{"id":64577,"date":"2017-11-03T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=64577"},"modified":"2018-02-02T00:21:07","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T00:21:07","slug":"feature-annihilator-11-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-annihilator-11-17\/","title":{"rendered":"ANNIHILATOR – The Demon You Know (November 2017) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANNIHILATOR – The Demon You Know<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nNovember 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

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Annihilator (l-r): Jeff Waters, Rich Hinks, Aaron Homma and Fabio Alessandrini<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nSuicide Society<\/em><\/a> \u2013 the 15th full-length studio album from Canadian thrash metal group Annihilator \u2013 emerged in September 2015 through UDR Music, marking the first Annihilator outing to feature guitarist and mainman Jeff Waters on vocals since July 1997\u2019s Remains<\/em>. Suicide Society<\/em> happened to be a product of the thrasher\u2019s various musical influences through the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the guitar riffs and some of the vocals were really sort of unfiltered Jeff Waters, fan-influenced,\u201d Jeff expands. \u201cYou could hear the really obvious riffs in bands that I like; on the last album, you could really hear a \u2018Damaged Inc.\u2019 (Metallica, from March 1986 LP Master Of Puppets<\/em>) vibe on a song called \u2018My Revenge\u2019, and a little Megadeth-y vibe on the title track. Normally, I would try to filter those out and go \u2018Ah dammit. It sounds a little too much like this favourite band of mine\u2019 or \u2018\u2026 that favourite band,\u2019 so I just said \u2018Screw it\u2019 on the last one. In 2015, I said \u2018Ah, fuck it. I like the riffs. Just do it, it\u2019s fun… We\u2019re having fun.\u2019 Right after I finished that album, it was ironic because it actually did very well for us in most of Europe. When that happens, a lot of people will say \u2018Well, keep doing the same kind of thing.\u2019 I was actually like \u2018No, I\u2019m actually gonna do my best to try to…\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt might still sound like a certain era of Annihilator or the first eight years, and maybe a continuation of the last record a little bit as well. I wanted to try to get more of an original, if it sounds right to say, more of a Waters kind of riffing and style that we were mainly known for in the first demo days and the first four or five records, but without going back to one record and trying to rip yourself off or recreate something that you would never be able to do decades later. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just basically brought Rich Hinks our bass player from Cambridge in England. I brought him over to sit in with me on the music writing; basically, his job started out being \u2018Yes\u2019 or \u2018No,\u2019 like \u2018Yes, this sounds like Waters of the early period\u2019 or \u2018No, this sounds too much like Slayer,\u2019 or Megadeth, or Exodus\u2019 Gary Holt – the stuff that I really like as a metal fan. He was like a filter for me, but at the same time, after the second day of writing here in Canada, he picked up a bass and a guitar and he would start taking a riff idea and saying \u2018What if you tried this?\u2019 or \u2018What if you tried that?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cReally quickly, by day two or three, we both realised that… I looked at him and said \u2018You realise you\u2019re co-writing the album with me?,\u2019 and he was like \u2018Yeah, looks like it.\u2019 Basically, he stuck with me for all of the music writing. He left after the music writing was done and I carried on with everything else \u2013 lyrics and the studio work and tracking \u2013 but that was the quick shot in the arm that I needed to sort of get back to the more original sounding Annihilator vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

That original sounding Annihilator vibe was more prevalent in the band\u2019s earlier days. \u201cWhen I sang on the demo that got us a deal, they were more death metal vocals,\u201d the axeman remembers. That was starting as early as \u201984, but that was only because I knew I was going to find a singer before our first record. I was just doing temporary vocals on our little cassette demos to get the deal. For example, the first four Annihilator records had four different singers (Randy Rampage, Coburn Pharr, Aaron Randall, and Jeff Waters, respectively), and four different styles of metal. The first one, Alice In Hell<\/em> (April 1989), is more of a speed \/ technical metal for the times. The second one, Never, Neverland<\/em> (September 1990), was more melodic, with a little bit of melody mixed in and more of a fun record. Set The World On Fire<\/em> (August 1993) is more of a commercial hard rock \/ heavy metal record, and King Of The Kill<\/em> (October 1994) was more of a traditional heavy metal record, like Maiden and Priest. That kind of right out of the 80s, more melodic heavy metal \u2013 not like a commercial thing but more heavy metal, whatever that means. <\/p>\n

