Annihilator
Suicide Society
UDR Music
2015
Annihilator, led through the years by Jeff Watters, has had some ups and some downs but in the midst of all that has enjoyed a probably enduring popularity even when they weren’t playing up to their strengths.
I’m not the biggest fan of Dave Padden although after many years and a number of albums with the band he had started to be actually become a part of the band’s modern face. At any rate he left and now Waters is back on vocals, a move that in the past has caused some quite decent, almost great albums (ie “King of the Kill”) and some not so good, due to the lacking songwriting (ie “Remains”)… “Suicide Society” is more Annihilator than several of the past albums were, which is a plus but at the same time it is not that great an album…
The opening title track has a rather funky feel for a while, which is not really all that appealing borrows a bit from the band’s own past (“STWOF”) and then grooves along nicely in a typical thrashy way... not bad but not exactly impressive.
“Damage Inc” sorry… “My Revenge” ask for respects but I can’t give it any when it’s obvious that apart from the also recycled rhythmic stuff, after a lukewarm solo and before another one, the rest of the track is not exactly Jeff Waters’.
“Snap” is slower but still has some groove and is a quite unusual sounding track for Annihilator, but I’m not sure that’s mentioned in a good way... since it’s just a direct rip-off, of Rammstein’s “Ich Tu Dir Weh”... Seriously, Jeff must be running low on ideas...
“Creeping Again” very soon gets into typical 1000 mph Annihilator mode and only lets go for a bit of a melodic bit that’s not exactly terribly great or original... as the band themselves have sort of tossed that trick around a lot times in the past in far more successful ways. Still it’s one of the more enjoyable songs, I guess...
“Narcotic Avenue” is a lot more in the vein of how things should be but it’s not the standout track you expected…
“The One You Serve” is not all too fast and tries to sound quite nightmarish but ends up sounding more like a Halloween scare than a real horror-show...
“Break, Enter” is another typical later day Annihilator track, nothing too special and it even flirts with another Metallica melody just shortly... oops. Was I supposed to say that?!
“Death Scent” is slower and ghastlier and sounds almost right but there’s hardly anything too captivating here and let’s not even go into a chorus because we might get lost in the mists…
“Every Minute” has certain mellower, almost ballad like portions, that sound like throwbacks to “I Set the World on Fire”… not too bad but neither too original and a bit too late to cause any great change of heart about the way I feel about the album.
Recycled (oh yeah how many times will you recycle the "Fun Palace" ?), with some mediocre, lazy songwritting and some great performances by one of metal's faster guitarists, who’s on occasion has been quite inventive but isn't breaking any new ground here, "Suicide Society" is not really meant to set the world on fire all over again.
I’m not the biggest fan of Dave Padden although after many years and a number of albums with the band he had started to be actually become a part of the band’s modern face. At any rate he left and now Waters is back on vocals, a move that in the past has caused some quite decent, almost great albums (ie “King of the Kill”) and some not so good, due to the lacking songwriting (ie “Remains”)… “Suicide Society” is more Annihilator than several of the past albums were, which is a plus but at the same time it is not that great an album…
The opening title track has a rather funky feel for a while, which is not really all that appealing borrows a bit from the band’s own past (“STWOF”) and then grooves along nicely in a typical thrashy way... not bad but not exactly impressive.
“Damage Inc” sorry… “My Revenge” ask for respects but I can’t give it any when it’s obvious that apart from the also recycled rhythmic stuff, after a lukewarm solo and before another one, the rest of the track is not exactly Jeff Waters’.
“Snap” is slower but still has some groove and is a quite unusual sounding track for Annihilator, but I’m not sure that’s mentioned in a good way... since it’s just a direct rip-off, of Rammstein’s “Ich Tu Dir Weh”... Seriously, Jeff must be running low on ideas...
“Creeping Again” very soon gets into typical 1000 mph Annihilator mode and only lets go for a bit of a melodic bit that’s not exactly terribly great or original... as the band themselves have sort of tossed that trick around a lot times in the past in far more successful ways. Still it’s one of the more enjoyable songs, I guess...
“Narcotic Avenue” is a lot more in the vein of how things should be but it’s not the standout track you expected…
“The One You Serve” is not all too fast and tries to sound quite nightmarish but ends up sounding more like a Halloween scare than a real horror-show...
“Break, Enter” is another typical later day Annihilator track, nothing too special and it even flirts with another Metallica melody just shortly... oops. Was I supposed to say that?!
“Death Scent” is slower and ghastlier and sounds almost right but there’s hardly anything too captivating here and let’s not even go into a chorus because we might get lost in the mists…
“Every Minute” has certain mellower, almost ballad like portions, that sound like throwbacks to “I Set the World on Fire”… not too bad but neither too original and a bit too late to cause any great change of heart about the way I feel about the album.
Recycled (oh yeah how many times will you recycle the "Fun Palace" ?), with some mediocre, lazy songwritting and some great performances by one of metal's faster guitarists, who’s on occasion has been quite inventive but isn't breaking any new ground here, "Suicide Society" is not really meant to set the world on fire all over again.