UMUR
"Feast" is the 14th full-length studio album by Canadian thrash/heavy metal act Annihilator. The album was released through UDR Music (Annihilator´s first release on the label) in August 2013. The regular edition of the album features 9 tracks while the deluxe ECO-book version of the album features a bonus disc, containing 15 re-recordings of classic Annihilator tracks from albums released before lead vocalist Dave Padden joined the band.
The music on "Feast" is Annihilator as they have more or less sounded from day one. Fast thrashy/heavy metal riffing, a raw sounding vocalist, who occasionally sings more melodic lines, a powerful and precise rythm section and of course blistering guitar solos courtesy of band founder and only stabile member of the band Jeff Waters. The musicianship are of high quality all around although Dave Padden isn´t the most unique sounding vocalist out there. He gets the job done skillfully enough, but to my ears his voice lacks character. In addition to the powerful thrashy tracks, the band have also included a couple of power ballad type tracks.
It´s all wrapped in a powerful professional sound production, which do the music great justice and fans of the band will probably not be disappointed. "Feast" doesn´t reach the high quality of the band´s early releases, but that´s no different from just about anything they´ve released post-"Never, Neverland (1990)", so no surprises there. The difference in compositional quality between new and older material is on full display if you have the bonus disc featuring the re-recordings of the band´s early material. There was just something magical about the first couple of Annihilator albums and while the tracks on "Feast" are decent enough, that special magic seems long gone. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.