Annihilator
“Live At Masters Of Rock”
CD / DVD (SPV)

In the summer of 2008 Annihilator set off around Europe playing every major festival on the continent. By the time they reached the Czech Republic to headline the sold out Masters Of Rock in front of 30,000 crazed eastern European headbangers, they were on blinding form. Featuring a ‘best of’ set covering 3 decades (“..that’s what makes me 85 years old!!..” - Jeff Waters) from ‘Wicked Mystic’ (from the “Alice in Hell” beginning) to the 90s with ‘Set The World On Fire’ right up to ‘Clown Parade’ offa 2007’s critically acclaimed “Metal” album as well as crowd pleasers like ‘King Of The Hill’, my personal fave ‘Phantasmagoria’ and all out thrasher ‘I Am In Command this CD plus DVD is as dangerous as proofed firewater! I mean, take a little sip fer a nightcap but down it all in one go and you’re gonna burn. And that’s just what this package is - the whole damn bottle - so I haveta admire that Czech crowd being able to withstand the 1 hour plus high octane barrage of Waters & co! Shot with 5 non directional cams and supplied in raw unedited form to Waters himself (who incidentally self produced it) to mix and edit it, the footage is in a similar unadulterated format with no frills or filler, proving that Annihilator are still true to their name 30 years on. 100% metal. That is Annihilator.

-Shan Siva

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