UMUR
"Suicide Society" is the 15th full-length studio album by Canadian thrash/heavy metal act Annihilator. The album was released through UDR Music in September 2015. Since the release of "Feast (2013)", there´s been one major lineup change as lead vocalist David Padden has left Annihilator. Band founder and guitarist Jeff Waters has expressed his surprise and frustration over the departure in interviews leading up to the release of "Suicide Society", as Padden was also his close business associate, but as always Waters has picked up the pieces and in addition to playing both guitars and bass on "Suicide Society", he also sings lead vocals. Mike Harshaw plays the drums like he also did on "Feast (2013)".
Waters was always the main composer in Annihilator and he has already performed lead vocals on some of the past releases by the band, so the frontman role is not completely unfamiliar to him (and he took extra singing leasons before recording the album). This also means that "Suicide Society" sounds unmistakably like Annihilator, despite the loss of Padden who had otherwise contributed to quite a few releases since he joined Annihilator in 2003.
So the 9 tracks on the 45:08 minutes long album is the usual combination of thrashy riffs and rhythms, a mix of semi-aggressive singing and more melodic clean vocals, and the occasional more traditional melodic heavy metal section/track. Waters as always delivers blistering solos which add an extra spice to the music. "Suicide Society" is generally in the more raw and thrashy end of the band´s output although tracks like "Snap" and "Every Minute" pull in the more melodic heavy metal direction (as do other parts of the album). When most melodic I´m sometimes reminded of "Risk (1999)"-era Megadeth. Compared to the last couple of releases I think there are more instantly catchy and memorable tracks on this album (I can mention the opening title track, the Metallica influenced "My Revenge", and "The One You Serve"), and having Waters deliver lead vocals instead of Padden is also a step up in my book. It´s not that Waters is a great vocalist, but at least he doesn´t sound grey, flat, and uninspired like his predecessor often did.
The sound production is relatively well sounding and the musicianship is of high quality (although Waters isn´t a natural born singer), so all in all "Suicide Society" is a good quality release by Annihilator. It doesn´t add much new to their sound, but it´ll surely satisfy fans of the band, and at this stage in their career, I´m sure that´s the primary focus. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.