| Not that this guy is terrible famous, or his band terribly popular,
but he *IS* one HELL of a guitarist (IMHO).
His discography includes:
Annihilator:
Phantasmagoria (Demo) 1986
Alice In Hell - 1989
Never,Neverland - 1990
Jerry "Scary" White first turned me on to these guys by accident I
think. He gave me a tape, perhaps as a joke, with Coronor
(Death/Thrash Metal Deluxe) on one side, and Annihilator - Alice In
Hell on the other.
I first listened to the whole album. The first two cuts were kind
of a medly of classical guitar, breaking into some hard thrashy tune
called "Allyson Hell". I thought it was great until the singer opened
his yap and started barking out some pretty gross (IMHO) sounding
lyrics. This guy must've gargled with razor blades and draino or
something...
Anyway, I decided then that Annihaltor would be AWESOME if they dumped
the singer. They did, and released "Never, Neverland". While the new
singer still has pretty caustic sounding vocals, he doesn't bark and
roar nearly as bad as the first guy.
Most importantly, the album is conceptual in nature, and is sparkling
with innovative guitar/instrumental work the likes of which I'd never
seen before in my life. It's complex, and evil/dark sounding but melodic
as hell.
If you like the sound of tightly refined and overdriven marshalls, with
very tight musicianship behind it, Check it out. And yes, Scary I know
I owe you a tape of the CD. :)
jc
|
| Notes from Jeff Waters:
The Fun Palace:
Carrying on Annihilators fine tradition of covering wierd psychological
illnesses, "Palace" is narrated byt the emotion of guilt. It details the
psychic voyage by one who has commited a heinous crime and has gotten away
with it. Many years later the nightmares become so intense that the only
way for them to stop is for the murderer to confess.
Road to Ruin:
I guess you could call this Annihilators version of Detroit Rock City
meets Highway Star meets drinking and driving. Thousands of people are killed
each year by those who think that , after a few drinks, are sober enough to
drive those short few miles to home. This particular individual is one of
those.
Sixes And Sevens:
this title comes from the British phrase ""A sixes and sevens", meaning "at a
point of disorder and confusion". I think a lot of people will be able to
relate to these lyrics, awhich describe a period in my life where everything
was in confusion, without direction, and giving up was the easy way out.
The moral of the story: Everything works out in the end if you really want it
to!
Stonewall:
When I moved out to Vancouver (Canada!) in 1987, I took a walk down to a nearby
river. It looked calm and peaceful, but alive. A closer look (and smell)
changed my peaceful mood into a feeling of disgust and disappointment. The
water was full of chemical wastes and sewage, which I later found were spewing
from a plant upstream, as well ass from a garbage dump located, eveer so
brightly, 50 feet from the shoreline. This is the first time I'd ever thought
about the permanent environmental being done and, though I'm not about to hold
up protest slogans and join Greenpeice, Stonewall is my way of bringing the
subject up for thought.
Never, Neverland.
No not "Alison Hell" part 2! Yes, another gloomy subject. Yet, another true
story. This is a story of an unfortunate young girl locked in a room for
half a decade just for looking at a boy in the grocery store. Her gaurdian,
also her grandmother, felt the only way she could protect her granddaughter
from the evils and temptations in the world was to confine her to her room
"til eternity". there is however, a somewhat happy end to all this, when,
during the middle of the song, the police/social workers storm the house and
free the girl from her mental/physical captivity. She is now on the bright
road to recovery whilst her Nanny finds her new home in the sanitarium.
PS - Claire is a DOLL!
Imperiled Eyes:
Althought a cliche subject in metal, fdear of annihilation is something we've
all experienced at one time or another. In this case, we try to decipher,
lyrically and musically, a set of reoccuring nightmares I used to frequently
have.
Kraf Dinner:
A popular North American Delicacy, this macaroni and cheese dinner is probably
the heavy metal musicians best friend ! By living of this stuff I saved enough
money to pay the rent on a rehearsal space and buy cigarettes each day.
Boy what a happy teenager I was ! Kraf Dinner is full of love and butter!!!
Phantasmagoria:
Phantasmagoria is a form of pyschological disorder where the victims have
visions of ghosts in his/her mind. These apparitions multiply, eventually
driving the victim nuts. Wierd, huh ? All our friends who remember the
1986 Phantasmagoria demo should find this quite heppening and VERY heavy.
Cheers !
Reduced To Ash:
Briefly, an imaginary view of our planey after a thermo-nuclear splattering.
We hope not.
I Am In Command:
This is not an anti-religious, anti-christian nor anti-anything song. It's
about those (hopefully) few televangelists hwo prey and profit on the weak,
poor and directionless. "Command" is narrated by one who is under their
"spell" and one who has just freed himself from one of those cult-like
farces. I guess those having problems should be cautious about who they turn
to these days. THRASH !
Jeff Waters
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| re: .1
Melodic? Maybe, if you're really into like tritones and stuff like
that...
That said, I've also heard this band and was quite impressed with the
creativity and the technical ability of the players. Be forewarned,
it's heavy thrash material though, not for those not into the heaviest
of metal.
FWIW, I liked the first singer better, but then again I'm a big fan of
Bon Scott, Brian Johnson, and Udo Dirkscheider...
Greg
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