Annihilator - Are really disappointing in London!

October 13th 2013

London, Islington o2 Academy, UK

Annihilator disappoint after promising self titled album!

Annihilator ** have always been a band I wanted to see live, so when I heard they were playing the Islington o2 Academy I thought about going to see them. When I found out I was free to go me and my friends decided to go down late notice and by tickets on the door which cost £20 which we thought was a little steep when we had been to see bands of this status for about £15 that week. The reason I was even debating going was to do with their last album 'Feast' being below par, actually me and my friends didn't like it so much that we took it back to the shop pretty quickly. We wanted to see them on the strength of the album before which was just self titled and contained a whole CD of brilliant material.

Annihilator have suffered from a revolving door of members over the last ten years with different line-up's producing different standards of material and tonight I was hoping the standard was going to be high. Sadly I was very disappointed guitar legend Jeff Waters was just too laid back tonight and very cocky even missing out crucial solo's or playing them in a lack luster way. Jeff is seen as a guitar God to most fans of Thrash Metal and now he believes his own hype rather than trying to live up to it and put on a show that no one will forget. Actually all the band are a little cocky tonight and it's really off putting and makes you wonder why you didn't go an see Voltaire at the London Underworld instead.

They open the show with the classic song 'Alison Hell' which is as the band puts "A true story about a normal little girl in Montreal, Canada who had the common nightly fear of seeing the boogey man. After ignoring her pleas for comfort and reassurance. Alison's parents could only offer "We thought it must have been a phase she was going through". Their ignorance allowed Alison's craziness to develop gradually to the point of no return."!!! This song originally was sung by John Bates a great singer and a definitive vocal frontage for the band. Sadly he is not sing for them tonight because a lot of the time in the set the vocals are too different than they should be and make you think you are actually listening to a different band.

This song was originally released in 1989 and need a traditional Thrash Metal vibe to it, to really make it work and John had some great pipes on him to deliver it with. They continue with new track 'W.T.Y.D. (Welcome to your Death)' which is lively but doesn't have the substance you would want, but the crowd really seem to get into it. The bands best years were spent on the Roadrunner Records label, where Annihilator were often poster boys for the brand and lead the way to other great bands also getting signed to the label like Sepultura. One of these great songs recorded in their glory years 'Set the World on Fire' is one of the high points in the set and I actually quite enjoy it.

They continue the set with the title track of the fifth album 'Refresh the Demon' an album that didn't do as well as some others for the band but looking back on it, it was actually quite a good album. It's just a shame that for me it seems a little too complacent tonight and not heavy enough. We want Annihilator to have some balls and this is their own balls not borrowed ones. 'Never, Neverland' is one of the really low points in the set... imagine Bryan Adams doing Thrash Metal on holiday with James Blunt and you have how this felt tonight and this was the point my friends had decided they didn't want to see anymore of the bands set and left. I stayed and hoped for a silver lining to make my twenty pound worth spending, but I think the plectrum I got given at the end might have been the only thing to cheer me up on a bad night in London. The lack luster guitar solo on 'No Zone' is a real disappointment, topped with a through the motions versions of 'Second to None', which is sadly taken over to much by the backing band and not enough by Jeff.

I still enjoy 'Second to None' a little bit, it has good memories and I used to really listen to this band and like them and respect them and all that got a little tainted tonight which is really sad. They play a montage of songs and follow it with a drum solo which just seems a way to kill a little time, which doesn't seem wise when they had to cut three songs off their setlist. They seem to pick up the pace after this and get a little better and I feel if my friends stayed around a little they might have seen a few redeeming factors to the set. Even recent track 'No way Out' is actually quite cool and would have really stood out better if it had been sung with more determination.

'Smear Campaign' doesn't really hit the spot but 'Time Bomb, Ambush' and 'Deadlock' do and you wonder why they couldn't have played harder and faster and more to the point from the start of the set. Maybe they should have cut a few songs from the set and it might of worked better. These are quite Thrashing and they seem a lot happier and more at home playing them, also the audience really responds to them well.

They play a one song encore which ends their set, The track 'King of the Kill' off the album of the same name is to be honest not too bad but it was never the most complexed of songs but it does have a little kick to it but for some people they feel they are missing out a bit because the band had to cut three songs off their setlist due to time restrictions 'Carnival Diablos, Fiasco' and 'Ultra-Motion' which is for me n a way is a saving grace, this is not the bands finest moment. I wouldn't really go out of my way to see this band again and I am a bit upset by the show they put on because I really liked this band, but everyone always deserves a second chance so I am sure one day I will give them one but for now I am going to avoid Annihilator.