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Jeff Waters<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\u201cGoing back to that original Waters style is still playing many different styles of music, of metal, whatever kind of metal it is. It wasn\u2019t being able to go back to one album and recapture that, because they\u2019re all different, and they\u2019re all successful and different. There\u2019s different singers even on those records, which is kind of unique. I don\u2019t think anybody has ever had their first four records with four different singers, where each one was a success in certain areas of the world. That was kind of a really interesting path that I don\u2019t think many bands have been able to do (laughs), or not want to do. Why would you want to keep changing musicians? <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what a lot of people would tell me, but that was kind of what I liked to do. I liked trying different things and different styles, so going back to the Annihilator riff sounds and all that stuff, it depends on what everyone likes. Some fans like our biggest record called Never, Neverland<\/em>, some like our second or third biggest, King Of The Kill<\/em>, Alice In Hell<\/em> was our classic debut, and Set The World On Fire<\/em> did well in Japan and other places. When fans have so many different opinions, you find one fan going \u2018I think this is the best album\u2019 while the other fan will go \u2018That sucks\u2019 (laughs).\u201d <\/p>\n

Each album arguably has their own merits, depending on what mood the listener is in. \u201cI\u2019m kind of lucky, because I\u2019ve had that career where you\u2019re not so big that you have to be pushed, or you\u2019re pushed into doing certain things musically, image-wise, and different things,\u201d Jeff reckons. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to be more artistic than business, which has prevented us from getting bigger. At the same time though, it\u2019s also given us a long, consistent career. When you\u2019re around for a long time and you\u2019re trying to do good stuff, some people start jumping on and noticing this decades after you\u2019ve started. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s what\u2019s kind of happening; people are catching up to us, and going \u2018Hey, I thought they had one or two albums, but they\u2019ve got 16\u2019 (laughs). Then they find albums that they like and singers and styles of metal that we do that they like, and then they find the ones that they don\u2019t like. I think that\u2019s kind of cool. I\u2019d say the average metal fan could probably find four or five albums that they like, if they really listened to all of the records. I can see why some people wouldn\u2019t like another four or five though, because they\u2019re different styles of metal. We\u2019re not that band that plays the same sound and same style every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interviewer conducting this feature never understood as to why Annihilator sought out a separate individual to handle vocal duties. \u201cI appreciate that,\u201d the axeman replies. \u201cI think obviously my number one thing that I can do that might be good is gonna be guitar, but I was kind of forced to do vocals after the fourth record. I thought \u2018I sing on all of the demos for the singers when I\u2019m writing this stuff,\u2019 which was on sort of a cassette back then. In the studio producing the vocals and the albums, I would say \u2018Okay, well sing it like this. Here\u2019s the demo, and here\u2019s the words and where you sing,\u2019 and all that stuff. I knew what I wanted out of each singer, but I think I surprised myself when the King Of The Kill<\/em> record \u2013 the first one I sang on \u2013 did so well. I did a few more after that and then a couple now, so it\u2019s five records. