Metallica Deluxe

Fifteen albums in, and 31 years after Annihilator began, you can hardly blame band supremo Jeff Waters for craving a little variety.
After a couple of thrash-dominated releases, then, Suicide Society often turns its attention to more traditional songwriting. This approach is most successful on the opening title track, which marries a simplistic riff with one of Annihilator’s most memorable choruses for some time, and the tunefully maudlin Snap with its stomping riff.
Hardcore fans shouldn’t fret; there’s still plenty of Waters’ trademark erratic riffage and thrashier tracks like Creepin’ Again, Break, Enter and My Revenge, even though the latter’s verses sound crazily like Metallica’s Damage Inc. Besides, melodic refrains are hardly new to Annihilator, as fans of the first two albums will attest…

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…

Fifteen albums in, and 31 years after Annihilator began, you can hardly blame band supremo Jeff Waters for craving a little variety.
After a couple of thrash-dominated releases, then, Suicide Society often turns its attention to more traditional songwriting. This approach is most successful on the opening title track, which marries a simplistic riff with one of Annihilator’s most memorable choruses for some time, and the tunefully maudlin Snap with its stomping riff.
Hardcore fans shouldn’t fret; there’s still plenty of Waters’ trademark erratic riffage and thrashier tracks like Creepin’ Again, Break, Enter and My Revenge, even though the latter’s verses sound crazily like Metallica’s Damage Inc. Besides, melodic refrains are hardly new to Annihilator, as fans of the first two albums will attest…

Avenged Sevenfold may be ramping up to the release of The Stage deluxe edition on Dec. 15, but believe it or not there will be yet another Avenged offering coming to fans just prior to that. The group just announced plans for an acoustic set, dubbed Avenged Sevenfold Live at the Grammy Museum, that will be released this Friday (Dec. 8).

The Exploited remain a battered but unbowed street punk tradition. Together (with various lineups) for decades, the band has given angry voice to the U.K.'s disenfranchised working poor, and traces of their rusty buzz saw sound can be heard in huge acts throughout the worlds of punk and metal such as Slayer, Rancid, and Metallica. A reissue of their 1992 (mostly) live album, DON'T FORGET THE CHAOS captures all of the madness and fury of the band in their obnoxious prime, between 1983 and '84. The lo-fi live quality of the recording fits the raw blasts of noise like a worn leather coat, and classic anti-authority rants such as "Let's Start a War," "Anarchy," and "Punk's Not Dead" sound as they should without glossy production or unnecessary adornment. Listeners who aren't used to uncompromising street punk may not know what to do with DON'T FORGET THE CHAOS, but fans will treasure this deluxe addition of an essential punk document.