ANNIHILATOR — King of the Kill (review)

ANNIHILATOR — King of the Kill album cover

Album · 1994 · Thrash Metal

3.5/5 · 2021-03-28
UMUR

"King of the Kill" is the 4th full-length studio album by Canadian thrash/heavy metal act Annihilator. The album was released through Music for Nations in October 1994. It´s the successor to "Set the World on Fire" from 1993, which was the last of three Annihilator albums released through Roadrunner Records (not counting the "Bag of Tricks (1994)" compilation album). Since "Set the World on Fire (1993)" there have been several lineup changes, as lead vocalist Aaron Randall, drummer Mike Mangini, guitarist Neil Goldberg, and bassist Wayne Darley, have all left the band, leaving band leader and guitarist Jeff Waters the only remaining member of the lineup who recorded the predecessor. Despite the multible lineup changes which must have caused Waters quite a few headaches, he was always, and still is, an indomitable soul, and of course opted to carry on. On "King of the Kill" he performs lead vocals, guitars, and bass, while Randy Black has joined as the band´s new drummer.

So "King of the Kill" was recorded as a two-piece. With Waters handling lead vocals, "King of the Kill" marks the fourth Annihilator album in a row with a different lead vocalist. Waters voice and vocal style is raw with a melodic edge, and he is closer in sound and style to Randy Rampage and Coburn Pharr than he is to Aaron Randall. He doesn´t exactly have the same powerful pipes as any of the previous lead vocalists though, and while his performance here is certainly decent, it´s not outstanding or anything particularly remarkable. To my ears it´s a clear downgrade in quality on the lead vocalist spot compared to earlier releases. Other than that the musicianship is on a high level. Randy Black is a tight playing drummer, and if you´re familiar with Waters guitar playing on preceding releases by the band, it´s no surprise that he churns out one powerful thrash/heavy metal riff and blistering solo after another throughout the album.

The material on the album is a combination of thrash metal riffs and rhythms and traditional heavy metal elements such as anthemic hooks and hard rock/blues influenced riffs and guitar solos. The album also features a couple of more melodic oriented tracks with non-distorted guitars. The song structures are generally a bit formulaic vers/chorus based and while that works pretty well on the most memorable tracks, it doesn´t work as well on the least remarkable tracks. If the hooks aren´t strong enough a formulaic song structure can often feel a bit tedious. The overall quality of the material is decent enough though, and "King of the Kill" is an album which is relatively enjoyable while it plays. The musicianship is strong (although the vocals could have been much better), the sound production is powerful and detailed (although a bit more rawness chould have provided a slightly more interesting soundscape), and the songwriting is relatively consistent in quality and style (the instrumental "Catch the Wind" maybe sticks out a bit too much). A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is deserved.