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Annihilator > Alice in Hell > Reviews
Annihilator - Alice in Hell

A righteous, ripping, Raggedy Ann-troduction - 88%

autothrall, January 1st, 2024
Written based on this version: 1989, CD, Roadracer Records

It's never my intention to 'prematurely' shit all over a band when I'm revisiting their discography with somewhat fresh ears, since the goal is ultimately to give some second chances, maybe be surprised by a few records that I gave short shrift or overlooked. However, by my own recollection of the teenage thrashing 80s, Canada's Annihilator must have been one of the biggest premature ejaculations in all of the metal scene, shooting its wad loudly and proudly early on, and then entering a long refractory period through which there have only been brief periods of newfound potential and hopeful tumescence. It's a shame, because Alice in Hell was a pretty huge seller after its release, and the band became a top-second tier commodity among nearly ever metal fan I knew. Even those whose sphere of interest fell only into the more mainstream 'big four' of thrash, or arena staples like Priest, Maiden, and Ozzy, had seen the video or picked up this record. Certainly Jeff Waters and crew were on the precipice of major success...

With a slick, dexterous debut like this one, it's not difficult to understand why. While not every song was written on an equally memorable plane, the highlights tend to outnumber the dullards, and even the cuts which slack behind will have a few surprise riffs buried throughout. Waters is easily the star of this show, one of the more 'complete package', fully realized axe-men in the niche outside of Mustaine or the Hannemen/King coalition. Chops for days, performed cleanly and meticulously, with the ability to fire off competent if not immortal lead guitars anywhere. There's a precision and technicality to his playing that certainly placed the band within the 'tech thrash' niche without resorting to excessive, inane wanking, and I'm especially impressed with some of his lofty, harmonized syncopated melodies. Jeff can certainly throw-down at a moderate pace for the mandatory neck-jerking that fueled so much of the late 80s thrash, but he definitely has a bit of neo-classical edge to his shredding which oozed class, and most of the rhythm progressions here stuck and stayed that way so they're instantly recognizable even 35 years after the album first dropped!

He's also got some pretty good damned bass-lines on this disc, and besides Blacky of Voivod this is probably one of the better Canadian albums to deliver that reliable low-end. Ray Hartmann's drumming is hardly up on the level of Lombardo or Hoglan but it's snappy and energetic and sounds great in the mix to support Water's particular thrashing fits. More surprising is the sinister edge of Randy Rampage's vocals, coming over from the worthy punk of D.O.A. to deliver some snarling highs, some pitch, some nastiness, one of the better cross-genre performances I've ever heard, probably a shock to those who knew him from the simpler basslines and songwriting of his mainstay. He's awesome here and for my money perhaps the best vocalist that ever fronted this group, which I never would have expected. He's like a Great White North parallel to Holy Terror's Keith Deen, and I think a lot of the riff-writing here also mirrors that West Coast band, but it's more polished and accessible and I think that explains so much of the appeal this record had.

The showcase for this record is certainly the one-two punch of the "Crystal Ann" acoustic intro and "Alison Hell" itself, which together with the cover artwork conjure up a dreamy nightmare redolent of a lot of the popular 80s franchises, like a Nightmare On Elm Street or Lady in White or Hellraiser 2: Hellbound. The title track is easily one of the best thrash tunes of its year of release, still timeless, with some epic spiraling harmonies that plummet you down into its creepy namesake scenario while showing off the estimable talents in Jeff's repertoire. Everything from the little guitar shrieks, to the higher pitched vocal howls or little operatic break in the bridge just screams of success, and the lead sequence in there reminds me very much of Andy LaRocque's style in another breakout Roadrunner act, King Diamond, whose album Conspiracy the same year is a pretty good comparison. A few other standout moments for me were the clinical Deception Ignored-like melodic break in "W.T.Y.D.", or the unforgettable "Burns Like a Buzzsaw Blade" and its cringey sex lyrics, but there are really no stinkers in this lot...

Instead, a few tunes just fail to live up to that opening, while still remaining competent entries into the genre as a whole, and it does create a bit of a lopsided excitement where the 'Side A' shines a lot brighter than the 'Side B', or at least that's how I thought of it for years when I only owned the cassette. Having said that, Alice in Hell still feels pretty relevant today, a record that had all the potential to enter that space dominated by Megadeth and Metallica. Ambitious enough without going too over the top, unique if not terribly original. It also, sadly, stands as one of those early creative peaks in the medium; I won't say there is too steep of an immediate decline, as Never, Neverland provided at least a moderately catchy, meat & potatoes thrash experience, but I don't think any of the subsequent material comes close to my appreciation for this debut. Again, I hope to be proven wrong as I re-explore the decades of Jeff Waters' dedication to this craft, but Alice in Hell is a hard act to follow.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

WORD SALAD, NO BALLAD! - 100%

thewarheadshaverustinpeace, April 22nd, 2023
Written based on this version: 2018, 12" vinyl, Music on Vinyl (Reissue, 180g vinyl)

I remember the day I discovered this band like it was yesterday. My friend and I were talking about bands we liked, and he had brought up Annihilator. I thought the band name was neat, so I decided to look into them. This was the very first album by them I ever heard, and I absolutely loved it, and not a single one of their albums since this one has even touched the charm this one has.

Of course, Alice in Hell is one of the most critically acclaimed thrash albums ever. You can’t go through a discussion about thrash metal without this one getting brought up at least once, and frankly, it’s easy to see why. Every single song on here is absolutely great (in a technical and melodic way), the album artwork is absolutely superb, and Randy Rampage is single-handedly one of the greatest thrash vocalists ever, period.

The very first track on here is Crystal Ann, a melodic instrumental track that is hauntingly enchanting in every single way. It’s absolute perfection. This cuts straight into the “title track” of the album Alison Hell, which is easily the highlight of the entire album. It’s super catchy, it’s fun, and it’s also quite creepy at the same time. It feels like it’s straight out of an 80s horror film to say the very least. Other fantastic noteworthy tracks are W.T.Y.D. (Welcome to your Death), Schizos Are Never Alone, Word Salad and the absolutely awesome closing track Human Insecticide.

Jeff Waters’ guitar playing on this album is stellar and easily his best guitar playing on any Annihilator album. It’s fast, technical, energetic, whilst also having a certain aura to it that makes it mind meltingly fun to listen to, even to an outsider who doesn’t care much for technical guitar playing. It’s just absolutely amazing and you have to hear it to believe it. He also produced this album, which explains why it sounds so crisp (also, thank god he didn’t get so full of himself to the point that he made the guitars the loudest thing on the album). Everything is mixed at a perfect even level on the whole thing.

Randy Rampage is also great on this album, unleashing easily one of the greatest vocal performances in Metal history. He has this very distinct growl that is unlike any other, and I absolutely adore it. I’ve heard a few people over time say that he isn’t that good, but I just cannot hear it. He’s the best vocalist Annihilator ever had, and that’s a fact.

Overall, Alice in Hell is one of the absolute greatest thrash metal albums ever released. It’s got great songs, fun riffs, a great vocalist, and good production (surprisingly good production for a debut album). I give Alice in Hell a 100%, with 10/10 stars.

Annihilator: Alice In Hell - 100%

MetalManiaCometh, April 20th, 2023

Being on this website for years now, many years before I created an account and started reviewing and many years after, I’ve been a little perplexed by the general opinion on Annihilator's “Alice In Hell” on here. Outside of this specific bubble, “Alice In Hell” has widely been held up as one of the greatest thrash records of the eighties, popping off towards the end before popularity began draining into other genres such as alternative and grunge. But here, the responses seem a little more reserved, a little more down the middle critically though leaning more on the positive side of things. Well, I want to express that I’m in agreement with those outside of this little bubble and I for one think this album is one of those ten outta ten type cases and notably, the only thrash debut I’d say stands on top with a clear hundred percent rating. Now here me out, plenty of people would debate that albums like “Bonded By Blood”, or “Kill ‘Em All”, or “Show No Mercy” and what not deserve to be considered the “best thrash debut” and while those are fantastic albums and highly influential, if I go by my standard and think critically, “Alice In Hell” has to be it, it has to be because of one simple reason; it takes all the accomplishments, all the evolution of the thrash genre and makes it solely its own, marrying technical proficiency with highly melodic compositions.

