UPDATE - 1/18@11:38AM: RollingStone.com has made the track available for streaming online at this location. The EP will be titled Anthems rather than Anthem and release on March 19th.

Back in April of last year we first heard that thrash metal pioneers Anthrax would be including a cover of Rush's Anthem on an upcoming tribute EP. According to Blabbermouth.net (thanks Mike O), the EP will be titled Anthem and is due out on March 18th. The EP will also include covers of Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak, AC/DC's TNT, Cheap Tricks' Big Eyes, Boston's Smokin' and Journey's Keep On Runnin'. This past August Artisan News Service sat down with Anthrax members Scott Ian and Frank Bello for an interview to discuss the EP and specifically the Anthem cover:

Scott Ian: It's songs that in some way, shape or form we've been playing or jamming on for our whole lives. Because you really don't want to have to work too hard on these things. Although the Rush song is a bit of a bitch. I can't say that's an easy one. But it's a song we all know and we're all familiar with. So then - of course - you take on the challenge of really trying to nail it and do it justice.

Frank Bello: Even the bass parts - I have to get every little part of Geddy down because I'm a fanatic with that stuff and I have to. I don't want to leave it. I'm still working on the little bits. It's great - I love it.

Rush was apparently made aware of the cover via drummer Charlie Benante's YouTube clip of him laying down the drum track:

Scott Ian: Charlie [Benante] bumped into Neil Peart at the Golden Gods Awards a few months ago and Neil actually said to Charlie, "yeah- we heard you guys were covering Anthem. That's so cool. We put the clip of you playing drums up on our website", or something like that. I swear to God - Charlie was like ... the light, the glow that was coming off of him after that. I've never seen anything quite like it.

NOTE: Posts over 10 years old are partially archived. All comments, images and other embedded media have been removed.