Annihilator

Vancouver’s favourite king of inconsistency, Jeff Waters, is back with another full-length Annihilator album, new singer in tow, significant changes in sound intact. File this one next to the latest Anvil, because I’m convinced both bands have the fire in ’em somewhere, but not on albums like this one. New vocalist Dave Padden sounds inexplicably like Jello Biafra at points here, but for the most part just kind of bellows his way through; oddly enough, his clean vocals are his strong point (but the ballads on here certainly aren’t the band’s strong point). Add to the brew the usual inane Waters lyrics (low point: "Dr. Psycho,” a song about a scary doctor), a guy who used to play drums in Extreme, and an overall feeling of embarrassing, stale songwriting, and there you have it. It’s all for you, but chances are you won’t want anything to do with it. Subtract the crap and there are a handful of cool thrash tunes, great solos (Waters can still shred when he wants to) and the occasional glimmer of smart songwriting. He hit gold with Carnival Diablos, but it’s been two poor albums since then. Can he do it again? Tune in next album (on the next obscure record label, no doubt) to find out.