More than three decades since their groundbreaking debut album Never, Neverland, Canada's Annihilator delivers a modern thrashing assault on their 17th studio album. Songs like "Riot" display Annihilator mastermind Jeff Waters' command of the riff, with frenetic solos and nasty rhythm chops. His vocal performance is on par with Testament's recent work, as he switches from bellowing clean vocals to growls that borderline on death metal territory. "Psycho Ward" boasts of a cynical lyrics with a tongue-in-cheek tone, not unlike Megadeth.
I spoke with Annihilator front man Jeff Waters via phone from his new home in the UK, about their new album.
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| Annihilator's Jeff Waters |
What's one of your favorite songs on the new album?
Favorite song? Why, Slayer "Raining Blood." I've been listening to Slayer while cleaning out my studio.
Favorite song? Why, Slayer "Raining Blood." I've been listening to Slayer while cleaning out my studio.
On the new album , I'd say maybe "Psycho Ward." I'ts a throwback to the Never Never Land sound... A lot of bands try to recreate what they had and usually it failed. Metallica did it with Death Magnetic, but they stayed active. How do you make Reign In Blood Part 2?
What was your main inspiration for the album?
I think when you do all these records...we haven't had any popularity in the states since 1991. But in Europe it's been non-stop. When you have all these records it's easy to repeat yourself. Sometime you can play with other people, but I like to do a lot of it myself. I've gotten comfortable. When I was writing this record, I asked my band mates to make a list of things to do.
And number one and two on the list was to write the music with a real drummer. They told me "you gotta get a drummer not just to record but to write riffs with for the record." At least it's playing music with a human being. They pushed me a little harder.
Who is your guitar hero?
There's a million. But my favorite is Eddie Van Halen. The way I see it you have rhythm guitar, lead guitar and song writing. He had all three.
In the metal side of things I say Glen Tipton. He really had a the blues riff. One thing that was groundbreaking was...after they had already put out so many albums, and then went away for a while, and came back with Painkiller and a new album with Travis Scott on drums. When they came out with Painkiller...You hear it, and Glen must have heard Racer X. Because he went back to school and played this style of guitar that he had never played before. To see a guy who was a legendary guitarist who had nothing to prove in his prime, go back and to school was really groundbreaking.
Do you plan to tour the United States soon?We haven't played as show in the states since 1993. My answer is, I hope so.
Why has it been so long?
What I did was stupidly stay away from Canada and the States for most of the 90's with our labels. I foolishly thought if the scene ever came back, I'd just walk into a place and get a deal.
What I did was stupidly stay away from Canada and the States for most of the 90's with our labels. I foolishly thought if the scene ever came back, I'd just walk into a place and get a deal.
We had a lot of thank you for everything that you've done overseas, but the labels said unless you change your name and your sound like Pantera and Sepultura and Biohazard, they weren't interested in classic heavy metal anymore.
Ballistic, Sadistic arrives on January 24. Order it here.
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