Anthrax

One of thrash metal's Big Four bring the noise - and Kreator and Testament - in November.

As the band put the finishing touches on a twelfth studio album that’s expected later this year, Scott Ian, the guitarist and last remaining co-founder of the New York thrashers, sets the scene for a five-date British and Irish tour in November with fellow metallic progenitors Kreator from Germany and Bay Arena bangers Testament.

Having Kreator and Testament on this bill should make for a great tour.

Yeah. We had an amazing UK run last fall, so to come back again with something even bigger is very exciting. We’re pumped, man!

What is the essence of a good thrash-metal gig?

It’s the excitement it brings. I just love the anticipation of standing in the pit and waiting for a show to start. I still remember being down on the floor at The Ritz [in New York] in 1987, a minute from Slayer coming on stage, and the energy in the air was palpable. What would the first song be? There’s no better catharsis than being at a thrash-metal show, screaming along with the band and banging your head.

After the decades the genre has spent in the mainstream, is it now almost comical to remember the way purists turned up their noses at thrash? Some insisted it was “just a noise”, and that it would go away.