Two weeks out from the release of "Cursum Perficio", ANTHRAX have announced a coffee. The band have teamed with Chicago roaster Dark Matter Coffee for a limited-edition blend named after the album, out now in twelve-ounce bags — whole bean, drip, espresso, press pot or pour over — and as an eight-pack of cold brew.
The blend is Central American. Its base is a washed Catuai from Nicaragua, roasted a little hotter to caramelise the sugars, paired with beans from the Pacas family in El Salvador — a Bourbon and Pacas mix grown across several farms in the Santa Ana region and washed at the Cafe Tuxpal mill.
"With 'Cursum Perficio', we have a blend of Central American washed coffees from Nicaragua and El Salvador that produce a piping hot mug of chocolatey and nutty notes balanced by a sweet citrus finish," said drummer Charlie Benante, who is a serious enough coffee obsessive that this is his third Dark Matter release. "This blend sits nicely next to my 'Schism' and the 'Devil You Know' blends from Dark Matter."
The album it is named for arrives on September 18 through Megaforce in the United States and Nuclear Blast in Europe. It is ANTHRAX's twelfth, and their first in ten years, since "For All Kings" debuted in the Billboard 200 top ten in 2016. The Latin phrase translates roughly as "my journey has come to an end".
The band began recording in earnest in 2022 at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Los Angeles, with Jay Ruston co-producing alongside the band.
Release day starts at one minute past midnight. Immediately after ANTHRAX play the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville on September 17, Scott Ian, Benante, Frank Bello, Joey Belladonna and Jonathan Donais will head to Guestroom Records on Bardstown Road for a late-night signing beginning at 12:01 a.m. on September 18. Space is limited, and only fans who pre-order the album directly from the shop are eligible.
The physical rollout is extensive to the point of parody: a standard CD, a Target CD with a fabric patch of the sleeve, a standard black double LP with a pop-up gatefold, and then zoetrope pressings in red for Target and purple for Amazon, plus lilac through the band's own store, white through Metal Injection, a signed red ripple edition via Talk Shop Live, and a red, orange and yellow variant for independent shops. Every vinyl configuration keeps the pop-up gatefold.
The coffee, at least, comes in one colour.