The “combo” opener “Crystal Ann / Alison Hell” sets the tone for everything and is honestly one of the best thrash songs ever created. Everything from the soft acoustic opening of “Crystal Ann”, with genuine sweetness dripping from its seams, as it transitions into “Alison Hell’s” eerie bass intro that fully expands into melodic technical riffs. Just, god, what all can I say about the song, it’s extremely technical on every front, guitars, bass, drums, you name it. But what makes it even better besides the catchiness of it all is the general story-like feel it generates. It sounds almost theatrical and as the song's story progresses, so does the music, the music highlights general emotional changes or story beats if you’d prefer; something Annihilator would successfully be able to do again with “Never, Neverland”. It’s entirely a shining gem of the genre and personally, I go back to that song more than I do with most classic songs from the likes of Metallica or Megadeth.

But even with how great those first two songs are, the other songs on the album are as close to that quality as they can be. The rest of the album is a downright thrasher, throwing a wall of riffs to whoever’s listening and several solos that are extremely emotive and endearing. One reviewer said that after “Alison Hell”, the first half is more straightforward while the second half is a much more complicated affair instrumentally and I don’t completely disagree with this. I think there was a deliberate choice to have say, “W.T.Y.D.” and “Wicked Mystic” up in the front half and I think the main reason was to keep the listener hooked with the catchy erratic hooks while songs like “Ligeia” and “Word Salad” rewards the listener with more complex instrumentation, not saying the first half isn’t just saying the second half seems to have more emphasis there. “Schizos (Are Never Alone) Part I & II” is the best example as this instrumental is probably the most adventurous out of this half with several ups and downs as if we were riding a rollercoaster of sound. Most of the record is a energetic barrage of speedy riffs with an occasional mid-tempo rhythm section thrown in but because the riffs themselves are so distinct, I find it hard how anyone could be bored of what’s to be found here.

The production also helps elevate the music as well with its clear, crisp sound, another contribution that Annihilator benefited from by the time of this release. Something I love about the later half of the eighties was the significant quality jump in production. I like my nasty, unrefined, down right messy type of productions like the next guy but to me, the crispness and clearness of sound will always tickle my fancy. But you know what I haven’t talked about yet. Jeff fucking Waters. The de facto leader, the Dave Mustaine of the maple gardens if you will. Jeff pulls off guitar duties, he pulls bass duties, backing vocals, production, writing, you name it and his performances are career defining. This album and the next is what made Jeff Waters a household name in the thrash genre, the technical proficiency effectively in tandem with catchiness and melodic sensibilities is rare feet to pull off successfully, even rarer for a debut album. Even Mustaine in my opinion didn’t get this down perfectly until “Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?”. Of course besides Jeff, both Randy Rampage on the vocals and Ray Hartmann behind the drum provide exceptional performances as well. Ray is just as vicious as Jeff is on the drums, while Randy provides uniqueness on here that hasn’t really been replicated since, even him coming back for “Criteria For A Black Widow” doesn’t cut it. Let’s face it, Randy isn’t a professional singer but what he does have is presence. He’s very much like Paul Baloff was for Exdous, rough and tough, vocally unhinged, and can hit those screeches like a mother fucker. Honestly Randy’s performance is my favorite out of all the albums Annihilator has put out. Really, he can only fit specifically here, on this album at this time.

Everything about “Alice In Hell” rocks, the speedy catchiness of “W.T.Y.D.”, the technically erratic “Human Insecticide”, the fairly mid-paced sprawler “Ligeia”, the complex riffed “Word Salad”, the genuinely fun “Burns Like A Buzzsaw Blade”, just the whole record. I really get the criticisms about this record, it is completely a downright classic. It’s one of those rare cases where a thrash debut, which usually are more focused on speed more than a well rounded and varied album, where even the focus on speed doesn’t lessen the impact it gives. Technically impressive, melodic and catchy as hell, fast as a fucking bullet, and as aggressive as my ex-step mother. No, “Alice In Hell” doesn’t sound like an album that was someone’s debut, it sounds like something that came out as a sophomore release or even a junior. “Alice In Hell” should remain respected as it kicks too much ass than it needed to be. Eighty-Nine was a fantastic year with thrash and “Alice In Hell” can sit nicely along the likes of “The Years Of Decay” or “Beneath The Remains”.

Technical riff salad - 85%

Tony Blackthrasher, April 19th, 2020

Annihilator was founded in 1984 by Jeff Waters. It was his own band since the very beginning and it is almost his solo project. He has been writing all the songs and recording all the guitars and bass on every album. And man, he is amazingly good at it.

Alice in Hell was released in 1989, when all of the classic American and German thrash bands had already released a few great albums now considered as thrash classics. You know, in all of the years before 1989 (from 1983) loads of thrash masterpieces came out. But it didn't interrupt Annihilator for their album to also become a classic, that is outstanding mostly because of bringing more technicality and freshness to the thrash and speed metal scene. And this is also what makes it stand out from other great thrash efforts released in 1989, like Agent Orange, Fabulous Disaster or Extreme Aggression.

The record starts with an instrumental acoustic song Crystal Ann. From the very first seconds we hear how talented songwriter and guitarist Waters is. These acoustic guitars touch the soft points of listener’s heart and have a mystic atmosphere which will be maintained in the next song - Alison Hell. This almost title track is really unique. Notes in the beginning increase listener’s tension. Then comes a very catchy riff, then slower, more atmospheric parts and a fast part with an amazing solo. While listening to this song, you can really hear what the main character Alison is going through. Randy Rampage’s maniac vocals add to this atmosphere. Although Annihilator’s discography is really rich, it’s still one of their best songs and best parts of the setlist. This song (and some others on the album) was co-written by Waters and the former vocalist John Bates.

The rest of the first half of the album are real thrash/speed rippers - W.T.Y.D., Wicked Mystic, Burns like a Buzzsaw Blade. Those are really fast songs with melodic elements and catchy choruses. Signature songs of Annihilator I would say. They give the listener much energy and make them want to run and mosh.

The second half is a festival of technicality. The songs sound like Jeff wanted to impress listener with his creative songwriting and guitar playing skills. And he indeed impressed me. I’m impressed during every spin of this album (or almost any Annihilator’s one). Also Ray Hartmann’s drumming skills are on a really high level. Schizos (Are Never Alone) Parts I & II are perhaps some of the best thrash/speed metal instrumental songs. The album ends with a song Human Insecticide which has a pretty evil lyrics that fit the sharp guitar riffing and that works as the ending song very well.

One of the biggest advantages of Alice in Hell are the riffs. They are very technical, fast and heavy but also catchy and melodic. That’s one of the reasons why Annihilator is such an outstanding band. They (He) make(s) such a fast and heavy music that is also very melodic, but it doesn’t sound kitschy at all. Also, Annihilator’s music combine 2 genres: thrash and speed metal. In their songs you can find both.

The only disadvantage I can find is that the album is a bit inconsistent. The first two songs are mystic and atmospheric, the rest of the first half of the album consist of straightforward thrashy songs and the second half is more complicated and focused on the instrument playing skills.

Still I consider Alice in Hell as a great record and a classic example of technical thrash/speed metal. It has an amazing atmosphere and shows that Canadian scene is very important in the worldwide metal.

Originally written for Tony Blackthrasher on Instagram and Facebook

Don't look around the corner, it might be lurking there - 86%

CannibalCorpse, March 24th, 2020

Well, how to start a review about a not entirely undisputed classic? Alice in Hell, unlike many other legendary 80s thrash metal releases, is still fighting for a better reputation among genre enthusiasts. But why is that so? Even 30 years after its release, when the patina of nostalgia should have covered the album as a whole, Alice in Hell gets flak for being too mechanical, atmospherically limited, featuring a bad singer or for simply not having enough consistently thrashy riffs. What's up with all that?

