Sound: First of all, if you haven't listened to "Alison Hell" or any other Annihilator albums DO SO RIGHT NOW. Anyway, this album to me is basically "Alison Hell" on steroids. It goes back to good ol' thrash metal. Believe it or not, this whole album (besides the drums) was recorded in Jeff Waters bedroom. The quality isn't the best, but it doesn't take away from how good the album is overall. Like I said earlier it was back to thrash like their earlier albums. It's really interesting how this came right after "Remains", which is a completely different album. But like most Annihilator albums, the style varies a lot. Some of the riffs on the album are just basically "Slayer riffs" for example (so just full out speed) but some are also very technical like you'd expect from Annihilator. Both types of riffs go together great. // 8
Lyrics and Singing: In all honesty, this isn't one of the best Annihilator albums lyrically. They all seem a bit plain. It has typical thrash lyrics like death, insanity and all that. It's fairly obvious to tell that Jeff seems much more angry on this album instead of goofy. This is probably due to the fact that had been recently divorced and the happy/goofy lyrics in songs like "Brain Dance" had disappeared for awhile. The song "Back To The Palace" is the sequel to the song on "Never, Neverland" "The Fun Palace". It stays true to the story for sure. The singer on this album (Randy Rampage) is the one off of "Alison Hell". He's not my favorite Annihilator singer, but he still does a great job. I do think though that since this album is the most aggressive that you'd need an aggressive singer like him. I don't think that Jeff or Coburn Pharr vocals would've fit the album because they seem a bit too soft I guess. // 8
Impression: Although this album doesn't have my favorite lyrics or favorite singer, it is actually my new favorite Annihilator album. It is truly a great album if you're into thrash metal. The best songs on the album are probably "Mending", "Back To The Palace", and "Bloodbath". "Bloodbath" has without a doubt the best Annihilator solo out there. If I could change anything about this album it would be that the production quality was a bit better. But like I said earlier, that doesn't take away from the how I feel about the album. It's definitely a great album to pick up if you can find it. I don't own it and I refuse to illegally download. I plan on purchasing it very soon though. But if I did own it and somebody stole it, well than they would be in a "Bloodbath" by the end of the fight. // 10
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