Annihilator Canada

"Nice gory cover art... so did Annihilator move to death metal? Not really... In fact, it's probably their most balanced album since All For You.

Okay there are still a lot of fast paced thrash metal songs, but that's the trademark of Annihilator since the first day. However, this time, the band added more melodic songs ("No Surrender", "One Falls, Two Rise"), a ballad ("Perfect Angel Eyes"), even the guitar interludes are back. In the end, an enjoyable album."

"Annihilator strike back on this eponymous album. I've read somewhere that when a band releases an eponymous album, it often signals some kind of rebirth in the form of a more or less radical stylistic shift (as in the case of Metallica's "Metallica" for example where they abandoned thrash metal for more commercially accessible heavy metal) - and the creepy cover art could also suggest that Annihilator may have made a stylistic shift towards more brutal music.

Fortunately, nothing is changed.

Like most other Annihilator albums, there is great variation on "Annihilator" with tracks such as "Coward", "Ambush, the Exodus-like "Betrayed", and to some extent, "The Trend" (which is very melodic in the beginning though), are incredibly fast and brutal thrash metal songs, while others like "Nowhere to Go", "The Other Side", "Death in Your Eyes" (which, however, combines a blast beat section with clean vocals), and "Payback" are slower but by no means weaker, and "25 Seconds" combines a weird stoner-like riff with a number of groovy upbeat riffs and also some insanely fast thrashing riffs (I guess it's kind of a metalcore song - but, thankfully, with some Water-style soloing). Then there's, of course, the cover track "Romeo Delight", which is, if nothing else, entertaining.

There is a lot of impressive guitar work on this album (hey, it is Jeff Waters) and, allegedly, 66 soloes... so any fan of guitar acrobatics should appreciate this album.

I think that fans of old school thrash metal will really appreciate this album for its hard hitting tracks, and I also think that it should appeal to power metal fans. To Annihilator fans, this is an absolute must have.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"

"Really nice blend of thrash/speed metal with technical and slightly proggy elements such as dissonant chords and melodies and odd time signatures. But there are also straightforward in-yer-face sequences; I especially like the Maiden-esque riffs that accompany the guitar solo in the bridge. A must in any metal collection!"

"Not flawless, but a great showcasing of how an incredible talent can be combined with relatively traditional speed/thrash metal. There are lots of little progressive and quirky parts amongs to onslaught here. And titles like "Schizos (Are Never Alone" and "Human Insecticide" are brilliant!"