Album Review: Annihilator - Criteria For A Black Widow / Carnival Diablos
Reviewed by Gareth Pugh
It’s been six years since Canadian veterans Annihilator released their last studio album, and while the band are still performing live, in the studio though, main man, and only constant member, Jeff Waters has appeared to put the band on hold while he concentrates on his less metal and more rock-oriented side-project American Kaos, so while we wait, perhaps indefinitely, for new material, the band has launched a major catalogue reissue series via earMUSIC, and following on from remastered editions of King Of The Kill (1994), Refresh The Demon (1996), and Remains (1997) from last year comes new updated versions of Criteria For A Black Widow (1999) and Carnival Diablos (2001).
Criteria for a Black Widow came after the three albums that were effectively Jeff Waters solo albums, with Jeff writing all the material as well as singing and playing all the instruments bar the drums. So after a difficult year in 1998, where Jeff went through a messy divorce and a custody battle for his children (which he won) he ended up going to a Slayer concert which ended up inspiring him to write the next Annihilator album, but instead of continuing down the solo route, he decided to get a real band together, and after recruiting original drummer Ray Hartmann, and on Ray’s suggestion, Jeff decided to try a ‘reunion’ line-up, and contacted Randy Rampage (RIP) the singer from the debut album “Alice in Hell”, who gladly accepted the invitation to rejoin, he also asked his friend and original Annihilator vocalist John Bates to contribute to the lyrics as he had done previously. The album recording was completed as this trio (long term fans will know that Jeff has performed all the guitar and bass tracks on nearly every album) but guitarist Dave Davies did rejoin for the subsequent tour along with new recruit; bassist Russell Berquist.
So, onto the album itself, and despite this being a reunion line-up, musically it bears only a passing resemblance to the sound of the debut, don’t worry, it’s still heavy, in fact in many ways it is heavier, but there are more groove influences and a more compressed and modern production, the album, apart from the drums, was mainly recorded at Watersound studios, in other words Jeff’s spare bedroom. Starting with the brutal ‘Bloodbath’ it’s easy to hear the Slayer influence, as the song is as fast and aggressive as the band had ever been previously, matching even ‘Human Insecticide’ for pace, and follow it up with the equally violent and rapid ‘Back to the Palace’, which is a sequel of sorts to ‘The Fun Palace’, check out that intro riff, from sophomore album “Never, Neverland” with plenty of fun lyrical references to past songs. ‘Punctured’ is slower with more groove, a more modern sounding song with some Pantera vibes. The title-track is bizarre in a way only Annihilator can be, and bizarre doesn’t necessarily mean good, a heavily bass driven song with a spoken verse, it has to be heard to be believed!
The rest of the album though is much improved, ‘Nothing Left’ is a mid-paced old school thrasher, and ‘Double Dare’ has more riffs and changes than you can shake a stick at. The album proper finishes with two track, firstly the original title-track before the record company insisted on changing it, the preposterously titled ‘Sonic Homicide’ an old, reworked demo track from the early days, ‘Powerdrain’ which is available on the expanded ‘Alice in Hell’ CD, which musically is excellent and a real throwback, with super-fast down picked riffing, but ignore the lyrics, which are laugh out loud funny, before the gentle acoustic instrumental ‘Mending’ ends the original track listing, this new re-release adds several demo tracks with Jeff himself performing the vocals.
Unfortunately, as was often the case with Annihilator back in the day, this line-up was short lived, mainly due to an altercation between Jeff and Randy, which lead to the firing of the later, never to return. Undeterred, Jeff regrouped and made the unusual decision to recruit ex-Overkill guitarist Joe Comeau in the vocal role, which turned out to be an excellent decision, as Joe proved to be the most versatile vocalist the band had had up to this point, too be far Joe had been the singer in Liege Lord previously, so perhaps not so outlandish a choice as it first appeared.
The resultant album was the excellent ‘Carnival Diablos’, which built on the return to form of ‘Criteria…’, Jeff really flexed his songwriting muscles and came up with his strongest and most consistent set of tunes since the second album, bolstered by Comeau who contributed lyrics and melodies to over half the tracks. In fact, the title of the album came about during the writing sessions when Jeff noticed the diversity of the tracks was something of an Annihilator smorgasbord, with songs ranging in various styles, hence the devil’s festival title. Opening with the bombastic ‘Denied’ with its punchy rhythms and angular leads, Joe quickly shows his worth with his gruff mid-range with the occasional high-pitched scream. ‘Battered’ is not about the local Fish and Chip shop, but it is the best song that Metallica never wrote, with its aggressive, yet catchy riffs and relentless percussion, it comes across like an unofficial follow-up to
‘Battery’. ‘Time Bomb’ sees Joe doing his best Halford impression, and doing a pretty good job, although musically this is more Fight than Priest. ‘Epic of War’ brings to mind classic Maiden, with its galloping rhythms, melodic leads and soaring chorus. The plaudits to other classic acts don’t stop there though, ‘Hunter-Killer’ is an incredibly forceful thrasher, in the vein of Slayer, full of angst and rage, while ‘Shallow Grave’ is a greasy rocker which would make AC/DC proud, with Joe doing a wicked Bon Scott. Again, this re-release comes with bonus tracks, this time some classic live tracks with Joe on vocals.
Overall, it’s good to see these two albums back in print, are they essential, well as for ‘Criteria…’ I’d say only if you are an Annihilator completist, it’s solid with a strong nostalgic feel due to having Randy back on vocals, it's a good album but it’s not a classic, ‘Carnival Diablos’ however is an album by a band on a real roll, and any metal head who likes classic, thrash or power metal should really appreciate it, I personally rate it just behind the two bona fide classics of ‘Alice in Hell’ and ‘Never, Neverland’, it really is that good. Time will tell if Jeff ever resurrects Annihilator as a studio band, or keeps it as a live nostalgia act, in the meantime these re-releases will have to do for now.
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