{"id":14332,"date":"2013-08-23T00:00:07","date_gmt":"2013-08-23T00:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=14332"},"modified":"2013-09-16T23:00:40","modified_gmt":"2013-09-16T23:00:40","slug":"album-review-annihilator-feast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-annihilator-feast\/","title":{"rendered":"ANNIHILATOR – Feast (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANNIHILATOR
Feast<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nUDR Music (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Canada\u2019s Annihilator never got the recognition they so rightly deserved if you ask me. Considering how talented founding member and lead guitarist Jeff Waters was, and still is, they never reached the glorious heights of the so-called \u2018Big Four\u2019.<\/p>\n

Despite a noteworthy 1989 debut album in Alice In Hell<\/em> and the excellent follow-up Never, Neverland<\/em> (1990), the sound of the band always seemed to suffer in the vocal department. For me, Randy Rampage lacked the meat on that debut, and from there on, with Coburn Pharr, Aaron Randall, Randy Rampage again, Joe Comeau, Dave Padden and even Waters taking turns, there was still a distinct lack of authority one would expect from a thrash vocalist, with only Comeau shining as a versatile force, although Padden, who\u2019s been fronting Annihilator since 2003, has provided a stability within the ranks.<\/p>\n

However, those constant line-up changes somehow became part of the cult fa\u00e7ade of Jeff Waters\u2019 creation, and now we\u2019ve reached album number 14, which, as expected, is another outing boasting technical prowess and cold steel determination.<\/p>\n

Feast opens with the blazing \u2018Deadlock\u2019 \u2013 a raging, buzzing, thrashing chugger that goes straight for the throat from its opening chords and flailing drums. Admittedly, I\u2019m still rather unmoved by Dave Padden\u2019s unremarkable vocals which at times remind me of Slayer<\/a>\u2019s Tom Araya, only less spiteful. In fact, the whole melody of the track reeks of Slayer, complete with \u2018War Ensemble\u2019 styled strains, but it\u2019s still a bruising opener.<\/p>\n

Waters and company are clearly not here to mess around, and \u2018No Way Out\u2019 features another aggressive guitar and drum combo providing further juggernaut arrogance, but again I\u2019m unconvinced by the ordinary vocals as Waters works his magic with those jarring structures.<\/p>\n

\u2018Smear Campaign\u2019 slows ever so slightly and exists as a muscular, albeit middle of the road pummeller. This is Annihilator at their most mainstream I guess, while the funk-influenced \u2018No Surrender\u2019 leaves a lot to be desired. While the track may have been suited to the irritating funk metal fad of the early 90s, it sounds awfully cheesy here as it blends mid-90s melody and nu-metal aesthetics, and without doubt this is the album\u2019s worst moment.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, \u2018Wrapped\u2019 comes rockin\u2019 hard, but it\u2019s not an Annihilator I recognise, being a punk influenced, commercial sounding rocker that boasts a sleazy edge and yet seems so far removed from the other tracks on offer.<\/p>\n

Oddly, I\u2019m sensing a record that is a sum of many lost parts, as if the band had various experimentations floating around that they originally had no home for, and this fear is justified with the inclusion of the ballad \u2018Perfect Angel Eyes\u2019 \u2013 a rather mundane crooner of a track featuring rather woeful vocals better suited to a mid-90s nu-metal platter.<\/p>\n

The groove-based cacophony that is \u2018Demon Code\u2019 suggests a return to form when the band finally decide to thrash, and the epic \u2018Fight The World\u2019, with its simmering opening and eventual raging premise, works well. But before we know it we\u2019re at the final track, the eight-and-a-half minute \u2018One Falls, Two Rise\u2019, which is another mediocre modern sounding number that only finds its feet a quarter the way through as a frothing face-melter. Despite its willower passages and complex segments I\u2019m now finding reasons as to why Annihilator just didn\u2019t appeal to the thrash masses back when they should have.<\/p>\n

The limited edition digibook version of the album comes with a bonus disc titled Re-Kill<\/em>, featuring 15 reworked Annihilator classics that I personally felt no need in altering. My suspicions are confirmed as the likes of \u2018Fun Palace\u2019, \u2018Alison Hell\u2019, \u2018Never, Neverland\u2019, \u2018Stonewall\u2019 and \u2018Set The World On Fire\u2019 clearly suffer at the hands of a weedy production and a vocalist who clearly doesn\u2019t have the cutting edge to bring these tracks to life.<\/p>\n

Although the original versions never boasted the most convincing vocals, these cuts still sound better in their original format on records that, at the time, were considered top-notch metal albums, but now with that added vocal melody I\u2019m finding myself shaking my head with disapproval. Yes, Jeff Waters\u2019 leads are still cutting, and the percussion is crystal clear with the bass holding strong, but Padden\u2019s vocals add nothing to proceedings.<\/p>\n

For me, the only tracks which shine on this bonus disc are the stirring \u2018Bloodbath\u2019, with its juddering intro, and the sneering \u2018Ultra Motion\u2019, which is pure Slayer in its attitude and malevolence. However, I\u2019m still wondering if such a batch of reworked tracks were necessary? Personally, I\u2019d still rather track down the originals, and I sincerely hope this isn\u2019t part of a worrying trend where older bands feel the need to inject their classic tracks with a lethal dose of the modern.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m of the opinion that in general this is Annihilator\u2019s way of introducing itself to a new horde of fans, and good for them for moving with the times, but as a new studio album, Feast<\/em> dwells within the murky waters of the mediocre and offers up some real turkeys, despite the gifted musicianship on offer. For me, Annihilator has always been somewhat of an enigma, and this latest opus reinforces my opinion.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANNIHILATORFeast UDR Music (2013)Rating: 6.5\/10 Canada\u2019s Annihilator never got the recognition they so rightly deserved if you ask me. Considering how talented founding member and lead guitarist Jeff Waters was, and still is, they never reached the glorious heights of the so-called \u2018Big Four\u2019. Despite a noteworthy 1989 debut album in Alice In Hell and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-annihilator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14332"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14352,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14332\/revisions\/14352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}