Review Summary: Annihilator's self-titled offering is certainly an example of their better work, but if you can't stand the voice of Dave Padden at all, it might be a good idea just to ignore this album. Unless you're an absolute fanatic of the band.
It's a well-known fact in the metal world that, regardless of whether the band is still together or not, thrash metal usually goes through several line-up changes. However, few thrash metal bands, especially of those who went through their prime time in the 80's, have stuck to the sound that made them famous in the first place. Annihilator are one such band. Sure, they emerged at the tail end of the 80's, and their music from 1994 through 2001 hasn't been exactly, shall we say, original, but at heart their take of thrash metal has remained firmly at the standards set on the band's first three albums. Today, Annihilator are little more than a band just making albums for the sake of it, but I'd like to think they are still existent in many metal elitists' eyes.
This isn't to say that Annihilator aren't a band that, despite of whether you like them or not, strive for perfection with each and every album they release. In fact, it seems that on every album since the supposed comeback of 'Schizo Deluxe', the band have tried to create a song bigger (and possibly better) than 'Alice in Hell' or 'Fun Palace'. So what of their recent self-titled album? Certainly self-titled albums have always been known to bear some significance of a band's career itself. Metallica's debut became bigger than a pregnant whale, and Annihilator's self-titled effort proves to be slightly similar. Sounding bigger and slightly better than anything they have made in the last few years, the band's latest effort fails to surprise but definitely succeeds in satisfying both long and short term fans of the band.
The album starts off brilliantly. Annihilator have been known to make a great first impression, introducing each of their albums with sizzling hot riffs, surprisingly good song structures and enough energy to fill a lifetime's supply of Red Bull. No,that isn't an exaggeration. 'The Trend' pretty much sets the standard of the entire album. Scything riffs, explosive solos and melodic guitar licks courtesy of the incredible talent of Jeff Waters dominate this album. In fact, even before the vocals begin in any of the songs, there is at least one solo that will introduce itself to you, and you can bet your high horses that every one of those solos is different. Whether it's the ultra fast fretwork of 'Ambush' or the slight nod to NWOBHM on 'The Other Side', Waters just never lets up on his performance at all. It is probably him who has been keeping the chemistry of the band from dissolving over the last two and a half decades or so.
However, whilst the guitar work here is admittedly incredibly fantastic, the other instruments, especially the vocals, do not quite match the quality. If you've listened to every one of Annihilator's albums with Dave Padden, you'll know that he isn't exactly an instant highlight. Most of what he does is in fact supported by very aggressive lyrics, and even if his shouting method isn't to everyone's taste, the nature of the lyrical content matches the frenzy and intensity of the guitars. Speaking of the lyrics, much of the content is purely directed at the pronoun 'you'. Whether this 'you' is personal or not is unknown, but it certainly sets the album as a whole firmly in the boundaries of thrash metal. Some songs, including the medium-paced and mediocre '25 Seconds' and the equally as monotonous 'Nowhere to go', are sung in first person, and it certainly doesn't help the song to improve when Padden almost croons his way through at times. Nevertheless it is a distinctive way of writing lyrics, to direct one's own anger purely at the same pronoun for the majority of the record.
The aggression set on Annihilator's self-titled works surprisingly well. In an age where bands try to be too angry for their own good, Annihilator seem to get the right balance of melodious passages and pummelling metal to make the record as a whole fit well. When Padden almost screams his lungs out, it works even better. As on the impressive 'Coward' and the silly yet satisfyingly good 'Betrayed', Padden introduces an even angrier approach to the lyrics, making them seem much more meaningful than they actually are. The lyrics are simplistic, but they work in a way that sets them apart from other tedious bands of the same genre.
Negatively speaking, Waters' guitar work doesn't always seem that impressive. A prime example of this would be the dreary tedium of '25 Seconds', which as a matter of fact, is probably the weakest song on the entire album. Introduced with a slow riff and drum beat, the can automatically hover their finger over the 'skip' button before even proceeding. It's a shame that '25 Seconds' doesn't live up to its name, and actually seems like a lifetime before Waters once again picks up where he left off, and lays down the craziest of solos. That said, some annihilator fans are more patient than others, I'm sure.
All in all, Annihilator's self-titled doesn't offer anything new or fresh, and one can pretty much guess the amount of fun and energy that was put into this record. The problems found here are only the ones that have been haunting the band for the last decade or so, but this is surely one of their better albums of this century so far. Let's hope that Waters and co. keep up the momentum and standard set here, because if that is the case, then we can certainly expect something special in the following years.