First off, I do call myself a big Annihilator fan and I've been following their output for about a decade and a half. I've become perfectly used to the quality and lineup fluctuations in the band's extensive history and I can easily admit that this is not the band to win an award for having a flawless discography - and many people only listen to Annihilator's earliest material, completely disregarding everything they've put out after Never, Neverland, some even claiming that this very record here is the only worthy creation in their entire catalog. I have to wholeheartedly disagree, for this is not at all my favourite Jeff Waters record. In fact, it took me some years to appreciate this a lot more than I did initially.

So yeah, Randy Rampage was one hell of a weird vocalist. Good? Not at all! Bad? Kinda, but at least he had a flamboyant personality and a distinctive voice. If you can handle a non-singer like Sean Killian of Vio-lence fame, you should be able to handle the gruff and anti-melodic approach presented here. Simply put: if thrash is up your alley but you're bashing this album for Randy's performance alone, you are missing out on a lot of excellent riffage.

Those who worship at the altar of raw, unhinged 80s thrash metal often criticize Alice in Hell for jumping the clinical, technical-for-the-sake-of-it and overtly progressive bandwagon that became so popular before the untimely demise of the scene in the dreaded 90s. Believe me, I've tried to listen to this album with a more scientific approach in mind, looking for elements that'd validate these arguments and found about none in the process. Sure, Jeff Waters had the technical chops right from the start, the masterful precision of his playing is already present in the acoustic opener "Crystal Ann" and does not need any further discussion on that matter, but at the same time, simple, yet super-effective thrash riffs like the introduction to "W.T.Y.D" or the main riff-set of "Wicked Mystic" plus the overall comparatively simplistic songwriting style displayed throughout the record offer a rather stark contrast to these accusations.

In terms of atmospheric qualities, the rather dead-serious lyrics about schizophrenia and psychological violence fare quite a bit better than the admittedly dodgy lecture appearing on later releases and even though Rampage's performance has a silly touch sometimes, the dark splendor provided by Jeff's strong and varied riff-set, including the by-then fresh and hauntingly beautiful acoustic and clean passages embedded within it, stray very far from radio-friendly territory. I have no understanding for those who can't feel a thing when listening to this - come on, what about the guitar soloing, huh? If these splendid, highly-melodic shreds don't rip or tear at you at least a little bit, you must be a sack of dead meat!

The inclusion and placement of said clean passages is a focal point for many of this album's detractors and at least I can hear why this is a problem for some; while Alice in Hell is a highly professionally produced and well-written album for a debut, Jeff's songwriting was not as proficient yet (it began to shine on Never, Neverland a year later, where all of these elements clicked right away). The title track suffers from some questionable writing choices and I do think that the mostly instrumental duo of "Schizos are Never Alone I & II" - while having a solid collection of riffs – is struggling to keep a coherent structure; it feels a bit clunky in doing so.

Arguments about the pureness of the thrashing here have been made since day #1 of my fandom, but I really don't see the point. There is none of the controversial groove metal material to be found here (which already started creeping in a year later) and if you find yourself having a problem with the speed metal components contained within the riff-construction...perhaps you are leaning a little more towards the German and/or extreme side of the thrash metal spectrum evolving in the late 80s and should continue your search elsewhere.

I do wish that the drumming was a little more involved...most of the time it's merely a backing track for the dominant riffing. It's definitely true that this has always been something that Annihilator have struggled with, despite having some rather big names on their long list of former drummers. Even the bass is given more space to shine throughout the record and it's not overtly prominent in the mix.

Well, in the end, Alice in Hell is a highly interesting thrash metal record; not only for those who have yet to discover the classics, but also for curious people who want to know more about the already quite refined core of Annihilator's primal sound before groove metal elements and other outside influences came to play. Hell, a strong recommendation even for the more elaborate thrasher, who's willing to experience a darker, more abrasive but less intricately written version of Megadeth's Rust in Peace. Yeah, I just made that comparison.

But again – while it is indeed a lot of fun, this album is not as well arranged and evolved as its successor Never, Neverland which - to me - encapsulates everything that Annihilator is about and also stands as Jeff Waters' greatest achievement, although it's a step down in terms of sheer aggression and pure thrash/speed warfare. Jeff himself has repeatedly stated that the sophomore release is his finest hour, so check that one out first if you are new to this band and want to hear what you have been missing out on!

Highlights: W.T.Y.D, Word Salad, Wicked Mystic

originally written for http://antichristmagazine.com

A technical exercise - 50%

Napalm_Satan, August 18th, 2019

Alice in Hell is the album upon which Annihilator's reputation rests for many; hailed as a speed/thrash classic in the genre's waning years, it is seen as their creative zenith before a gradual descent toward the bottom of the barrel. Despite this however, it's an album that consistently failed to elicit any sort of reaction from me. It isn't that there isn't quality here, because there most assuredly is, but more that there's an intangible factor to it that is fundamentally lacking, something that prevents me from connecting to the music at all. To give a brief run-down of what that music sounds like, this is a technical speed/thrash metal album. It isn't technical in the sense of it being loaded with shredding, unusual time signatures, off kilter drum patterns, odd song structures or the like, but more that the riffs on this album are pretty much speed/thrash riffs that jam as many notes as possible into a given space. This may sound superficial or not that impressive but quite honestly, the riffs on this album are remarkably detailed, varied, and well-constructed, and there are quite a few in a given song. Pound-for-pound this album is up there with the likes of Rust in Peace or Killing Technology for masterful, flawless guitarwork; it is truly a milestone for thrash riffing.

Where this album falls down is the feel of the music - for all the technical mastery going on here riff-wise, the music leaves the listener cold. It is a remarkably sterile album, more so than most others in the tech or prog metal realms, and for all the aggression and energy here the music inspires nothing in the listener beyond a detached appreciation for the riffing. The problem is that these songs really do not feel like songs, or at least they don't feel like they were written as songs. What this sounds like instead is a glorified guitarist's riff tape, one that somehow got distributed by a label and features accompaniment from a backing band. Despite the guitarwork being fashioned into structured songs with verse-chorus structures, every track here feels like an arbitrary collection of riffs. It's not that the album is guitar-focused, as most metal is driven by the guitars, but more that the guitars here aren't just one part of a collective unit. The guitars *are* the entire band here and not even in a fashion similar to shred, as on a good shred album there's an emotional experience that is conveyed by the guitar theatrics on offer, whereas there is no journey to be had here.

These songs exist as vehicles to deliver riffs, and while in a sense that's what a lot of good thrash metal does here it's done in the most mechanical, unsatisfying way possible. Something like Rust in Peace has riffs woven into actual songs and have drum parts, leads and vocals to suit them and add to their impact. Meanwhile the drumming, solos and vocals here are serviceable but they could be removed and the impact of the music would be the same. The vocals are gritty shouts and shrieks with a level of expression and flamboyance typical of '80s metal; Randy here is certainly an entertaining frontman but even with the guitarwork to back him up he feels entirely extraneous to the album. The same goes for the drumming, which for all its double bass and fills and general sense of energy adds nothing to the album. Neither of them contributes anything to the music, because honestly it feels like there is no music here. There are structured songs, into which riffs are placed, but they leave the listener so cold they flat out do not come across like them - it feels like you could swap the places of the riffs in two given tracks and the effect either track had would be the same. This isn't a problem with production and/or performances either; everything certainly sounds clear and punchy and everything is delivered competently enough - the vocals even being rather exuberant - and it isn't as if the music is lazy. It certainly takes a lot of creativity, passion and talent to make riffs like these, the problem is they aren't put together in an interesting way.

I realise I'm in the minority on this album, and that the criticisms here might be arbitrary and point to something vague, but there is no other way to convey what is wrong here - it has both the style and substance of any number of classics from the time but it still manages to lack something. Music should elicit some sort of emotional response in the listener, and this album never does that. For all its shrieking vocals, double bass, wild soloing and endless stream of riffs, this fails to feel like anything more than riffs arbitrarily plugged into 8 identically structured arbitrary compositions. It manages to be so sterile it doesn't even feel like music; it merely feels like a technical exercise from a talented guitarist. I can absolutely recommend this to any metal guitarist who wishes to hone their technique or learn how to make some truly amazing riffs, but beyond that there is no enjoyment to be had out of this. Alice in Hell is one of the greatest collection of riffs in all of metal but as music, this is truly an unmitigated failure.