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem for me has been that the music I like has usually had the most amazing singers in the history of music, from (Bruce) Dickinson (Iron Maiden), especially (Rob) Halford (Judas Priest), to everybody from Bon Scott to Brian Johnson (both AC\/DC), to David Lee Roth (Van Halen) \u2013 David Lee\u2019s Roth blues feel \u2013 to (Ronnie James) Dio, to Tom Araya (Slayer) and (James) Hetfield (Metallica). All these guys have their own sound and their own style. I think maybe if I had started out as a singer when I was a teenager and just focused on singing, and that\u2019s all I did, maybe I would be pretty good by now (laughs). <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sort of an off and on singer. I went through a couple of decades where I wasn\u2019t singing on the records and touring; I was relaxing and having fun just playing guitar, with good singers like Dave Padden singing for me. Yeah though, I appreciate the compliment. I\u2019m getting more confidence back, but when you\u2019re 51 years old and you\u2019re singing… I was actually 49 years old when I did the Suicide Society<\/em> record in 2015 and it was the first album I did singing on since 1997, so it sure takes a lot of work to try to pull that off live. The studio is one thing, when you\u2019re relaxing and there\u2019s no-one around. You can get confidence and do as good as you can do, but live when you play guitar and sing at the same time, it\u2019s so much harder than fans realise. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) and James Hetfield are so incredibly more talented than a lot of people realise, because they play guitar parts that are difficult in a certain time signature, a certain timing, and then their singing goes over that in a different timing. Those two guys are the best in the business at being able to do both live; it\u2019s just something that unless you try to do that yourself, play guitar and sing, you just couldn\u2019t appreciate how amazing those two guys are. I\u2019ve got lots of work, but I\u2019m having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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March 1996 effort Refresh The Demon<\/em> \u2013 Annihilator\u2019s fifth studio jaunt \u2013 signalled a shift. \u201cI think the fifth one was more sort of underground,\u201d Jeff critiques. \u201cThat\u2019s when we started dipping down a bit in our sales in mainland Europe and other places, for about I guess ten years or so, around \u201997. \u201996 was kind of a good album for us, though. Refresh The Demon<\/em> was a decent one, our fifth one, but I think in \u201997, I just got really bummed out with traditional 80s heavy metal and thrash metal. It was kind of run out of North America, and there was nowhere to play. A lot of the bands here that were playing that kind of music weren\u2019t even able to play or keep their bands together over here, because there was no support for it. <\/p>\n

\u201cGermany and a lot of the countries in southern Europe and eastern Europe kept it alive. Scandinavia went in a different direction, and went to more of the… They started their own scenes. They had that amazing sort of technically talented new sound coming out of Scandinavia, and the UK went in a different direction after 1993. They went into more of a… It seemed like at the time, in \u201993, that it was more image-based stuff, so it changed around the world. I think for me as a traditional heavy metal and thrash fan, I thought being in the business side and as a fan that it just sucked. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it was a horrible time unless you were into this nu-metal kind of stuff, or new scenes. I just couldn\u2019t get into it. I just stayed in the old school and was pretty disappointed, so I did a record called Remains<\/em> in \u201997 (July). That was like a turning point for a short time, where I almost quit. I almost just said \u2018Fuck it.\u2019 It just wasn\u2019t what I wanted to do; it just seemed like nobody over here wanted to hear this kind of music, and nobody was signing it. No promoters wanted you to play. We still had a European following which was lucky, but it was just a bummed out time for me. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did the Remains<\/em> album, which was more just me sitting in the studio; experimenting with studio equipment in my own studio, having fun making noises and playing some metal but just having the drum machine, drum computer, different sounds and noises and effects and stuff. It should\u2019ve been like a solo record, but I guess within a year and a half, I quickly got out of that slump when I saw Slayer play in Vancouver. It was a concert where I saw one of my top favourite three bands in Slayer. They were always playing in arenas, big venues for so long. I saw them in the late 90s, and they ended up playing a club in Vancouver. I thought \u2018Wow, this is just a sad state of the music business.\u2019 You had Slayer who was playing in arenas, playing in a club called The Commodore Ballroom. Then you had Judas Priest with \u2018Ripper\u2019 Owens playing 86th Street Music Hall, which is a club in Vancouver. You\u2019re like \u2018Wait a second. These bands were playing friggin\u2019 arenas and small stadiums just years earlier,\u2019 so I got really bummed out. