Annihilator - Refresh the Demon (1996)

Don't tease with a cover that reminds me of Abominog, bro, one of my favorite (if cheesy) Uriah Heep albums of the 80s and beyond. If I were to guess by the title, Refresh the Demon, I would surmise that this record might be Annihilator's attempt at 'righting the ship' from its previous two discs, and I can say with fairness that is exactly what happens here...to an extent. This one definitely feels like a record written for its time period but keeping its roots primarily in the thrash that put Jeff Waters on the map to begin with. If a lot of the simpler, groovier and chugging rhythms tend to remind me of things Dimebag Darrell was writing on records like Cowboys from Hell, so be it, but at least the compositions retain some degree of Annihilator's past, the "Alison Hell" squeals in "A Man Called Nothing" being one of many examples).

That's not to say Refresh the Demon is good, in fact it's quite mediocre at its best, but there is a settling in and structure to how this one is composed which seem consistent. Waters has settled into his vocal duties much more on this, not that they are outstanding by any measure, but he rarely goes too over the top when he's emoting certain cheesy lyrics. There are a number of those Dave Mustaine snarled lines, to be sure, but the music in tracks like "Ultraparanoia" and "A Man Called Nothing" at least keeps you distracted enough not to care too much about such shortcomings. There's definitely a bit of trad hard rock and heavy metal inspiration to pieces like "City of Ice" and "Anything for Money", but they're blended in with enough thrashing finesse that they don't do anything groan-inducing like half of King of the Kill was. It only goes too far on something like "Hunger", with a bluesy hard rock shuffle that again reminds me of Nuno's writing in Extreme, but even this isn't a terrible tune in context. "Innocent Eyes" is a shitty, forgettable ballad and the worst song here, no surprise that one was pushed off to the end but should have been pushed a little further...into the nearest river.

The leads are generally well written and provide most of the album's exciting moments, although they're not terribly interesting if isolated from the rest of the tracks. Randy Black performs the drumming adequately, the capable veteran who replaced Mike Mangini on the prior album, and the bass is alright but never really a standout through the track list. Production is punchy and accessible, maybe even continuing the standard set by the prior album as feeling a little too glossy to really do the heavier tracks justice, but those seeking something 'current' for the mid-90s probably wouldn't have minded this so much. Refresh the Demon is nothing impressive by any means, and if not for covering this whole discography I wouldn't have revisited it, but if someone were playing this in the car I would grin and bear it, while King of the Kill would have us pulling over so I can catch an Uber. Bland but passable 90s thrash that isn't aware that for at least the next decade, the style of all those bands in Metallica's wake was just 'over', and in this case not merely for being passé, but for just not being very good.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

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