Annihilator is a Canadian thrash metal band founded in 1984 by guitarist Jeff Waters. Since its inception the band has undergone too many line-up changes to count. Jeff Waters, vocalist (since 2015), guitarist, producer and songwriter, is the only founder member left. Annihilator's first two studio albums—Alice in Hell (1989) and Never, Neverland (1990)—are considered to be influential thrash metal records. They are often featured in best of thrash metal lists. Other later albums such as Set the World on Fire (1993) also received high praise from critics and fans alike. I must say that while I appreciate their sound and I do own the aforementioned albums, it's still a band that I haven't fully embraced. It could be just a matter of time and I hope to change that with the new release Ballistic, Sadistic.
Ballistic, Sadistic is actually the Canadian thrash metal veterans 17th studio album! Besides Jeff Waters the band currently consists of Rich Hinks (bass), Aaaron Homma (guitar) and Fabio Alessandrini (Drums). But if I understood right Jeff recorded everything except the drums. The album is a speed-metal assault without frills, 10 tracks of about 4 minutes each of pure fearless thrasher bonanza. Ballistic, Sadistic sounds like angrier version of the the first records but with modern production. The guitar work is just first class and Jeff’s guitar playing is incredible. The first 30 seconds of the opener "Armed To The Teeth" says it all. Overall there's so much going on in just 4:30 of this song: Several guitar solos, a bridge section, amazing riffs and powerful chorus. It's really an impressive opener. This ability of being progressive, technical and aggressive simultaneously is a theme throughout the album. "The Attitude" is just four minutes, but has an instrumental intro of one minute (gives an Anthrax vibe), several solos and instrumental interludes. At the same time is one of the fastest and most aggressive songs of the record. The single "I Am Warfare" is another aggressive affair. A detail that I love in this album is the bass. It not only sounds great, but it also has some great spotlight moments with short riffs or solos e.g. "Dressed Up For Evil", "Lip Service" or the interlude of "One Wrong Move" (here a Metallica vibe). But really in almost every song you can find a great bass moment. My favorite songs are the ones when Jeff goes a bit more groovy like for example the old school "Psycho Ward" (that instrumental interlude, wow, just awesome stuff). "Lip Service" which is the only song above 4 min and the most progressive number on the disc. The "The End Of The Lie" is a strong closer and features the best guitar solo on the album
My problem with the album is the fact that the vocal lines do not engage me as much. While I really like the instrumental of this album, the singing falls a bit flat for me. Overall there's a lot of speed and technical brilliance, but it miss the hooks to really excite me and bring me in.
As Jeff said Ballistic, Sadistic is the "Best record I've made since 2005's Schizo Deluxe". That could be the case, I can say that it gave me the impression that old time Annihilator or speed metal fans will dig this album. It features 46 minutes of aggressive, technical thrash speed metal from the first to last note. It's a perfect blend of old school and modern thrash. The absolute highlight is the guitar work! With that said I'm still not fully into the Annihilator wagon, but Ballistic, Sadistic, despite the pitfalls, got me curious to revisit their classic albums.
SCORE: 78/100
Genre: Thrash Metal
Released by Neverland Music Inc. on January 24th, 2020
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Rating System
96 - 100 Perfect
88 - 95 Excellent
84 - 87 Great
80 - 83 Very Good
75 - 79 Good
69 - 74 Mixed
58 - 68 Bad
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