Put the bassists from Megadeth and Anthrax in a room, and you’d expect your speakers to melt. But Altitudes & Attitude’s Get It Out goes the opposite direction — catchy, anthemic, and unexpectedly therapeutic. “You don’t have to put on your angry face,” Frank Bello shrugs. “It feels good on the soul. I can’t lie about what I’ve carried. This is primal scream therapy for me.”
Turns out even thrash metal’s backbone guys need to air out some demons — and maybe hum a chorus while they do it. “I confront it,” Bello says. “I’m not shying away. And it helps.” That confessional streak — big riffs underpinned by honesty — makes this a record you can blast loud and talk to your therapist about.
And then there’s Ace Frehley of KISS dropping by. “I’ve got a million KISS stories,” Bello laughs, spinning a tale of freezing outside KISS’s management building just to glimpse Gene Simmons without makeup. “He turned around like the voice of God: ‘I’ve got a show to do tonight, I have no time to play with you kids!’ The air hit our hair and blew us back.”
Don’t expect them to forget where they came from, though. “We dip back into some influences when we play live,” Ellefson says. “It’s homage, it’s fun — but this is its own thing.”
They’re already plotting what comes next. More tours, maybe Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick, maybe more songs that bleed honesty through giant hooks. Megadeth and Anthrax might be your primal scream — Altitudes & Attitude is the deep breath you take right after.
Listen to the full interview above and then check out the video below!