Speed and energy - 80%

Felix 1666, March 6th, 2018
Written based on this version: 1989, 12" vinyl, Roadrunner Records

Flotsam and Jetsam started with two very strong releases. Therefore they were well respected and seemed to be on right way. Yet with their third full-length, they committed suicide without stopping the further release of meaningless records. Just like lemmings, they were blind to their fate. Excuse me, what do you say? This review is not about Flotsam? It is about... Annihilator? Eh, please wait a moment... (sheepish smile), indeed, you are absolutely right. I am sorry for that.

However, it doesn't matter. The introduction is still valid. Just replace the name Flotsam and Jetsam by Annihilator and everything is fine. All broke down when Annihilator published "Set the World on Fire", a lukewarm and pretty commercial output. But this work is not the topic here. "Alice in Hell" was not a typical thrash debut, because it was not based on the somehow fascinating mix of vehemence, velocity, naivety and unconcern. Annihilator put the emphasis on a partially more technical way of thrash. The quasi-title track shows this approach among other things in view of a short intermezzo that seems to send greetings to Mercyful Fate. I would not say that it is a progressive song configuration for a thrash album, but an unusual one. Compare it with the following "W.T.Y.D." and "Wicked Mystic". They are predominantly straight, direct, compact and more energetic. Especially the first one is driven by an ingenious riff and it scores with another catchy chorus. Its weird guitar solo does not destroy the focused overall impression. This track marks a highlight, while the more famous "Alison Hell" leaves me nearly completely cold. Its more tricky song pattern fails to convey emotions.

The B side does not possess a comparable track. Despite some mid-tempo parts, for example in "Ligeia", the entire material puts the main focus on speed and energy. The riffs are mostly brilliant, the voice of Randy Rampage does not lack charisma and each and every song seems to be written by an experienced bunch of musicians, not by debutants. Waters has penned smooth yet powerful tracks with a very lively aura, which stand on their own feet. Of course they fall under the category of thrash / speed metal, but they do not need a shoulder (of Metallica, Testament or anybody else) to lean on. Every riff sounds fresh and autonomous. The fantastic closer brings the album to a triumphant end, but tracks like "Word Salad" do not pale beside this final attack. Okay, sometimes Waters enjoys his own solos a little bit too much, but generally speaking, the songs themselves - and not the narcissistic excursions of the band leader - play the main role.

The nine compositions benefit from a very good sound. Maybe it is a tad polished, but that's not at the expense of its penetrating power. The album sounds clean, but not sterile, and everything is well balanced. In terms of its technical implementation, "Alice in Hell" is on a par with genre classics such as "Bonded by Blood" or "Forbidden Evil". Annihilator gave their homeland Canada the technical component and this was a good addition to the rumbling sound of Exciter, the rather simple speed of Razor, the crude humour of Piledriver and the anarchic noise of early Voivod. This debut catapulted Waters and his sidekicks on the radar of almost every thrasher and the scene was curious about the next steps of this new force. Only the dudes of Flotsam and Jetsam had something better to do. Back in 1989, they had already begun to sell their souls to the industry.

This isn't Wonderland - 75%

kluseba, November 8th, 2016
Written based on this version: 1989, CD, Roadrunner Records

Most people will often tell you that a band’s first songs and records are often their best. In Annihilator’s case this is only partially true. On the debut release of the Canadian thrash metal legends, we get to hear the band’s trademark song in form of the phenomenal quasi title track ‘’Alison Hell’’. Until today, this is definitely not only one of the band’s very best songs but also a standout track for the technical and progressive thrash metal genre. This song has so many progressive shifts and changes from slow and menacing sounds over fast paced thrash metal passages to a groovier mid-tempo pace and it all sounds perfectly coherent despite its eclectic contingency. The clever lyrics about a young girl and its growing mental disorder send shivers down the spine and add to the gloomy atmosphere. This song sounds like a mixture of Iron Maiden, King Diamond and Megadeth. Take Iron Maiden’s melodic guitar solos, King Diamond’s piercing screams and Megadeth’s technical skills and this is the masterpiece that you get.

The record’s problem is that none of the other tracks reaches this high-quality level again. The band’s musicianship remains very technical and has its very own style at times but many tracks sound disjointed. A perfect example is the quasi instrumental ‘’Schizos (Are Never Alone) Parts I & II’’ which features a few fiery thrash metal riffs but which goes nowhere in over four and a half minutes. It’s obvious that two different songs were patched together and they don’t develop any chemistry here and rather sound like demo outtakes. The talent is definitely there but the song writing is lacking and the creative spark of the title track is often missing as well. ‘’Ligeia’’ is a song that features an impressive funky bass guitar part but the rest is North American thrash metal by numbers that sounds somewhat exchangeable. Another minor issue are the vocals that sound a little bit hoarse and limited sometimes. The vivid screams from the title track aren’t used in any other tune and we get to hear angry standard vocals that are missing something memorable and unique. It only takes seconds to recognize the vocals of singers such as Joey Belladonna, Bobby Ellsworth, James Hetfield, Dave Mustaine and the likes but Randy Rampage doesn’t manage to stand out at all.

While large parts of the second half of the record are lacking in the song writing department, there are a few concise thrash metal grenades in the first half that deliver the goods. ‘’Welcome to Your Death’’ for example is a fierce affair that will tear your head off and this track is still part of the band’s set list almost three decades later for a reason. The band develops a grim urgency and sounds young, wild and free here. Thrash metal records often have pitiless album closers and this is also the case here with the hysterical ‘’Human Insecticide’’ which was inspired by the brilliant movie Papillon. This song blows the audience away with its raw despair and mixes technical ecstasy and emotional intensity on a balanced level.

In the end, Alice in Hell has a legendary status due to its unforgettable title track that combines a technical and almost progressive song writing approach with a solid dose of youthful energy and a profoundly gloomy atmosphere like it has never been crafted before. The band clearly innovates the thrash metal genre with this song alone on its very first record. The rest of the album is thrash metal by numbers to be honest. Genre fans will like it anyway but anyone else might realize that the album is running out of ideas towards the end. To keep it short, the title track on here is essential but the rest isn’t.

An Anomalous Yet Crushing Debut - 100%

InfinityX, January 31st, 2014

Annihilator are a beacon of hate for some, and the only thing that most every metal head, Annihifan or not, can agree on about them is that their debut Alice in Hell, is fucking awesome. Though I believe it is that awesomeness that allows a fair amount of haters for this band. Alice in Hell is gritty, heavy, dark, violent, technical, and blazing fast for much of it. That draws in listeners that given their later sound would never even try the band out in the first place, and then when they listen to some of said later material it's like culture shock, as Jeff Waters would fuse multitudes of styles together into what would become the 'schizo' sound of the band. For though at least some of those elements mentioned above would be on all future Annihilator records, they wouldn't really come together like they did here, the most traditional thrash album by the band.

Anyway, what you should take from the above paragraph is whether or not you like/are interested in/despise or have never heard they're later ballad playing, pop and groove infused metal, this album here should absolutely be in your collection. Because after the beautiful classical guitar intro of Crystal Ann, the type of clean guitar work that would become an integral part of some later album's (Set the World on Fire, King of the Kill etc...) sound, here it’s one intro and BOOM straight up tech-thrash until the album is finished.

Obviously influenced heavily from the bay area thrashers, this album is easily (though too generally) described as early Megadeth with wackier riffing and more progressive songwriting. The production is very polished for a thrash debut, as each instrument breaths well on its own and still sound great when brought together. The crunch on the guitars has a percussive sound to it that I love in my thrash albums. Even on the fastest sections (see Schizos, Human Insecticide) no note is wasted, and everything sounds crisp and clear. Furthermore, the acoustic guitars on Crystal Ann sound perfect, something many thrash albums struggle to sound right.