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen I actually saw Slayer onstage and play to 1,500-1,600 people, like they were playing in a stadium. It was like the most energetic, positive Slayer show I\u2019ve ever seen, or of any show at that time. I realised I had to get my shit together and stop moping around, and being all bummed out and depressed about this scene as a fan and a musician, and just kick my own ass and say \u2018If Slayer can get out there in front of 1,800 people and kick ass like that, I need to get off my ass and just play because I love it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The mid-to-late 90s were dark years for thrash metal, a time in which the genre\u2019s popularity dwindled. \u201cThe one thing I appreciated about looking back over all those years…,\u201d the vocalist begins. \u201cBesides Slayer, because I think they were the most important band for metal… I really actually think that… Of course, okay, you had the new school stuff coming in, with Pantera becoming huge in the 90s. That was important to get people into aggressive music, but they were part of the wave that influenced more of the new style \u2013 the groove stuff. They got it from Van Halen, (Black) Sabbath, Metallica, and stuff like that, but they started their own sound and had their own huge following, and became so influential. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, you also saw a lot of bands going off into a different direction influenced by those bands that became nu-metal, where people would do the Lars Ulrich tom shots (Metallica) and then just think because they\u2019re doing that and they\u2019re tuned down, they must be heavy and they must be good. It was sort of a trend for a long time, but Slayer just kept slaving away through that whole scene and, sure, they must\u2019ve been a little depressed about the scene, but they never stopped. There\u2019s a small group of bands under Slayer, in the middle, that were bands that never broke up. They never stopped for 10 or 20 years and came back when it was popular, and said \u2018Hey, it\u2019s a reunion. We\u2019re back again.\u2019 There were some bands that were 100% in the blood and kept going, and never stopped. <\/p>\n

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Annihilator (l-r): Rich Hinks, Jeff Waters, Aaron Homma and Fabio Alessandrini<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\u201cThose are the bands that I appreciate the most, besides Slayer, is absolutely going to be Overkill, Exodus, Testament, Annihilator, Kreator, Destruction. There\u2019s a few others, but the five bands I just mentioned kept changing line-ups, having lots of line-up changes, and lots of different members. When the economics of touring and CDs and all that stuff were shitty, you can\u2019t keep some of the musicians you want. They have to leave for other, better jobs or make money in a real job so to speak. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to keep people when you can\u2019t pay them that much, and these bands I just mentioned… I\u2019ve got to say their names again; Overkill, Testament, Exodus, Destruction and Kreator. We just kept going on, and never stopped. Times were tough; we just kept fighting on and having a whole bunch of turmoil in our personal lives and our band lives, because of the scene not being very accepted anywhere really. The bands just now, if you listen to the last couple of records from bands like Exodus… Man, Overkill\u2019s last album was amazing (The Grinding Wheel<\/em><\/a>, February 2017). Testament\u2019s Brotherhood Of The Snake<\/em><\/a> (October 2016) was incredible, and anything Exodus does is going to be good now and at the top of the game. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m totally excited that these bands that we tour with overseas all the time and hang out with… We just kind of laugh a little bit because we\u2019ve been here the whole fucking time, then other bands come back after 20 years and take a shot at it and that. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that; if they\u2019re good and they\u2019re practising, and they\u2019re in shape and they\u2019re doing a good job, that\u2019s amazing for the scene. Finally though, this mid-level of bands is getting the credit for not stopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those not familiar with thrash beyond The Big Four are arguably neglecting themselves some other sonic treats, with the likes of the thrashers Jeff cited treading the boards as it were. \u201cThe Big Four though, it was right,\u201d he clarifies. \u201cThey are The Big Four because of sales in that genre of music, and I think some of the band members even acknowledge that \u2013 that that was how it came together. I know a lot of people involved in that and everywhere else were saying \u2018Wait, Exodus was a part of that,\u2019 that there should be a Big Five, and that\u2019s true. Exodus was definitely part of the Big Five; they were probably in fifth place, but they were still in there. They were influential as hell. You did have the next wave, too. I mean, Overkill were kind of there at the beginning, from the New York, New Jersey area \u2013 they were kind of starting out, too. You had Legacy, turning into Testament, and then you had Annihilator. We all started in the mid-80s. