Pelata Jeff Waters is to Annihilator was Dave Mustaine is to Megadeth. The Main Man. The Chief Dude In Charge. The Head Honcho. When the High Exalted Potentate of this mighty Canadian Thrash Legend that is Annihilator chose to utilize “guest appearances” on his new album, aptly titled, Metal, the decision was met with groans & guffaws from all over the Metal Community. “Why does Jeff freakin’ Waters need guest guitarists??” “He’s just trying to jump on a bandwagon!” “He’s run out of his own ideas!”. Blah, blah blah, ad nauseum. The same types of things said about any and all Metal bands by their core fan base whenever the band wants to shake things up a bit. But the bottom line is, it’s Waters’ band and he can do as he damn well pleases. He didn’t “need help”, he “wanted an extra ingredient”. So, with that said, onto the matter at hand.

Metal is Annihilator’s 11th studio release and while there are a couple of twists and turns, the core of the riffing & vocal arrangements are classic Annihilator. “Clown Parade” kicks things off in fine fashion with a tight, straight up Thrash riff and some amazing soloing by Nevermore’s Jeff Loomis. There’s even a “Whoa!” sing-along bridge after the second lead break that would make Iron Maiden proud…very cool! “Downright Dominate” is another strong one loaded down with wicked riffing & soloing. Guest shredder Alexi Laiho (Children Of Bodom) fits quite nicely alongside Waters’ own stellar playing. In Flames’ Jesper Stromblad shows up on “Haunted”, one of the albums more frantic Thrash cuts, and just shreds out!

The album is not without its questionable moments, though. The name-checking of classic Metal bands in the song “Army Of One” is a little cheesy…but, then again, so was “Kraf Dinner”. The opening melody of “Couple Suicide” is a little juvenile and the song is trying too hard to sound like Killswitch Engage. Definitely a departure for Waters here…kudos for trying.

Overall, while not Annihilator’s best release, it’s certainly not the lame duck many fans predicted. If you can’t recognize this music on first listen as having Waters’ hands all over it, you’ve probably never heard the band before. Too many were overly concerned about the guest appearances (from members of Lamb Of God, Trivium, Arch Enemy, & others) harming the album, and they really didn’t. They fit nicely, in all honesty, and are surrounded by patented Annihilator styling. But, I must admit, seeing all the names listed on the sticker made me think I was looking at a rap album. (Can any rappers make an album on their own?) Anyway, don’t let appearances fool you. Metal is just that…a strong, well thought out album. It won’t please everyone, but it doesn’t have to.

UMUR "Metal" is the 12th full-length studio album by Canadian thrash metal act Annihilator. The album was released through SPV Records in April 2007.

The music on Metal is in the trademark heavy metal/thrash metal style that we´re used to from Annihilator. This time around bandleader/guitarist/bassist and occasional vocalist Jeff Waters have brought in a cast of guest musicians to add flavour to various tracks. The guests include such prolific names as Jeff Loomis (Nevermore), Steve "Lips" Kudlow (Anvil) and Michael Amott and Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy) among others. Some guests add vocals while others add guitar solos. The drums on the album are played by Mike Mangini and most vocals are sung by regular Annihilator vocalist Dave Padden.

The positive thing about "Metal" is that I´m blown away by all the great high speed and energetic guitar solos that are present on the album. The problem with the album is that most of the tracks are pretty generic and uninspired. Run of the mill material. And to top it off most of the tracks feature sub par vocal performances. I´ve never understood why Jeff Waters time and time again have chosen vocalists that don´t stand out and have distinct voices ( the worst failure was to sing himself though). Is he afraid that a truly great vocalist will overshadow his guitar playing?

When that is said there are some really great tracks on the album like "Couple Suicide" with Danko Jones and Angela Gossow on vocals and the powerful "Downright Dominate" where Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom guests. A song like the ode to metal hymn "Army Of One", makes me cringe with embarrasment though and that´s the main problem with the album. About every second track on the album simply isn´t on level with the best tracks on the album, either as a consequence of dull vocals or uninspired songwriting (and in the case of "Army Of One", the lyrics are cringe worthy). The musicianship are generally on a high technical level though and I think that´s the album´s greatest asset.

The sound production might please some people and there are certainly elements that are really well produced on the album but the drum sound lacks power and bite. The powerless sound of the drums makes "Metal" hard to enjoy listening to. "Metal" isn´t exactly an album that rocks my world, but even with the above mentioned flaws it´s hard to say that it isn´t a quality album and I wouldn´t rate it lower than a 3 star (60%) rating. But my personal enjoyment with the album isn´t very high.