Annihilator have seemed dead in the water for years now, having gone from the classic 1989 album "never, neverland" to decent but uninspiring 90's fare which saw mainman Jeff Waters pretty much doing everything by himself.
This album is something of a come back for Annihilator then, now signed to nuclear blast and enjoying the renewed attention that is being given to thrash bands of their era such as Exodus and Death Angel. And for the most part, it delivers.
Album opener is "all for you" is easily one of the best songs they've ever recorded, combining a light and shade vocal style with a killer riff and one of the best breakdowns i've ever heard, a wonderful, melodic piece of chordal genius, which is the last thing you expect to hear during the song. Potentially a huge single.
"dr psycho" and "both of me" are solid examples of the technical metal annihilator are famous for, but suffer slightly from the stupid "comedy" spoken sections which litter and ultimately let down the album. Unfortunately, these arent the worst areas the album has to offer either. There are two terrible ballads present here, which are so bad they threaten to spoil everything else, and "demon dance" which is a fine metal track untill its weird Pet Shop Boys style chorus kicks in.
Fortunately, the album is saved by brutal tracks like "bled" and "rage absolute" which remind us why annihilator have attained such legendary status in the metal world, and the closing salvo of "the nightmare factory" and "the sound of horror" which sound as sinister and evil as their titles suggest, and deliver quality riffs by the shedload.
All in all then, despite the grumbles mentioned above, this is a fantastic album and an excellent (if slightly flawed) comeback form one of thrash metals best bands.