King of the kill

The first Annihilator album with Jeff on vocals and He does a great job as well despite his protestations at doing so,or so the liner notes say,not my favourite album but easily has two of my favourite tracks,namely Second to None and Chasing the Wind,I've had the cassette version for ages but daren't use it so bought it on CD.

ANNIHILATOR / ACCEPT Vinyl Reissues

Another batch in the SPV / Steamhammer 25th birthday celebrations, and it's more metal manna all round with this set. First up, some classic Jeff Waters.

ANNIHILATOR - King Of The Kill

This is quite an odd one in Annihilator history, as it's to all intents and purposes a Jeff Waters solo album, as he stepped up to the microphone for the first time, with only drummer Randy Black for company. So there was no room for anyone called Randy Rampage, Freddy Fury or Andy Aggrieved this time around.

I'm not a huge fan of Waters vocals, so this isn't an album I've played a lot over the years, although, to be fair, there is some muscular metal on offer, as Waters takes out his frustrations on the world, and his ex record company. Listening again, after all this while, I am impressed with `The Box', the title track and `In The Blood', so I reckon it will get a few more spins this time around.

Released as a lovely double album in gatefold sleeve, it also comes with two bonus tracks in the shape of `Only Be Lonely' and `Slates' as well as some spoken comments from Jeff Waters, filling out Side 4 of the album, as it makes its debut on vinyl.

ACCEPT - Breaker

Album number three from the German metallers, this originally came out back in 1981, and was an album chock full of anger, if vocalist Udo Dirkschneider is to be believed. Well, breaking three microphones and writing a song about your record company called `Son Of A Bitch' isn't exactly indicative of a fluffy bunny record.

This was the record that really started to break Accept internationally, as they toughened up their sound into what became an instantly recognisable style. Songs like the title track, `Burning' and `Midnight Highway' still sound good after all these years, and after the band headed out with Judas Priest on tour, their name became known across Europe.

It's by far the best of the early accept albums and is out in a spiffy gatefold sleeve.

ANNIHILATOR - Refresh The Demon

1996 wasn't a good year for metal, and Annihilator were no exception, as Jeff Waters struggled to replicate his early glories. The best that could be said for this album was that it was loud. And this double album, heavy duty vinyl reissue is even louder. So I suppose that counts as a good thing.

You have to make your way all the way through to Side 3 before you happen across a good track in the guise of `Hunger', and on to Side 4 for the other goodie, `Innocent Eyes'. Waters would struggle for quite some time before putting out another classic ("Metal", since you ask), and this was simply marking time.

However, it is a very nice gatefold, 2 LP package, with Side 4 being filled out with `The Box' and `Riff Raff', making it a package fans will want.

This lot average out at a healthy 4 out of 5.