When The Big Four - METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRX, the four bands that defined the speed/thrash/metal music genre - play Yankee Stadium on September 14th, the concert will be a celebratory and emotional experience for the five New York born-and-bred members of Anthrax, the only New York band on the bill.

To begin with, Anthrax's hometown gig will be preceded by the September 13th release of Worship Music, the band's first new album in eight years, and already called "the metal album of the year" by numerous music critics.

Drummer Charlie Benante, bassist Frank Bello, and guitarist Rob Caggiano are all from the Bronx, guitarist Scott Ian was born in Queens, and vocalist Joey Belladonna is an Oswego native.

Bello is a self-proclaimed, diehard Yankees fan who attended games at the original Stadium while growing up. Ian, also a lifelong Yankees fan who frequented Yankees games as a kid, was at the Stadium in '77 when Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in Game 6 of the World Series against the L.A. Dodgers. Ian recently told Rolling Stone, "We're a New York band, I'm a crazy Yankee fan, and we're playing Yankee Stadium, those three things add up to a perfect storm of insanity."

Benante's father, who was scouted by the majors, would regale a four-year-old Charlie with all the stats and facts about the Yankee players while the two played catch in the backyard.

"My dad was a huge Yankees fan," Charlie recalls. "I remember he always had the TV or radio on, listening to every Yankees game he could. He died when I was five, so he never knew about my success as a musician, but I know he would have been so proud of me playing Yankee Stadium. I know that in some way, he'll be there, giving me the power I'll need to knock it out of the park."

Anthrax will release Worship Music, on September 13th in North America via Megaforce Records and September 14th in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records.

Worship Music will be available as a regular CD, CD digi, vinyl and MP3 download. Nuclear Blast Germany is also offering the album as a mail-order edition with 7" (featuring the REFUSED cover song 'New Noise') and two different double-LPs: splatter and orange vinyl.

Worship Music will be released in Japan on September 14th via Victor Records. This edition will include a remix of the album track 'Crawl' as a bonus track.

Check out audio samples from the entire album at this location.

Check out a brand new BraveWords.com review of Worship Music here.

US fans can pre-order Worship Music from Bestbuy.com here and gain entry into a free exclusive Anthrax show; then go to Freesecretshow.com and enter your Best Buy 12 digit order number to get your free ticket. The show will be at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square NYC on Monday September, 12th at 8 PM. Bring your ticket, bestbuy.com receipt, and photo ID the night of September 12th to get into the show.

On Wednesday, September 7th, Anthrax will perform on NBC's Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The show technically airs on Thursday morning (September 8th at 12:35 AM, ET/PT).