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Annihilator
“Metal”
(SPV)

Oh god, the Canadian mayhem maestro is back. Anyone who has witnessed Jeff Waters live will undoubtedly attest that Annihilator’s albums are pretty much the studio representations (and not the other way round) of this: relentless headbanging, bludgeon riffola guitarwork overpowered by a zillion duracell batteries! “Metal” is no different and whilst I’ve come to the humble conclusion that Annihilator don’t write classics that you can hum, they do create heavy metal they way it should be i.e. loud, heavy, and wild. And clearly they’re not alone in that perception judging by the fact that each one of the 10 tracks that make up “Metal” feature a guest musician from Corey Beaulieu (Trivium) to Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom) to Jeff Loomis (Nevermore) to old school metal madman Lips (Anvil) - magnificent! Its a true testament to the pioneering spirit of Jeff Waters (who plays all guitars but is ably backed by long time vocalist Dave Padden), whose efforts and dedication have now tirelessly spanned 12 albums that all these people would want to play on this album, kind’ve making it a for once a true bandwagon on which to ride on.

-Shan Siva