ANTHRAX’S “FIGHT ‘EM ‘TIL YOU CAN’T” AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD

Well, it’s been a long, long, long time coming, but Anthrax’s Worship Music is apparently FINALLY coming out on September 13. And now the studio version of the first single, “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t” — a song the band has been playing live for three years, since Dan Nelson’s brief tenure as their vocalist — is available for download here. (And, oh yeah, you hafta give up your e-mail address to get it.)

Not counting that “Ball of Confusion” cover Joey Belladonna recorded with John Bush for 1999’s Return of the Killer A’s, this is the first new Anthrax song with Belladonna in more than two decades. And it’s no secret that I’m not a Belladonna fan, but I’ll be curious to see if anyone defends his vocal performance here; I think it’s especially awful, and further demonstrates that, even if you are a Belladonna fan, his voice has not aged well. (And whoever decided he should whisper “I will end you” in sync with the drums before the second verse made a poor choice. SO CHEESY.)

But I also think the band made some weird choices in the production of the song, and those choices undermine its power. I don’t know if those guitars or keyboards under the chorus, for example, which is a bad sign; whatever they are, they make the track feel way too poppy. In fact, I’d say the whole song seems to be lacking any real edge.

But maybe it will grow on me. We’ll see.

Headbang here, then debate the quality of the song in the comments section below.

-AR

Thanks to Aleksander Sobecki for the tip!