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all kind of got our inspiration from Metallica and the first compilation that \u2018Metal Militia\u2019 was on, and \u2018Death From Above\u2019 by Anthrax (from January 1984 debut Fistful Of Metal<\/em>). And you had the first Slayer stuff, like the EP Haunting The Chapel<\/em> (June 1984). A lot of us, we had that inspiration really quickly in the 80s, but the Big Five – maybe Six with Overkill – they were the originators. Then though, you also have to look at it and go \u2018Hang on a second. Back up here.\u2019 There\u2019s a couple of bands here you\u2019ve got to think about – Venom – and look at the time schedule on when they came out. You absolutely have to look at three bands that are the most underrated bands in the world right now for the start of all this, and that\u2019s Razor, Anvil, and Exciter. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Anvil had a movie out (Anvil! The Story Of Anvil<\/em>, January 2008), but that\u2019s not what I\u2019m talking about. The first record or two records from those three Canadian bands, a few of those influenced the Big Four big time. You saw a young Lars Ulrich at a Los Angeles or San Francisco show, watching Anvil when he was a kid. He watched Anvil and watched Robb Reiner play drums and you can hear the influence on that, so there are bands before the Big Four that were the beginnings of it, and so it\u2019s not just the Big Four. There\u2019s the Big Five in my mind, and you\u2019ve got to put Overkill in there, and then you can go back further than that and say the pre-Big Five, and so you have to go to Razor, Anvil, Exciter, and all of these bands, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian contingent are often overlooked. \u201cAn interesting point to make my point,\u201d the axe-slinger continues. \u201cI mentioned Lars Ulrich going out to see Robb Reiner and Anvil, and this and that, but if you go on the internet, you\u2019ll find that the support band for Exciter on one of their tours was Megadeth. The support band that was supposed to go out with Exciter but didn\u2019t was an unknown band called Metallica. If you look back at the history of this stuff, the Big Four is the biggest selling, most influential – that\u2019s clear – but you\u2019ve got to get Exodus in there and you\u2019ve got to get Overkill in there, if you\u2019re looking at artistic and timelines. Then you have to go back to Razor, Anvil, and Exciter, and then Venom and a few others, just to see where it came from. The good news is that with the internet, anybody who actually wants to spend the time to look at the timelines of when these bands came out, you can track it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jeff Waters<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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YouTube is a medium which listeners can use to discover bands, unlike the days of trading tapes. \u201cI\u2019ve been having so much trouble getting back into the United States with my band, for many reasons,\u201d Jeff responds. \u201cOne, we\u2019re playing music that\u2019s a little diverse. It\u2019s not all full-on aggression, and one style. It\u2019s goofy and fun one minute, and the next it\u2019s serious and thrash. Maybe it\u2019s instrumental, maybe it\u2019s commercial – melodic hard rock, or whatever – so it\u2019s hard to latch onto. Also, I didn\u2019t stay touring the States after 1993. I slogged everywhere else, but not North America. I thought \u2018People will probably discover us on YouTube at some point\u2019 when the internet was getting big and all that, and the thing is, you would think so. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you wanted to find something, if you have something in your brain that you want to search for, then you\u2019ll find it, but I didn\u2019t realise that there are so many choices and people only have so much time in their lives. They\u2019re not gonna sit there for days on end searching for certain things, when you only have limited time in your life like everybody does and limited time on the internet as far as what you need to be on there for. It doesn\u2019t mean that just because the information and these early bands are on there, that people will find it. If there\u2019s no reason for them to go and look for something, they won\u2019t look for it. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not gonna hit them in the face, so a lot of these things like Razor, Anvil, and Exciter and their first albums, a lot of people won\u2019t think to look at the timelines and look at those records, and listen to them. Another example is that I assumed people in Canada and the United States would figure out that we\u2019ve been going non-stop since 1989 in Europe, and we play everywhere from 500 people to 100,000 people. I figured that at some point, people would automatically discover this in North America. It doesn\u2019t work that way; unless there\u2019s some promotion out there to point people to something, most people just don\u2019t have the time to sit down and think \u2018Let me look for a band that might be doing well overseas but not doing well here so we can listen to them and support them here.