Annihilator

來(lái)自加拿大的ANNIHILATOR的樂(lè)隊(duì)。他們?cè)缙诘淖髌肥艿矫绹?guó)灣區(qū)（Bay Area）Thrash Metal 運(yùn)動(dòng)的深刻影響。但是早期作品由於沒(méi)有太多特點(diǎn)，雖然也小有名氣，但是一直沒(méi)有公司賞識(shí)。然而ANNIHILATOR 卻成功在Thrash Metal行將結(jié)束的年代。他們?cè)陲L(fēng)格中嘗試加入 Classic Rock成分，憑藉自己的多年的磨練和經(jīng)驗(yàn)創(chuàng)造出了屬於ANNIHILATOR的風(fēng)格，用 Alice In Hell 的出色表現(xiàn)一舉成名。樂(lè)隊(duì)也成為 Canuck Thrashers 的代表人物。樂(lè)隊(duì)的核心人物 Jeff Waters現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)成為加拿大重金屬領(lǐng)域首屈一指的人物，這張唱片中他擔(dān)任了除去鼓和演唱部分的所有樂(lè)器。相當(dāng)?shù)木珳?zhǔn)，所有的聲部絲絲入扣。他的結(jié)他技術(shù)的確是非常過(guò)硬，他演奏的快速下切又勻又快，正是ANNIHILATOR的早期特點(diǎn)之一。聽(tīng)著他甩頭也是聽(tīng)眾的一種享受。旋律化、高速、流暢以及精致的編曲，再加上完美的錄音效果，讓誰(shuí)也無(wú)法拒絕的ANNIHILATOR的這張唱片。樂(lè)手們過(guò)硬的技術(shù)，演奏這樣清晰的顆粒感，爆炸一樣的速度的音樂(lè)，沒(méi)有任何受拘束的現(xiàn)象，相反，把自己的特點(diǎn)發(fā)揮的淋漓盡致！這張唱片至今仍舊是Roadrunner唱片公司歷史上銷(xiāo)售成績(jī)最好的唱片，粗略統(tǒng)計(jì)全世界銷(xiāo)出 250000 張。
 
Canadian thrashers Annihilator are the lifework of guitarist Jeff Waters, who founded the band in his native Vancouver in 1984 — just as the speed metal revolution was getting underway further to the south in the San Francisco Bay Area. Due in large part to this geographical isolation, Annihilator as a band phased in and out of existence over the next few years, with only Waters as a constant factor, but when the driven guitarist's homemade demos finally made it into the hands of Roadrunner Records, the band's career was ready to begin.
 
Released to positively wild public and critical acclaim at the height of the thrash metal boom, Annihilator's 1989 debut, Alice in Hell, was an unqualified triumph and epitomized the state of the art in terms of thinking man's thrash metal, but it was hardly a band effort. Indeed, though they are pictured on the sleeve alongside Waters (who wrote, produced, and played guitar and bass on the entire album), vocalist Randy Rampage (formerly bassist with legendary Vancouver hardcore band D.O.A.), drummer Ray Hartmann, bassist Wayne Darley, and second guitarist Anthony Greenham were little more than hired guns. Not surprisingly, both Rampage and Greenham were gone by the release of the following year's Never, Neverland (replaced by the equally improbably named Coburn Pharr and Dave Scott Davis, respectively), the beginning of a revolving door policy that would elevate Annihilator's musician turnover to Spinal Tap heights.
 
In any event, though not quite as inspired as its predecessor, Never, Neverland did decent business and the band's latest lineup capitalized by touring relentlessly behind it. A three-year delay and more lineup changes preceded 1993's Set the World on Fire, however, and the album's shocking move to adopt more traditional metal and commercial hard rock sounds wound up alienating most of Annihilator's fans, sending their popularity into a tailspin. Roadrunner issued 1994's Bag of Tricks compilation and promptly dropped the band, which quickly resurfaced with a new deal and several albums on Music for Nations (1994's King of the Kill, 1996's Refresh the Demon, 1997's Remains) but never again enjoyed anything similar to their original success — despite Waters' retreat to thrashier terrain. Released in 1999, Criteria for a Black Widow reunited the guitarist with both Roadrunner and old singer Rampage, but subsequent albums like 2001's Carnival Diablos, 2003's Waking the Fury, and 2004's All for You marked a return to Annihilator's unpredictable musical about-faces and personal musical chairs.