Annihilator - Alice in Hell (1989)

It's never my intention to 'prematurely' shit all over a band when I'm revisiting their discography with somewhat fresh ears, since the goal is ultimately to give some second chances, maybe be surprised by a few records that I gave short shrift or overlooked. However, by my own recollection of the teenage thrashing 80s, Canada's Annihilator must have been one of the biggest premature ejaculations in all of the metal scene, shooting its wad loudly and proudly early on, and then entering a long refractory period through which there have only been brief periods of newfound potential and hopeful tumescence. It's a shame, because Alice in Hell was a pretty huge seller after its release, and the band became a top-second tier commodity among nearly ever metal fan I knew. Even those whose sphere of interest fell only into the more mainstream 'big four' of thrash, or arena staples like Priest, Maiden, and Ozzy, had seen the video or picked up this record. Certainly Jeff Waters and crew were on the precipice of major success...

With a slick, dexterous debut like this one, it's not difficult to understand why. While not every song was written on an equally memorable plane, the highlights tend to outnumber the dullards, and even the cuts which slack behind will have a few surprise riffs buried throughout. Waters is easily the star of this show, one of the more 'complete package', fully realized axe-men in the niche outside of Mustaine or the Hannemen/King coalition. Chops for days, performed cleanly and meticulously, with the ability to fire off competent if not immortal lead guitars anywhere. There's a precision and technicality to his playing that certainly placed the band within the 'tech thrash' niche without resorting to excessive, inane wanking, and I'm especially impressed with some of his lofty, harmonized syncopated melodies. Jeff can certainly throw-down at a moderate pace for the mandatory neck-jerking that fueled so much of the late 80s thrash, but he definitely has a bit of neo-classical edge to his shredding which oozed class, and most of the rhythm progressions here stuck and stayed that way so they're instantly recognizable even 35 years after the album first dropped!

He's also got some pretty good damned bass-lines on this disc, and besides Blacky of Voivod this is probably one of the better Canadian albums to deliver that reliable low-end. Ray Hartmann's drumming is hardly up on the level of Lombardo or Hoglan but it's snappy and energetic and sounds great in the mix to support Water's particular thrashing fits. More surprising is the sinister edge of Randy Rampage's vocals, coming over from the worthy punk of D.O.A. to deliver some snarling highs, some pitch, some nastiness, one of the better cross-genre performances I've ever heard, probably a shock to those who knew him from the simpler basslines and songwriting of his mainstay. He's awesome here and for my money perhaps the best vocalist that ever fronted this group, which I never would have expected. He's like a Great White North parallel to Holy Terror's Keith Deen, and I think a lot of the riff-writing here also mirrors that West Coast band, but it's more polished and accessible and I think that explains so much of the appeal this record had.

The showcase for this record is certainly the one-two punch of the "Crystal Ann" acoustic intro and "Alison Hell" itself, which together with the cover artwork conjure up a dreamy nightmare redolent of a lot of the popular 80s franchises, like a Nightmare On Elm Street or Lady in White or Hellraiser 2: Hellbound. The title track is easily one of the best thrash tunes of its year of release, still timeless, with some epic spiraling harmonies that plummet you down into its creepy namesake scenario while showing off the estimable talents in Jeff's repertoire. Everything from the little guitar shrieks, to the higher pitched vocal howls or little operatic break in the bridge just screams of success, and the lead sequence in there reminds me very much of Andy LaRocque's style in another breakout Roadrunner act, King Diamond, whose album Conspiracy the same year is a pretty good comparison. A few other standout moments for me were the clinical Deception Ignored-like melodic break in "W.T.Y.D.", or the unforgettable "Burns Like a Buzzsaw Blade" and its cringey sex lyrics, but there are really no stinkers in this lot...

Instead, a few tunes just fail to live up to that opening, while still remaining competent entries into the genre as a whole, and it does create a bit of a lopsided excitement where the 'Side A' shines a lot brighter than the 'Side B', or at least that's how I thought of it for years when I only owned the cassette. Having said that, Alice in Hell still feels pretty relevant today, a record that had all the potential to enter that space dominated by Megadeth and Metallica. Ambitious enough without going too over the top, unique if not terribly original. It also, sadly, stands as one of those early creative peaks in the medium; I won't say there is too steep of an immediate decline, as Never, Neverland provided at least a moderately catchy, meat & potatoes thrash experience, but I don't think any of the subsequent material comes close to my appreciation for this debut. Again, I hope to be proven wrong as I re-explore the decades of Jeff Waters' dedication to this craft, but Alice in Hell is a hard act to follow.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10] (No one listened to your fears)

https://www.annihilatormetal.com/