Annihilation Principle

Of course, the first seconds of a thrash album are not the crucial thing. Nevertheless, it is always nice to be immediately greeted by a fantastic riff. Lääz Rockit apparently agree with this statement. The up-tempo opener "Fire in the Hole" kicks off with such a riff. It is among the best that the band has written in its whole career. The double bass driven verses and the forceful and expressive vocals also contribute to the outstanding quality of the song. To put it in a nutshell, the album is opened by a perfect piece of wild thrash metal.

Lääz Rockit cannot maintain this very high performance level during the entire album. But they definitely show that they have understood the main intention of this fascinating genre called thrash metal. "Annihilation Principle" sounds aggressive, lively and technically experienced without neglecting melodic ingredients. Besides this, the band does not shy away from offering a flawless ballad, the final "The Omen". Unusual, but courageous and, due to the amazing level of the track, a surprisingly strong conclusion. But it goes without saying that balladic elements do not constitute the key features of the album. It is rather characterized by very well elaborated thrash compositions of the medium-hard kind. This means that you are not confronted with high velocity for the sake of itself. Additionally, Lääz Rockit do not offer slightly dissonant or bulky riffs. Last but not least, the vocal performance does not focus on creating inhumane sounds. Instead, the musicians thrash while keeping an eye on harmonies and they care about the flow of the crisp album. Nice to hear that their efforts have been successful.

The vigorous sound of the album offers no reason for complaint. All instruments are well balanced. Maybe the album lacks a tiny bit of pressure, but this is hardly worth mentioning. Lääz Rockit compensate this little blemish with their refreshing song material. Due to the professional working method of the band, it remains a mystery why these guys did not achieve the breakthrough. Even bands such as Sacred Reich or Flotsam And Jetsam ranked above them, although Lääz Rockit presented catchy thrashers like "Bad Blood" and "Chasin´ Charlie". These pieces are prime examples for the band´s material, because they come straight to the point while offering sharp-edged melodies and memorable choruses. Furthermore, the latter one has remarkable anti-war lyrics that do not lack of intelligence. The cover version of "Holiday in Cambodia" was another indication of their political awareness. Therefore, the conditions for a greater commercial success were actually fulfilled. But the metal world seems to be unfair.

I do not know the exact composition of the chemical fluids on the cover. However, the ingredients for the songs are very carefully chosen and this energizing full-length truly deserves the status of an American thrash metal classic. Well, I was really happy to read on this webpage that the guys of Lääz Rockit are still active. Hopefully, they prove it with a new studio album soon.

Intense, fast, heavy and tons of fun; that’s how Annihilation Principle is best described. This is Lååz Rockit’s 4th full-length release and possibly my favourite of theirs. I find this one to be very solid and constant regarding musical quality and superior to their other releases. The present review is for the Massacre Records re-release, with an additional DVD with Lååz Rockit live at Dynamo in 1988, thus the review will be divided in two main sections; the full-length release and the DVD.

ANNIHILATION PRINCIPLE

For those who haven’t heard Lååz Rockit before, this would be an excellent starting point. Annihilation Principle is a very accessible, catchy album that sounds similar to Testament’s The Legacy, but with a way better production and a more solid, heavy riffing department. One of their most remarkable features is the vocals by Michael Coons. He usually sings in a very high-pitched and thin tone, although his natural range is way lower (as you will realize after listening to “The omen”). To get a more accurate idea, when Coons uses his higher register he sounds between Belladonna in Spreading the Disease and Flemming Rønsdorf in By Inheritance; just more angry, tearing and less melodic than any of those two. On the other hand, when he is in the lower frequencies he resembles Dave Wayne in Metal Church, but without going as low as him. This angry, vicious, mid/high-pitched singing and the additional agonic shrieks contrast to perfection with the heavy rhythm guitar sound and the solid, Exodus like riffing.

Moving on to the guitar work, I find it highly effective and completely headbangable – everything thrash should be -, without getting too technical ala Intruder or Toxik. Some awesome examples of effective, crushing riffs can be found in “Mob justice“ and “Bad blood”; the former is a mid-paced tune with a devastating main riff that will make you break your neck, and the latter is an up-tempo, by the book, riff-fest thrasher with main and chorus riffs that will immediately catch you. The guitar solos, although good, don’t really outstand – especially if we consider the previous album and the other bands I’ve compared them with -, but having choruses and riffs like these you shouldn’t really care much about it. As it happens in many other albums of the genre, the bass doesn’t outstand too much. If you pay attention and try to find it, you will; it’s like a lighter version of Overkill’s metallic bass sound, just hidden behind the guitars. The last member of the pack, the drummer, has an excellent performance with some additions that will catch you by surprise; I love the drumrolls in “Mob justice” – which is, by the way, the ultimate mid-paced thrasher –, the drumming in “Chasin’ Charlie” and some other little details, like the pre-chorus section in “Bad blood”. Nevertheless, those are some specific great moments; Victor Agnello stays up to par during the whole album.