I've listened to a lot of thrash in my day, and Jeff Waters has a riffing style all his own. One of the reasons EVERY thrashaholic should pick this up is though this has a classic bay area sound to it, Waters style and unique blend of influence come together to make this album STILL stand out in a genre full of sound alikes. He is very talented from a technical stand point, and he covers all guitars: rhythm, lead, and bass on this album. The results are awesome. Riffs? Fucking right. Leads? DUH! Sick bass licks? Even that! Overall a great guitar album. Just check out the instrumental intro of the classic, Alison Hell, or the nearly-instrumental song Schizos (Are Never Alone). A final note, on some of the riffs I hear Waters eclectic influences that would later become more prominent. I swear I hear some happy funky bouncing in the riffing of Burns Like a Buzzsaw Blade, and Ligeia. That type of crazy and often random touch to the music is one of the things I love most about the band, as it gives the music a different touch, as well as make the music often sound very happy, though this is more prominent on later albums.

Randy Rampage (-_- I know...) delivers an aggressive snarling vocal performance, not unlike a particularly pissed off Dave Mustaine would sound, making the Megadeth comparison all the easier. He brings dignity to even the more awkward lyrics here, like Word Salad, and Buzzsaw. Lyrically this album is if nothing else unique, with some more original topics thrown in with the more typical metal ones (W.T.Y.D., Wicked Mystic). Wonky lyricism has become a trademark of the band and either you'll embrace it or you won't, but this album doesn't really offend in that regard.

When it comes down to it, Alice in Hell stands out not just amidst not only Annihilator's discography, but in thrash metal as a whole. Every song delivers powerful, blazing guitar work on all fronts from bass to lead work. Throw in a great production job, a charismatic and fittingly angry vocal delivery, and what’s left is one of the absolute best thrash debuts. Future albums would take many twists and turns, and how you enjoy those albums I feel is heavily dependent on how open minded you are. In the end, this album is perfect, and I wouldn't change a note of the mania within, but nor would I base the bands whole career off this one opus. I view this as an anomaly. The band was young, and not unlike many bands, the sound would develop and change. But that's for different reviews. As for you, don't you have some shopping to do?

To tame a genre - 82%

Napero, September 18th, 2012

Yay! It has thrash in it, it's from the 80s, with the perfect refined 80s sound, and it's technically pretty damn good! And it even has progressive overtones! Overlooking the fact that the band is Canadian, what on Earth could possibly go wrong?

Well, a few things. A semi-accidental castration of a genre takes place, someone waxing and polishing something that should have been sandblasted, and turning thrash from a beer-guzzling bastard's fun into a real musician's business, for starters...

Alice in Hell sounds very good. Very, very good indeed, especially when compared to many of its thrashy contemporaries. The production is clean as a priest's privates, every single instrument is audible, and the sound almost epitomizes the late 80s producers' target, combining the guitar sounds Metallica brought to the table and the clarity of the heavy/power metal of the era better than anything before. Yeah, this was state of the art at the time, crispy but meaty like a good crimson-cored slab of beef with a whiskey-burnt layer of peppercorns on the surface. Much like the sequels to Back to the Future from the same times, this essentially set some new industry standards of its time. Add the ex post facto amusement that can be gleaned from the title track's awkward-ish video and the fact that Randy Rampage looks like a post-detonation Q-tip in it, and you have something positively so 80s in your hands.

And there are riffs. Oh, the glorious, blessed riffs! The album is a pile of riffs, occasionally interrupted by some mandatory vocals or undistorted melodic passages, which only manage to put the riffs on hold for less than a minute at a time. And those very riffs, just like the guitar solos, are played with very high technical skill and virtual perfection. There should be nothing to complain about, but somehow, the album lacks something the earlier thrash albums had, and despite the perfection, Alice in Hell strangely falls short of what it should have been.

That something missing, the mysterious radar-eluding piece, is, to put it in an esoteric way, the soul. While the technical delivery is impeccable, and the production is perfect for its time, the music lacks a soul, a purpose, and the essential burning, wrecking passion thrash needs to thrive and survive. And no 1989 album was more fitting to announce the looming death of the original thrash scene than this one. Because, DAMN!

The sheer clarity of the sound, the abundance of the nice riffs, and the overwhelming number of sections and passages essentially hides and camouflages an album that certainly has ideas and execution, but lacks aggression, and resembles an Excel sheet of song parts more than an inspired work of art. The album is simply tame underneath the surface, and lacks passion.

Sure, there has been some form of passion in play here, but the music is simply too ordred and clean to have come from the garage. Thrash is supposed to be aggressive, a bit dirty on the surface, and relentless; Alice in Hell has the feel of a poppy product, and despite the mild form of ingenuity in the melodies, songwriting and riffs, it has been neutered. At no point on the album, even in the fastest parts, does a feeling of a merciless onslaught appear. There are fast sections, but no real machinegunning; there are riffs but nothing that ever makes the listener breathless; the riffing is innovative, but somehow strangely plastic and almost like a machined and chromed piece from a delicate machine, rather than a rusty offroad 4x4 running over a herd of confused soccer moms.

What's worse, rather than the beloved opposites and contrasts, the parts in the songs have a feel of arranged marriages. The transitions between different items within the individual songs sometimes feel extremely illogical and forced, and there's an atmosphere of songwriting by pulling random prewritten sections out of a tophat, arranging them neatly on a wall on Post-It stickers, and calling it a song. Sure, the individual parts are good, sometimes even brilliant, but they seem incapable of taking the final, defining step and turning into a flowing, logical, progressing song. It would be an extreme stretch, even by the 1989 standards, to call this "progressive" in any sense, since the songs do not actually progress; rather, they take leaps from one place to the other, kind of like a plot in a movie script jumping from one story line to another by the means of some goofy plot device. To see how this is done properly, see either Rust in Peace or the last two albums of Stone.

Perhaps Alice in Hell was a symptom: thrash was about to puff out the holy smoke and die a temporary death, and not least due to losing its spirit to awful crap like grunge and the generally incredibly whiny 90s youth culture. 90s was the worst episode ever during the 20th century, simply because the young people in the western world, up to the lower middle class, finally had their financial things in order well enough to concentrate fully on whining. That's something remarkable, considering that the worst problems were AIDS, a bit of pollution, and the ozone layer. There was no sign of a global economic meltdown, the economical collapse of the old world, global warming about to kill us all, and just the first signs of today's overdone and shameless corporate greed. So, there was enough time and resources to cry rivers over spilt milk, invent emo, worship a loser who shot his own brains out after a bad trip and one too many whiny three-chord songs, and make movies shot with a gloomy grey colours about a bunch of young adults living in a commune of total losers who can't make up their minds about whether or not they like anyone enough to get laid and fail to make their pseudo-fartsy video collages about a friend's drug-dead kittens. Sure, that does not describe Alice in Hell, that describes the mentality of a future about to take thrash and squeeze out its life by being a world of whiny cunts. Alice in Hell is a well-made album, despite its soulless hollow core.

What the essential result of this all is, the album is a product. Someone took thrash, dissected it, saw what is it consists of, and made an imitation of it, but forgot to put in the ethanol-drenched rebellious soul full of aggression and naughty words. The result is skilled, technical, occasionally complex, and shiny, but at the same time, robotic, colour-by-the-numbers, machine-made corned beef frankenstein copy from the conveyor belt. This probably is what the record company executives wanted, since everything must be watered down quite a bit before the masses with the purchasing power can enjoy it... no matter if the honestly gritter, more thrash-spirited and meaner Master of Puppets had sold 6 million copies three years earlier.

