretty sweet – I’m not entirely convinced it’s essential; Caggiano did not, as far as I can tell, do that much of the songwriting on WCFYA – I believe that duty fell, as usual, to the Ian/Benante/Bello team. Furthermore, it’s hard for me to imagine that Caggiano would even be considered a serious possibility, since a) as a successful producer for bands like Cradle of Filth, he can’t really need the money and b) John Bush has opted not to return to the band in favor of being the voice of Burger King. And we know Dan Spitz is back to making watches or being lazy eyed or doing whatever the fuck he does when he’s not in Anthrax.

So who? Paul Crook seems like kind of a natural choice – he replaced Spitz for two albums, Stomp 442 and Volume 8: The Threat is Real, and since he’s credited as an engineer on WCFYA, I have to assume his split with the band was amicable. And we know he’s got free time in his schedule: after leaving Anthrax, he toured with Sebastian Bach and that Queen musical for awhile, and I think these days he plays with Meatloaf – but even that makes him an ongoing member of the extended Anthrax family, given that Meatloaf’s daughter, Pearl Aday, is married to Scott Ian.

But just for shits and giggles, let’s assume for a minute that none of Anthrax’s previous axe slingers are coming back to the band – who’s left? As much as I’d love for it to turn out to be someone BIG, I don’t really see that being in the cards, either – especially because, pretty much no matter who is or isn’t in the band, Anthrax are going to have a LOT to prove with their next album. To be honest, I don’t really have a theory, or even a wish list, of possible new lead guitarists for Anthrax – and I’d like to avoid a repeat of the whole Whitfield Crane incident, anyways – so I’ll just ask you good people: who do you think should play leads on the new Anthrax album?