\u2019 It just doesn\u2019t work that way; it\u2019s the big internet world, and time is limited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Returning to the topic of For The Demented<\/em>, this was the first occasion the songwriter benefited from a sparring partner, the sparring partner being in the form of Rich Hinks. \u201cDave Padden was in the band for about 12 years, who was an amazing singer and guitar player,\u201d he notes. \u201cHe didn\u2019t really like to write; I had to push him to write maybe one song or even two sometimes for a record, just to write lyrics. It was almost like he\u2019d get to the studio, and I\u2019d almost have to force him to leave a few songs off until the end of the vocal recordings, and say \u2018Listen, here\u2019s the music. You\u2019ve got to write these songs \u2013 you have a week and a half to write them.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to include him, because he\u2019s a very talented guy. Some people just don\u2019t have that drive or will to do it, whereas with Rich, it was the first time I had sat down and co-written a whole album. I\u2019ve never done that with anyone before. That was just the music, but at the same time, just the music is probably the most important thing for Annihilator, so that was pretty cool. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very informal and relaxed, and we just did it as fans and having fun – fans of metal. We were just having fun writing riffs and writing stuff, like \u2018Do we like this?\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018Do we like this?\u2019 \u2018Yes.\u2019 It was not even a thought-out process, but it sure gave me the notice. It gave me the warning here, that if he\u2019s available for the next record… We\u2019ve already talked about getting together and writing a few songs. He\u2019s actually on a plane now; he\u2019s coming over here to Canada now, from England, to rehearse for this Testament tour coming up. Yeah though, I\u2019ll probably tap him for the next one too. If not, maybe I\u2019ll find a guitar player or drummer to sit in with me and stuff. It\u2019s more fun, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

For The Demented<\/em>\u2019s album title summarises its lyrical content. \u201cThe lyrics are pretty straightforward,\u201d Jeff tells. \u201cThey all tie in to the human brain and the mind, and that could mean disorders, addictions, and mental illness, right down to fun obsessions like in life. \u2018The Way\u2019 is just basically about my obsession with Annihilator from the beginning; just to do it my way and do what I wanted to do, whether it was good, bad, awesome, classic, average. Whatever it turned out like, just do it the way I wanted to do it and suffer the consequences, outside the artistic realm. If it\u2019s not that good, then nevermind, but enjoy the rewards if it is good stuff. You just do it yourself though, and have good fun. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s also some real serious things on there though, like the song \u2018For The Demented\u2019. \u2018For The Demented\u2019 is based on the word \u2018demented\u2019, which at least over here the dictionary says represents dementia, which is an unfortunate mental illness. The second definition of \u2018demented\u2019 is fun, crazy, wacky, out of society, though, like non-conformist. It can be anything just like goofy, or whatever. You\u2019re just like a crazy guy, girl, or whatever, so I applied that to a general song lyric to anybody; whether it\u2019s what you wear, what music you like. The song is almost like Twisted Sister, when it comes to that end of it, or whether it be that you have a mental illness, or whether it be extreme, that you have a serious mental illness. Depression, alcohol, drugs, whatever the hell it is. Could be autism, it could be anything. I\u2019ve seen metal music calm and focus autistic kids. A friend of mine who\u2019s a journalist works with autistic kids, and they have four kids that when metal music comes on, that\u2019s the only way they can really focus on stuff. I was blown away to hear that. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole friggin\u2019 point is whether it\u2019s just what colour your hair is, or what music you like, or that you have serious problems in life. Some of the most important people and creative people and nice people who have done amazing things in life are people who are considered not normal, whatever that means. It doesn\u2019t matter who you are. You don\u2019t have to make music, write a record, or be famous or rich, but some of the most famous people in history or the biggest non-famous people who are contributors to society, and just basically good people to other people – good human beings. It doesn\u2019t matter what your fucking problems are; you can work on your issues, and you can do well. You can do something, and just find your own niche. