Last week, we brought you a round-up of news on the metal band Anthrax, including an upcoming EP of cover songs called Anthems.

With Anthems, which will be released in North America on March 19 and in Europe on March 22, Anthrax pays tribute to some of their favorite artists from the 1970s and got the album title from a Rush song called “Anthem,” which they include a cover of on the EP.

For a limited time, their cover of “Anthem” will be streaming online for free over at Rolling Stone, so definitely check that out!

There’s also songs by Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Boston, Cheap Trick, and Journey on Anthems, as well as a special remix of Anthrax’s “Crawl” off their most recent album Worship Music (the album is on sale right now; see more album sales below).

Anthems – Track Listing

01. Anthem (RUSH cover)
02. Jailbreak (THIN LIZZY cover)
03. TNT (AC/DC cover)
04. Smokin’ (BOSTON cover)
05. Big Eyes (CHEAP TRICK cover)
06. Keep On Runnin’ (JOURNEY cover)
07. Crawl (album version)
08. Crawl (special remix)

Now, allow me to go a little heavy metal fangirl on you: I love Rush, they are my favorite band of ALL time. So, when I heard the news that Anthrax’s upcoming EP of covers was called Anthem, I was like, “Oh man, that’d better mean that they do Rush’s “Anthem” on there!” I love that song! (Seriously, it’s amazing – I prefer the live version from the double-live album All The World’s A Stage, which by the way is only $5 right now!)

Thankfully, yes, that’s exactly what that meant, Anthrax is covering the song “Anthem.” Now, let me tell you, I’ve been into Anthrax forever, as they are one of my favorite metal bands of all time. I’ve been listening to them since I was under 5 feet tall. I love them! Anyhow, if I had heard that another metal band was doing a cover of this song, I’d be a bit worried because it’s Rush and their stuff is no joke to play. But, knowing Anthrax’s talent and being of fan of bassist’s Frank Bello’s playing, I knew they could pull it off, and pull it off well. And they do. So, I totally recommend giving the song a listen while it’s streaming because it’s friggin’ awesome!

Found via Rush Is A Band, here’s some comments that Bello and guitarist Scott Ian said about covering the Rush song.

Also, there’s a clip of drummer Charlie Benante doing some tracking for the song up on YouTube and Rush found out about it. Here’s the scoop:

I don’t blame Benante one bit, as just being in the presence of Professor Peart is enough to yield that response, let alone knowing that he’s seen your tribute and that it’s on Rush’s site! (!!!)

Ok, now, here’s a bunch of AWESOME Anthrax albums are currently on sale. I own these albums, I’ve seen the band play these songs numerous times; if you dig metal, these albums are MUST-OWN without question.

Spreading The Disease*
CD ($4.99) | MP3 ($5.00)

Worship Music
MP3 ($5.00)

*For these albums, when you purchase the CD, you also get the digital MP3 download of the album for FREE.