The original lineup of the U.S. hard rock group Anthrax is reuniting for the first time since 1982.

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The quintet, a hard-hitting outfit that formed in Brooklyn and helped to pioneer the rap-rock sub genre, plans to start a world tour beginning April 25 and 26 in Chicago. The group will spend most of the spring and summer in Europe and Australia before returning to North America in the fall.

"We had been thinking about ideas to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the band, which was actually last year," guitarist Scott Ian said. "Everyone was really stoked to do it. There was never any bad blood between any of us. This was just the first time everyone was on the same page to get together."

Ian says this version of Anthrax -- which considered changing its name after the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. -- has not yet decided whether it will work on a new album.