The musical offering is quite varied for a thrash album; you have the standard mid/fast-paced thrashers; the ballad-disguised thrasher, “Shadow company”; a genuine ballad, “The omen”; and Dead Kennedys’ cover, “Holiday in Cambodia”. Every song is very good or great in its own way, but I’d like to remark “Fire in the hole” and “The omen”. “Fire in the hole” has one of the catchiest and better working riffs I’ve had the pleasure to listen to. It also has the additional element of the bass, which is most audible in this song. That, added to the vicious, war like vocals and the great chorus will definitely make your day and get you in the mood of thraaaaaaash. “The omen”, on the other hand, offers an unusual way of ending a thrash album; this could have been another “Badlands” or “Means to an end”, but it really doesn’t explode or get aggressive at any point. What I like about this song is the melody and the vocals with some hints of despair and frustration; it shows a more melodic, serene Lååz Rockit. Of course if the album had been full of this kind of songs it would have been total crap, but an experimental song once in a while does not harm (as long as it’s enjoyable as this one).

LIVE AT DYNAMO 1988

If it wasn’t enough with the dose of thrash you got with the original album, you get an extra hour of Lååz Rockit live, one of the most intense experiences of any thrash maniac, and by extension of any metal fan. It has a great tracklist (the only track from Annihilation Principle is “Mirror to madness”, but keep in mind that the album wasn’t released yet) including all time favourites like “Prelude”, “Goodbye M.F.”, “Caught in the act”, “Self-destruct”, “Euroshima” and “Last breath” and the band’s performance is just insane; jumping all over the place, spinning while moving from side to side of the stage, interacting with the public, giving it their all, throwing stuff… seriously, at the end of “Self-destruct” I thought Willy Lange was going to take off spinning like a helicopter!

Not everything is cool, though. There are many flaws in the DVD that harm the overall quality. The first major problem is the audio quality, which is not very good; sometimes it’s a bit shaky and fuzzy. Moreover, there were sound problems all along the concert. These get particularly annoying in the beginning; first the guitars are inaudible, then all the microphones are gone, and finally everything gets ok around 3:40, but by then “Last breath” is quite ruined. The guitars by Aaron Jellum are also hard to hear during the complete concert – except when he plays his solo before “Self-destruct” -, so some songs like “Mirror to madness” and “Self-Destruct” sound weak, weird and lose all their charm. I don’t like the camera perspective either; it’s basically fixed in the left side of the stage, and the only change is the occasional rotation to show the enthusiastic public and some bad zooms on the band’s members. As a result you get quite a bad, static, diagonal angle of the concert, which I dislike – I prefer the frontal view. The good news is that all these issues (probably) prevented them from releasing it separately, so now it comes “for free” (I paid what I’d pay for a regular CD) with their best full-length.

To sum up, you must have this; if not for the DVD, definitely for the full-length. After all, the album has scarce flaws, and these are not significant enough to be pointed out or reflected in the final score. This one is another essential piece in the collection of the responsible thrasher.

Laaz Rockit simply continued their melodic but energetic thrash metal path they chose on Know Your Enemy. The production and performance are slightly improved and the compositional qualities are more focussed and consistent.

Still Laaz Rockit combines the basis characteristics of thrash with the songwriting efficiency of N.W.O.B.H.M. and of course the dynamics of Maiden & Priest with some early Queensryche here and there. Laaz Rockit in fact had more European influences in their music than other contempary U.S. thrash metal bands.

Their best known track from this album, opener “Fire in the Hole” is also one of their fastest and purest thrash metal songs. And what a classic it is. The into riff and the way it evolves into the verse is simple but genius. Once you’ve heard, you’ll never forget that chorus.

Now Laaz Rockit had Michael Coons. And like many others of the best thrash metal bands in those days his voice had character. This wasn’t a guy imitation Hetfield or Baloff nor Schmier and Petrozza. His influences and style lay more in early eighties metal like Priest and Di’Anno-era Maiden but with a slightly rawer touch and of course with high pitched screams thrown in.

A great detail emphasizing Laaz Rockit’s diverse influences and possibility to play more than just straight forward thrash is that the Dead Kennedys cover “Holiday in Cambodia” doesn’t even feel out of play even though it is of course a punk classic. But with Coons on vocals, it perfectly blends in with the other songs.

People these days (I’m spreaking 2008) often forget Laaz Rockit when discussing eighties thrash metal. But when I do mention ‘Know Your Enemy’ and ‘Annihilation Principe’ almost everyone will reply “Ohw yeah, I forget about them, they were great as well”.
The memory of this great band does indeed lay dormant in all of us who hold the classic eighties thrash close to our hearts (does that sound cheesy? Yes, but it’s true)

This was the fourth studio album from underrated Bay Area thrashers Laaz Rockit. Originally a traditional metal band, these guys got thrashier with every album, until they were almost a pure thrashing machine. Annihilation Principle is their best album, and in my admittedly not humble opinion, one of the best five or six Thrash albums ever. Laaz Rockit never seemed to get any respect, then or now. People dismissed them as 'average', 'generic', or as 'just another Bay Area thrash band.' But if they were so average, why did they sound so much better than the oft-fellated bands they were supposed to be ripping off?