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is basically for anybody that feels like they\u2019re fucked up or they\u2019ve got problems, or people make them feel like they\u2019ve got problems, or they do have problems. It\u2019s just a feel good, positive thing saying \u2018It doesn\u2019t matter who you are, you can do something good for someone, or something,\u2019 or create or do something. I just thought about my obsession with Annihilator, like doing it my own way, good or bad (laughs). There\u2019s just a ton of crazy things on there. \u2018Twisted Lobotomy\u2019, it\u2019s very obvious what that would be about; a twisted, crazy lobotomy. When doctors thought that was the cure for deviant personalities and criminal people, if they thought someone wasn\u2019t normal, they\u2019d perform a lobotomy, and think that that was going to fix it. There\u2019s some serious stuff, there\u2019s some funny stuff, and some fantasy stuff, but it\u2019s all related to the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Annihilator (l-r): Jeff Waters, Rich Hinks, Aaron Homma and Fabio Alessandrini<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

For The Demented<\/em> was recorded at the frontman\u2019s home studio, once again. \u201cAs usual, I played almost all of the stuff, and wrote almost all of the stuff,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt\u2019s just we had the addition of Rich writing the music on this one. That\u2019s a boring subject; it\u2019s the same old thing I\u2019ve been doing for several years in my studio (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Subtle differences were prevalent within the studio, however. \u201cOnly in the studio, from a guitar player perspective,\u201d Jeff cautions. \u201cI think that was the biggest thing for me, was the way I recorded the guitars. In my studio, I\u2019ve got many amplifiers and just so many different amps, cabinets, and microphones, and things like that. A lot of bands are using the Kemper amp or Fractal Audio, which is just guitar processing which is computerised – things that are really good, but probably don\u2019t sound as good as real amps. However, they\u2019re more practical, easier to travel with, and more reliable. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s one by a company called Line 6, and it\u2019s called the Helix amp. When I discovered that thing and I AB\u2019ed all of the different real and not real guitar amps, the Helix was the one that we decided on right away because it actually sounded better than a lot of my amplifiers. It shouldn\u2019t but it does, and so I used that Helix on the whole record. This Helix thing also has sound effects like a lot of them; it has these different neat sounds and stuff. On our record, sometimes you hear a bass guitar, but it\u2019s really me playing the guitar and yet it sounds like a bass guitar. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some really neat, sonic things, but it\u2019s not an album that\u2019s covered with a whole bunch of stuff. You can even hear keyboards on there sometimes, and sometimes the keyboards in the background for a haunting thing, or a church-sounding thing. Some of that is actually fun guitar that doesn\u2019t sound like a guitar at all. That is the biggest change as far as the recording process, was whether this piece of new equipment was going to work well. It was just mind-blowing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recording sessions commenced in early 2017. \u201cWe do this show in Canada every year, every two years, where I hold an all-star kind of jam on it,\u201d the lyricist highlights. \u201cIt\u2019s called the 70000 Tons Of Metal Cruise, which goes down to the Caribbean. It goes from Florida, and goes to all sorts of awesome places. There\u2019s thousands of metal fans, and journalists, and whatever. It\u2019s just a blast. When we played there in February 2017 I believe, Rich and I came back from Florida to my place for about I guess three to four weeks, and started writing the record. That\u2019s kind of where it started, and then at the end of February or the beginning of March, that was it. We had the game plan, we had the riffs. We had the songs together and the music, and that meant us writing the lyrics and recording the album, mixing, mastering, and doing the business stuff. I think that part of it was quick. Once the writing was done in February, by the end of April I was starting to do vocals, and mix the record in early May I think. It went quick, only because