Fury of a Demon

Despite all of the failed experiments and the revolving-door of vocalists throughout the '90s, Annihilator proves on Waking the Fury that they can at the very least write a solid, heavy collection of songs if pressured. No more humor-infused romps like "Brian Dance", no more overlong patience testers like "Hunter Killer"; everything is compact and lethality exudes from the band's determined approach. This becomes immediately apparent during the opener "Ultra-Motion", which detonates out of the gates courtesy of Waters' electrified picking hand and descending note clusters. Waters produced this album, lending a synthetic, artificial sheen to the guitars that remains one of the album's most memorable attributes. The guitar tone's awful reputation almost proceeds the music itself, akin to Overkill's W.F.O. and it's vehement bass tone.

Feast, the 14th album from thrash veterans Annihilator, finds the stalwart band sticking to what they do best with an album of driving and slickly produced classic metal. Much like their contemporaries Overkill, Annihilator have found solace in staying the course, refining their sound, waiting out the storm, and honing their craft while giants like Metallica fall flat while taking risks. However, while Overkill have been in the midst of a career revival, putting out some of their best work yet, Feast feels more like a reminder, letting fans know that they're still alive and kicking. And while what they do is still solid, there's a sense of vitality missing. Sure, there's plenty of aggressive and intense thrash to be found on the album, but it doesn't feel as though Annihilator are really pushing themselves very hard, giving the impression that they're reluctant to really put the pedal to the metal despite having plenty of fuel in the tank…