This album felt artificial in 1989, and it still has the same off-putting feel to it. The chainsaw has been replaced with safety scissors, the autocannons with mean Nerf guns, and the spirit has been downgraded from a Tasmanian devil to a ferocious baby alpaca. It would have been better for everybody if Jeff Waters had found actual prog metal instead of thrash at this stage, and then managed to hold on to a steady line-up long enough to figure out how to make prog songs. Maybe Mr Cobain would have gotten famous several minutes earlier in this alternative universe, but that would perhaps have also meant that Waters' considerable guitar skills could perhaps have turned into something positive, instead of the lousy groove á la King of the Kill and the rest of the main body of Annihilator's discgraphy. Now we are left with a well-produced and technically skilled but artistically zombified snapshot of the year that also witnessed the liver failure of thrash, and that surely is just an additional anti-climax in the bunch of anti-climaxes that ended the otherwise good metal decade. This album was the forerunner of a tsunami that tamed thrash, turned it into a real musician's business, and ordered it to attend an anger management course.

Not to be avoided. Heavens, no! Alice in Hell is way too good for that. But definitely not to be worshipped or emulated, either, unless you're a bedroom guitarist.

Jeff Waters makes this. - 70%

Andromeda_Unchained, November 30th, 2011

Annihilator have one of the more peculiar discographies I've come across, pretty much the dictionary definition of a hit or miss band. Annihilator's debut Alice In Hell has always been the one of their more popular releases, and most fans of the band swear by the copies of Alice In Hell and not much else (depending on how die hard a fan they may be).

I never really saw the attraction with Alice In Hell, with the exception of Jeff Waters' excellent thrash meets power meets speed metal guitar work Annihilators debut never did as much for me as I thought it would.

A lot of this is due in part to Randy Rampage, now I will say that his vocals aren't necessarily bad, but some of the lyrics and vocal lines he is given verge on redundant, even in the otherwise kick-ass "Alison Hell" he nearly ruins the awesomeness. This would all be remedied with Coburn Pharr on their next album.

Still, Jeff Waters' guitar work is pretty much worth the price of admission, his style was pretty unique, a blend of classic heavy metal sensibility, Dave Mustaine riff-development, and a spot of crazy shred and guitar pyrotechnics. Jeff honestly owns Alice In Hell, and its a shame this guy could never keep up the promise he made here.

Overall this is worth picking up for the title track and Jeff's guitar work, although there is certainly some filler and I've normally had enough by "Word Salad" (the increasingly rare occasions I listen to this album). If you want to hear Annihilator at their best pick up Never, Neverland instead, pick this one up later.

And We'll Never Let It End - 90%

grain_silo, September 21st, 2011

This is THE Annihilator album. Pretty much everything about his album is awesome. This is when they were pretty much pure thrash before Jeff Waters decided to change line-ups every other song. This is the album when I feel like they were at their best. Everyone on this album does an amazing job.

The music is extremely technical. The riffs on here are flat out amazing. “Alison Hell" has some of the craziest riffs and bass lines I’ve ever heard in my life. “Crystal Anne” is just an acoustic intro thing, now usually I hate these intros because usually, they serve no purpose, this one however, does serve a purpose. It displays how good this album will be. It sounds pretty beautiful, and for being an intro, it’s actually really good. The songs on here are pretty fast. They are thrash with technical riffs and some power metalish vocals. “Human Insecticide” is the fastest song on here, pure thrash from start to finish. Pretty much every other song on here is really fast, not like Slayer speed but pretty speedy. “Burns Like A Buzzsaw Blade” is definitely one of the best songs on here. The solo in the beginning is awesome and then some incredibly fast riffs. Randy freakin Rampage….they really should’ve kept this guy. He sounds like he could be some kind of monster but at the same time his highs are awesome, I can’t really explain it. Just listen to the “Sitting in a corner” part in “Alice in Hell” and then listen to “Burns Like a Buzzsaw Blade”. The vocals are so varied and give the album a more unique feel to it.

Production is very good. Guitars are clear and heavy. The bass sounds beyond amazing and audible the whole time. The drums sound decent, they are kind of flat. Other than the drums, the production is perfect.

I have one problem with this album, not all the songs live up to others. “Ligeia” is just….meh. “Word Salad” is good but not nearly on the same level as “Burns” and “Human Insecticide”.

This album is awesome. The technicality, the riffs, the speed, the solos, and Randy Rampage make this album what it is, one of the best technical thrash albums ever.

A really phenomenal guitar exercise - 68%

Noktorn, September 5th, 2008

This is a rather revered release for reasons I entirely fail to understand, considering that it really seems like a long technical exercise more than an actual album. It's instrumentally very impressive and has some excruciatingly detailed compositions, but this is really more of a pseudo-shred album than anything and those who praise this as a technical speed metal classic are either listening to a different album or have standards about music entirely removed from mine. I understand that it's a technical exercise that takes the form of a song, but in the end it's still a tech demo and not something I would ever listen to for musical reasons.

This actually feels more sterile to me than most prog albums do and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because of just how super guitar and bass oriented the whole thing is, with the drums and vocals feeling remarkably extraneous to the whole album. If you removed the drums and vocals you would really still get the full effect of the album because they're the whole purpose of the compositions. Some of the riffs are pretty remarkable and ahead of their time, with some almost proto-death metal riffs popping up in form of ultra-fast sequences of low notes ala 'Covenant'-era Morbid Angel. Most of it though revolves around fairly typical speed/thrash riffing but with triple the number of notes in the same musical space. Maybe that's why this feels like such a technical exercise: it's otherwise totally standard music but with totally over-the-top guitar and bass theatrics.

The whole idea of technical thrash is sort of an alien idea to me as it seems to go against the genre's ethos to some degree, particularly when it's done in such a purely instrument-oriented way as seen here. I'd almost call this speed/thrash minus the punk; it has the speed and aggression but no real sense of groove or 'musicality'. The riffs are melodic but the melody isn't a very important aspect to them; it's just to make the constant technicality more palatable. As I've said, it's decently composed music that happens to be not very musical at all; none of the material is extremely memorable or exciting as far as songwriting goes; it's just extremely demonstrative and impressive from a purely technical standpoint.

I guess there's a possibility that this is one of those albums I simply don't 'get', but either way it doesn't excite me greatly. I totally recommend it for guitar or bass students, as there's plenty of interesting material on here as far as technique and composition goes, but I can't imagine wanting to listen to it as an album. It just sort of defeats the purpose of being music to me.

Annihilator's brief glimpse of glory - 93%

BastardHead, March 23rd, 2008

Because everything went downhill extremely fast after this. Those new to metal may have heard good things about Annihilator, but grabbed albums that weren't this one, thus disappointing themselves greatly. To me, the only album after this that has even the slightest bit of merit would be Waking the Fury, but even that still doesn't even come close to holding a candle to this 1989 masterpiece of thrashing insanity.

This is usually labeled technical thrash, and that's not a bad description. It's not uber technical in the sense of Watchtower or Coroner, but it has a heavy emphasis on melody as opposed to brutality, unlike most thrash bands. There is also a fair share of acoustic melodies throughout the record as well (Crystal Ann, Alison Hell, Word Salad), so I guess you could make a case for attaching "melodic" onto their genre as well. There are thrash beats aplenty (just for clarification, whenever I use the term "thrash beat", I am referring to the drum pattern with the snare being hit on the off beat, thus making the music seem a lot faster), with a healthy dose of double bass patterns sprinkled in for good measure. Jeff Waters, before he became a pretentious tit widget, shreds out some excellent leads and solos, as well as a fresh set of creative and fun riffs. Most riff-centric albums do this quite well, but I find that Alice in Hell does an exceptional job with them. The vocals are kind of reminiscent of Blitz Ellsworth from Overkill, which is obviously a good thing.

The individual songs are kind of interchangeable, but I mean this in a good way. Some records can be described as "samey", while others can be described as "consistent". The former is when all of the songs are similar, so it's cool to have it playing on shuffle, but you get bored after the first few songs. The latter is when all of the songs are similar, so it's cool to have it playing on shuffle, but every song continues to sound awesome throughout. Alice in Hell is clear practitioner of the latter category.

There are a few problems unfortunately. Wicked Mystic is cool, but it's one of the only tracks I can't recall from memory... it's the only one that's not memorable. Some of the songs do this annoying random stop false ending thing that confuse and irritate me. Ligeia does this before the solo, and Schizos (Are Never Alone) does this in the middle of the song as well, and it's annoying. Apparently the latter song is a two part song, but it transitions very poorly and horribly breaks the flow.