Like I said, Laaz Rockit started as a straight-up metal band, and the signs of it are all over this album in the aggressive but still melodic vocals of frontman Micheal Coons, the riff-oriented songwriting, and the catchy and memorable choruses. "Fire In The Hole" starts things off with a furious attack, laying down what you can expect from this ass-whipping monster. Other barn-burners include the ripping "Chain Of Fools", the epic "Shadow Company", and the flailing attack of "Chasin' Charlie". Even the slower cuts like the prowling "Mob Justice" slam it down with plenty of heaviness and attitude. "Holiday In Cambodia" is a cover of a Dead Kennedy's song, and the Rockit do it up right with thrashing riffs and furious energy. It's a bitingly sarcastic song that suits their style well. People often bitch about the closing ballad "The Omen", which is not a Thrash tune, but a powerful song about loss that gives Coons a chance to show that he can really fucking sing when he wants to. It closes out the album on a majestic and classy note.

The production is killer, with a massive guitar sound that chugs like a goddamned locomotive. Laaz Rockit were a band that knew right where to put a riff, and when to change it up, and when they could ride a main riff right through a chorus. The songs are all tight, with no wasted interludes or other crap, they just fucking slay. It still boggles me that people line up to kiss the asses of mediocre albums like "The Legacy" or "Among The Living" when this album rips their faces right off. If you had nine asses, Annihilation Principle would kick all of them. Essential.

Originally written for www.metalcrypt.com

In the 1980s, the metal industry caught onto the thrash metal movement and began to overflow the market with numerous thrash metal bands that didn’t deserve to have record deals. Within this surge of thrash metal, many bands that did have talent were swept away as the movement died out and they were never given the recognition they deserved. Laaz Rockit is one of these underrated bands.

Laaz Rockit’s thrashterpiece, Annihilation Principle, stands the test of time quite well and really is one of the best thrash albums I have ever heard. On Annihilation Principle, Laaz Rockit has pushed their sound towards pure thrash rather than mixing it with a classic metal sound as they did on their previous albums.

The guitar tone is classic thrash tone (similar to thrash stalwarts Overkill) with heavy crushing riffs and overlying leads that shred their way through your head with expert technicality and precision. The guitarists, Jellum and Kettner have great chemistry with one another and their ability to trade off solos for riffs and vice versa will have most thrasheads drooling with joy. Even the slower more melodic parts have great writing and impressive builds to the thrash sections. The lack of a great production gives the album a very 80s feel (despite a release in the 90s) which, ironically, also gives the album a timeless feel. Those of you who revel in the old metal sound are going to love the guitar tone and writing on Annihilation Principle.

One aspect that gives this album a great overall depth is the fact that one can actually hear the bass lines. Most thrash from this era has poor bass production and mixing (and overall writing is usually “follow the guitar lines” ideal). Laaz Rockit does have some great bass lines mixed in and slower parts of the album, the intro to “Mirror to Madness” for example, really depends on a good bass line. The bass breaks in the music are well placed and give the album some great variety.

The drums are the weakest part of the album and that says something about the album in general. Although most of the time the drums are well written and work with the overall feel of the album, there was nothing that blew me away. The production of the drums could have been slightly better as the bass drum is somewhat non-existent and the cymbals don’t carry a lot of sound. The writing is well done but the production hinders the true capabilities of the drums on Annihilation Principle.

Vocally, Coons has a well adjusted thrash metal voice. Not too harsh, not too soft but a perfect combination of singing and guttural vocals. A slight complaint here is that he doesn’t vary his vocals enough but the ballad-ish “The Omen” that ends the album helps when I heard his decent singing voice too. Group chants are also a must have for any old thrash album and those were a welcome noise to my ears.

Overall, Annihilation Principle is a must have for thrash fans of all kinds. Old school thrash production and writing will have fans headbanging in no time. Some slight flaws don’t come near to ruining one of the greatest unknown thrash bands of the 80s.

Songs to check out: Fire in the Hole, Shadow Company, Mirror to Madness.

If there could be one album that represented the average output of Bay Area thrash scene of the late 1980s, it could very well be this one. It's not really spectacular in any way - no progressive elements or melodicism of Heathen, none of the overt cruel riffage of Vio-lence of Exodus, or any of the strange experimentation best seen in the latter Death Angel works, or even the slightly aberrant catchiness of the previous Laaz Rockit album. It's just a straightforward, enjoyable thrash album.

The best comparison is probably Testament, but Testament were never nearly this fucking good - imagine "The Legacy" with far better riffs, and average soloing, but with the same vibe, and also a bit of Overkill influence thrown in. That's "Annihilation Principle" for you.

Highlights include pretty much the first 8 songs - the ninth is a really silly ballad that just doesn't make sense on a thrash album. But the first 8 are consistent and pretty varied in riff construction, so thus make for an enjoyable experience. The Dead Kennedys cover "Holiday In Cambodia" is made into a thrasher, and "Fire in the Hole" and "Mirror to Madness" are also highlights. Overall, definitely an album worth getting.