ANNIHILATOR — Metal (review)

ANNIHILATOR — Metal album cover Album · 2007 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Metal" is the 12th full-length studio album by Canadian thrash metal act Annihilator. The album was released through SPV Records in April 2007.

The music on Metal is in the trademark heavy metal/thrash metal style that we´re used to from Annihilator. This time around bandleader/guitarist/bassist and occasional vocalist Jeff Waters have brought in a cast of guest musicians to add flavour to various tracks. The guests include such prolific names as Jeff Loomis (Nevermore), Steve "Lips" Kudlow (Anvil) and Michael Amott and Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy) among others. Some guests add vocals while others add guitar solos. The drums on the album are played by Mike Mangini and most vocals are sung by regular Annihilator vocalist Dave Padden.

The positive thing about "Metal" is that I´m blown away by all the great high speed and energetic guitar solos that are present on the album. The problem with the album is that most of the tracks are pretty generic and uninspired. Run of the mill material. And to top it off most of the tracks feature sub par vocal performances. I´ve never understood why Jeff Waters time and time again have chosen vocalists that don´t stand out and have distinct voices ( the worst failure was to sing himself though). Is he afraid that a truly great vocalist will overshadow his guitar playing?

When that is said there are some really great tracks on the album like "Couple Suicide" with Danko Jones and Angela Gossow on vocals and the powerful "Downright Dominate" where Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom guests. A song like the ode to metal hymn "Army Of One", makes me cringe with embarrasment though and that´s the main problem with the album. About every second track on the album simply isn´t on level with the best tracks on the album, either as a consequence of dull vocals or uninspired songwriting (and in the case of "Army Of One", the lyrics are cringe worthy). The musicianship are generally on a high technical level though and I think that´s the album´s greatest asset.

The sound production might please some people and there are certainly elements that are really well produced on the album but the drum sound lacks power and bite. The powerless sound of the drums makes "Metal" hard to enjoy listening to. "Metal" isn´t exactly an album that rocks my world, but even with the above mentioned flaws it´s hard to say that it isn´t a quality album and I wouldn´t rate it lower than a 3 star (60%) rating. But my personal enjoyment with the album isn´t very high.
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