Overlook those shortcomings, and this is a top notch thrash record from right around the time bearing the height of acceptable mediocrity in the genre. The weaker tracks (Burns Like a Buzzsaw Blade, Wicked Mystic) are few and overshadowed by the monstrous thrash classics (Alison Hell, Human Insecticide). Overall, a highly recommended album by a band that nailed it once and then never returned to form. A fluke, if you will, but a very glorious fluke.

Slightly flawed pacing, but a must have. - 91%

hells_unicorn, March 9th, 2007

There are countless stories of thrash/speed metal bands in North America who had the right formula and then threw it all away in order to jump on the groove bandwagon, one of the more disappointing ones being that of Annihilator, whom played a rather unique hybrid of thrash/power metal with some progressive tendencies. “Alice in Hell” represents the road not taken by the majority of American bands (if only things had been different) in the early 90s, marrying some inspired acoustic and clean playing with a gritty style that is reminiscent of the New York thrash scene. Vocalist Randy Rampage actually sounds quite similar to Blitz Ellsworth on most of the songs, especially his raw growls on the faster tracks.

The only real flaw in this album is the pacing, as the fastest and most furious tracks have all been back loaded. “Crystal Ann” and the title track lead off and give the impression that this is something other than a speed metal outfit. While they listen quite well on their own, placed together at the beginning it works against the band’s core sound. I’ve often wondered what it would be like if “Alice In Hell” was bumped up a track and “Human Insecticide” had been put on track 2.

Things really pick up on “Welcome to your Death” and “Wicked Mystic”, both of which remind heavily of early Megadeth. “Burns Like A Buzzsaw Blade” starts off with a vintage speed riff that sounds like late 70s era Riot, then launches into a series of rapid paced sections that scream early Metallica. “Word Salad” starts off slow and menacing sounding, somewhat reminiscent of the intro of Fates Warning’s “No Exit” but without vocals and more structure, then the thrash returns again with a vengeance and we get some killer lead displays that make Kirk Hammet look like a hack.

The last 3 tracks are too incredible to really do justice to, except to say that if Kill Em’ All had this kind of polish and production it would have been a perfect listen. “Human Insecticide” takes the prize for best song ever recorded by this band, and even rivals a lot of the stuff found on “The Years Of Decay”. This song alone makes the entire album a worthy purchase, although I would have put this song earlier on the track list and closed the album with “Ligeia”, which is quite powerful and works as a closer.

If you like Overkill, Megadeth, early Metallica (pre-“Master Of Puppets”) then this is a worthy addition to your collection. I was fortunate enough to receive this as a gift from a fellow guitarist whom rightly dubbed this a standard by which any thrash guitarist ought to be measured by, but it is well worthy parting with $14 in order to obtain. Although the band didn’t really last long with this amazing formula, people are also encouraged to check out “Never, Neverland”, which is often offered in a package deal along with this well respected classic and is mostly cut from the same tree.

Later submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on September 14, 2008.

Technical Thrash at its Grittiest - 97%

DawnoftheShred, December 10th, 2006

Annihilator is probably the most inconsistent band in thrash metal history, with a shitload of lineup changes and lots of stylistic experimentation, mostly for the worse. But a downhill slide has to have its roots in a higher plane, and that peak was the band's mighty debut, Alice in Hell. Technical, heavy, dark, and occasionally brutally quick, few other thrash debuts can stand up to it, even to date.

Jeff Waters is pretty much the driving creative force behind Annihilator, considering he's been the only constant member since the band's incarnation. He recorded all guitar parts for this album, as we would go on to do for most of the band's releases. Unlike future albums, however, his playing here is nothing short of inspirational from beginning to end. His riffs are powerful and creative and his songwriting is brilliant. From the flamenco-like instrumental "Crystal Ann" that opens the album to the final crushing riffs of "Human Insecticide," his rhythm work defies convention, effortlessly hopping between clean and distorted riffs and alternating between time signatures almost on impulse. His solos are equally impressive, displaying more melodicism and talent than most of his contemporaries' work.

This album is sometimes criticized because it doesn't rely on pure speed but rather, it incorporates a lot of catchier mid-paced thrash and some clean interludes. Okay, it's not brutal non-stop lightning fast riffage from start to finish, but really, what is thrash without a little variety? The lyrics on the album are also pretty derivative, though cool in their own right. What makes up for them is the presence of one of the mightiest vocalists to ever front a thrash band, Randy Fucking Rampage. His is one of the rawest, nastiest snarls ever to grace a thrash record and he's one of the primary reasons that this album is infinitely superior to most of Annihilator's discography. Sure he's not that great of a singer, per say, but he's a hell of a vocalist. And yes, there is a difference.

This is high quality thrash at it's dirtiest. I've found it technically impressive and highly influential. If you can get past its rough exterior, you might learn to appreciate the tasty goodness within. Highly recommended for thrash fans.

Highlights: Alison Hell, Wicked Mystic, Word Salad, Schizos Pt 1, 2

Great riffs and.... well, there's great riffs. - 78%

lord_ghengis, December 5th, 2006

I'm not the biggest thrash fan, like most metal fans I see early Vio-lence, or the first four metallica albums as near perfection, but I've never cared for most thrash bands as I generally see it as one of the most repetitive single-minded genres I’ve ever heard, and for that reason the genre has very little space in my collection.

However, Jeff Water's solo on the song "The Dagger" in the recent Roadrunner United album interested my enough to fork out a few dollars for another thrash album, even if my hopes weren't high. While I was impressed, and it surpassed my low expectations, the album really fails to deserve that thrash classic title it has. Yes, the guitar work of Jeff Waters is godly, and as good as you'll hear, but EVERYTHING else drags Alice in Hell down. Waters is pretty much the whole 78%.

One thing I’ve noticed about this album is that it brilliant in small doses. For example, when I first listened, it was set on shuffle, so I got “Schizos Are Never Alone Part 1 & 2” up first. And I was blown away, despite originally thinking it was “Crystal Ann”. When the second song came on and started talking about Ligeia, I realised my mistake and turned off shuffle, then started again. By the time I made to “Schizos…” again. There was nothing, my mind was numb to mid-to-fast paced rhythms, kind of scratchy sounding guitars and the straight forward drum line which goes through pretty much the whole album… non-stop. And suddenly the mind-blowing instrumental had become just another riff, which sounded like the rest, with the same ugly production.

Honestly, this album doesn’t fly along at high speeds either, it's very slow for something praised so highly in thrash, in fact it contains many aspects of groove and half-thrash metal, particularly in the acclaimed title track... which is for the main part a groove metal song, and not even a good one.

This album does showcase some amazing writing skills though, considering ALL the string work on this album was written by one man. The album consists of only three people, despite being recorded with two guitars, bass, drums, and a vocalist. Waters is simply an extraordinarily talented man to write for three instruments so well. His skill is only drawn back by this album’s ugly recording.

The production here is pretty bad; the lower end of it all sounds blurred together and the higher sounds often lack power. And more often than not the sound sounds scratchy and thoroughly unenjoyable to listen to. Now, I know metal heads are going to jump down my throat for that. Yes, there’s plenty of fast technical guitar work going on here, but that’s truly only one part of music. A more important thing about music is that it should be enjoyable to listen to. And yes, production effects this.

Really, this bad production is even more destructive to the overall sound of the album as this bands only real draw is Jeff Waters brilliant guitar work, and the guitars do sound pretty shitty. The vocals are well, bad, very little technical skill. Don’t get me wrong, “Randy Rampage” is probably the best of the 3 vocalists I’ve heard them use. But he’s by no means a good vocalist. He has a decent low gruff voice, which if backed up with some talent, or some more practice singing, could be decent. He also has a high-pitched squeal, which I hate oh-so much, but you know back in the thrash and pre-thrash days those horrible noises were the “in” thing, so what can you expect? It's a pity he didn't stay around, as he does show promise here, while Alison Hell's squeals are ear piercing and generally awful, songs like Wicked mystic hav high pitched vocals which don't bring on so much pain.