Rich and I had it down so quickly with the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gyula Havancs\u00e1k designed the cover artwork for For The Demented<\/em>. \u201cI won\u2019t say his last name; a lot of people call him by his first name, because it\u2019s easier,\u201d Jeff admits. \u201cGyula, he\u2019s been our artist since 2004 (All For You<\/em>, May). I met and I\u2019ll see him again soon, but I don\u2019t know how to say his last name (laughs). I just call him Gyula. It\u2019s like you calling me Jeff \u2013 you don\u2019t call me Jeff Waters all the time (laughs). He\u2019s just a genius kid who\u2019s not really a kid. I think our album cover was one of his first ever, to all of a sudden, he\u2019s pretty well known in the whole metal community right now for doing covers and artworks. We\u2019re so happy about being involved with him from the beginning because it\u2019s great to see someone have that kind of success, and because of that, he does us a lot of favours and doesn\u2019t charge us the full rate (laughs). <\/p>\n

\u201cHe does an amazing job. Mostly what I do with Gyula is I give him the idea I\u2019m looking for. I\u2019ll say \u2018Here\u2019s what I\u2019m looking for. I want some white in the background this time, because we\u2019ve never had an album with white in the background. I want one image that\u2019s very clear from a distance; I want it to stand out, and I want a big, massive and incredible artwork.\u2019 I wanted a pretty clear single image. In the white background, we have a red Annihilator logo. I gave him an idea, so he didn\u2019t have to try and kind of knew where I was looking to go. Then he does what he does; it comes back, and we\u2019re always just shaking our heads, going \u2018Wow, that is amazing\u2019 (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

More occurs within the artwork itself than at first glance. \u201cHe\u2019s a very detailed artist,\u201d the singer compliments. \u201cSome of the covers that he\u2019s done for Annihilator, a couple of them have some detail, but in general I go against what he likes to do. He likes to find details and have more of a detailed painting, whereas I\u2019m like \u2018I want that singular image of Alison Hell walking down the stairs\u2019 or \u2018I want a singular image for Refresh The Demon<\/em>.\u2019 One of our albums was titled Metal<\/em> (April 2007), and it was just our logo. In (May) 2010 when we did the self-titled record, I think it was kind of like Linda Blair from The Exorcist<\/em> (1973) meets a zombie (laughs). So, I like these clear images. He kind of enjoys that. It was frustrating in the beginning because he wanted to do all of this fancy art, and I was like \u2018No, make something simple.\u2019 So, it\u2019s a perfect balance for the two of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music videos were filmed for the title track as well as \u2018Twisted Lobotomy\u2019. \u201cA lot of people say that videos aren\u2019t important,\u201d Jeff reflects. \u201cThey are on social media of course, but they\u2019re also very expensive. What you\u2019d love to do as a musician and as an artist is do a video like some of your favourite bands, but you realise that there\u2019s just no money for it. So, you try to make the best you can. Some bands do lyric videos; we did one, maybe two for this album. We did two videos a month ago; one for \u2018Twisted Lobotomy\u2019 and one for the title track, and they\u2019re real videos. You just try to get this stuff out there, and do the best you can with how much money you have to make the videos. The bottom line with Annihilator is it\u2019s not about selling records, and being on the covers of magazines. It\u2019s just about getting the music out there, but hopefully people will like it. You just do what you can, get this stuff out, and hope people just listen to the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

For The Demented<\/em> was released on November 3rd, 2017 via Silver Lining Music.<\/p>\n

Interview published in November 2017. All promotional band photographs by Jasmina Vrcko. Live photographs by Andrada Mihailescu.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANNIHILATOR – The Demon You Know Anthony Morgan November 2017 Annihilator (l-r): Jeff Waters, Rich Hinks, Aaron Homma and Fabio Alessandrini Suicide Society \u2013 the 15th full-length studio album from Canadian thrash metal group Annihilator \u2013 emerged in September 2015 through UDR Music, marking the first Annihilator outing to feature guitarist and mainman Jeff Waters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annihilator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64577","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=64577"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71968,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64577\/revisions\/71968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}