Then of course you have the drums of Ray Hartmann, which are your stock standard thrash fare, with less double bass skill, and very little variation in tempo. And the recording makes it sound all tinny, so absolutely nothing to praise here.

So, as you can see, Waters is the draw here, and he is quite spectacular, he never does anything which simply jumps out into your ears like that solo in “The Dagger”, but stays pretty cool throughout the album, with quite a lot of tempo changing. His real draw is the solo's, sure there's some serious riffage, odd little things which fit in perfectly somehow, such as the melodic and accoustic sections which occure randomly, and the punk styled touches in Schizos, but everything just seems irrelevent when Waters starts soloing. Even then, there isn't THAT much soloing here, every song has one or two, but theres only a couple which are extended long solo sections, basically Word Salad has a great epic solo, and that's it.

Even with all the crazy and different things which Waters throws into his thrashing machine, the album still gets boring quickly, partially due to the best songs being at the end, and some average (Burns Like A Buzzsaw Blade) and poor (Alison Hell) songs occuring early on. With only a two (W.T.Y.D and Wicked Mystic) of the first six songs really leaving an impression with their fast paced fury. So by the time the three brilliant closing tracks; Schizo's Are Never Alone, Ligeia, and Human Insecticide come around, their overall splendor is dulled by the fact that you're already bored out of your mind.

The thrashness also brings in the final drawback. The lyrics are so goddamn cheesy. Like so much of the genre, it somehow appeals to many people, as some kind of positive. But no, not here, cheesy/lame lyrics are horrible, and are plain embarrassing to listen to. Luckily there’s nothing as bad as “Never, Neverland’s” “Kraf Dinner”, but remember you are buying an album with a song called “Alison Hell” and a front cover depicting a 20 or so year old woman being stalked by a small evil doll. “See buckets and buckets, yeah buckets of sin”. Say anything to you? Even with that, these are probably the best lyrics in general I’ve heard them do, from the 3 albums I’ve heard of them.

In general, Alice in Hell is a piss-poor album, with some abysmal drumming, and poor production, not the worst I've heard (I own early Sepultura albums) but overall very detrimental to the sound of the album. Really, the whole thing is saved by the fact this album has been pretty much Waters high point. While the other elements of the band have improved to compensate for Waters gradual slide to mediocrity from here on in, his influence is so strong in the band's sound that this will probably remain their best work.

I can’t recommend this album as well as pretty much everyone else who likes this album, and I certainly wouldn’t tell people it should be in everyone’s collection, it just wouldn’t be an unwelcome addition.

Alice! - 87%

cyclone, November 7th, 2004

This is probably the best Annihilator. It's the first one, so you probably know why. Jeff Waters has some great ideas, how to make a nice thrash album. Quite technical and developed, yet so catchy, that it grows on you in no time. Well, since Jeff Waters is THE Annihilator guy, the album is quite guitar based. Nice, interesting riffs, no recycling, cool passages and hidden leads and melodies. You could find something new again and again. The vocalist, Randy Rampage is also worth mentioning. His vocals are interesting and work perfect for the atmosphere of the album. The lyrics are very interesting, since they are about inner struggles, fear and horror.

The highlight on here is Alison Hell. Great track to kick off an album with (if we don't count Crystall Ann, ofcourse). Short clean intro which developes into some nice riffing. It's also the catchiest song on the album and has some awesome guitar work and a great solo. The short vocal part near the end (''Sitting in the corner...'') is amazing and truly shows Rampage's ability.

There aren't any off-cuts on this one, since the rest songs are equally good. Very good thrash/speed/power riffing, some very good ideas and very good vocals. Oh, Crystall Ann, the intro track is one of the best intros ever made. Really cool acoustic guitar passage.

So, if you like Helstar or simmilar artists, you will dig this. It's also the best Annihilator album, so get it, if you want to get to know them better.

Exactly what the fans want. - 80%

CallerOfTheCthulhu, July 11th, 2004

How many thrash CDs have ever been released are a breath of fresh air into the metal community? Not many, even to this date. But, it was one specific album and effort that sparked an interest in the style that would live on for years to come. And now, it wasn't "Metallica".

The Canadian answer to that group, "Annihilator", have been renown as simply one of the greatest speed and thrash metal acts out there, and their debut CD alone, Alice In Hell is enough to prove that fact from start to finish.

As soon as the album starts, you can tell it's not your typical thrash album, as you are created with 'Crystal Ann', a slow moving instrumental that sets the tone of the album. But then you are charged with an onslaugh of insanity as soon as 'Alison Hell' kicks in.

Covering most of the typical topics, such of love, lust, insanity and death, the album proves to be somewhat of an average release with one exception. The guitar work and musical arrangement throughout the album makes it far from your every day thrash album. With insane guitar riffs and melodies with controlled drum beats, the album is simply an amazing effort.

True, the album isn't the best one out there, but for a starting point, these guys brought exactly what the fans wanted to hear, and gave this style a breath of fresh air. From start to finish you will be lapping up the insanity that looms throughout. This is obviously a must have for any metal head.

Burns Like A Buzzsaw Blade! - 92%

radiohater, December 30th, 2003

Forming in 1984, Canada's Annihilator had been around the Canadian metal scene in various incarnations revolving around mainman Jeff Waters. Their early demos Phantasmagoria and Welcome To Your Death attracted the attention of many labels and in1988, Annihilator, then just Jeff Waters and drummer Paul Malek, signed to Roadrunner.The recording for this album began in 1987, which was completed without a budget. Sometime before or during the recording, Paul Malek left and was replaced by Ray Hartmann. The entire recording process took well over a year. Some time after the musical tracks were completed, Annihilator welcomed ex-D.O.A bassist Randy Rampage on lead vocals, and the debut album of Annihilator was released to the world in 1989.

The album was an instant thrash classic. Full of chillingly precise and technical guitar work and the venomous distinctive delivery of Rampage, the album ended up becoming Roadrunner's highest selling debut at the time. The album propelled Annihilator into the thrash elite.

The Cast

Randy Rampage (vocals) - Rampage's first and only appearance for Annihilator for the next ten years (his second and final appearance with the band was on 1999's Criteria For A Black Widow). His voice is a powerful roar which doesn't have much range, but succeeds solely on it's aggression. Special mention goes to his work on Alison Hell, where his roar sounds downright menacing.

Jeff Waters (guitar, bass) - Perhaps the most underrated guitarist in thrash, the classically-trained Jeff Waters puts in an electrifying performance, filled with nice melodic lead work and precise rhythm picking. His bass playing is effective and does more than play root notes/follow the main riff, interspersing some nice licks here and there. He does vocals on one of the demo tracks (Ligeia), favouring a generic death metal grunt.

Ray Hartmann (drums) - Hartmann puts in a competent performance for the album, but a relatively safe one, save for the thrash break in Ligeia (perhaps because of joining just before the recording of the album. He does show some tight double bass skills, especially on Human Insecticide and Schizo's Are Never Alone.

Paul Malek (drums) - Malek played on the bonus demo tracks, and does a competent job, but plays it even safer than Hartmann.

I only have the remastered version, so I'm not sure of the original recording quality. The remaster was produced by Jeff Daniel and remastered by Chris Gehringer. The sound is crystal clear, with all instruments clearly audible. The guitars are full, the snare has a full booming sound, and the bass is high in the mix, showing off the bass fills employed by Waters throughout. The demo tracks have been taken straight from the demos themselves, which explains the poorly mixed drums (drowned in ride and hi-hat) and rather loud tape noise.

Choice Cuts

Crystal Ann - If there ever was any doubt about Jeff Waters' abilities as a guitarist, this would instantly put them to bed. A classically influenced totally acoustic number that showcases Waters' tight lead chops over some nice arpeggiated chords.

Alison Hell - There's something about this track that makes it really creepy. It's a slow cruncher full of time and riff changes. Features some nice lead work from Waters and most notably and absolutely predatory and menacing vocal performance from Randy Rampage.

Word Salad - Another track that showcases Waters' incredible skill on lead guitar. It kicks off with a clean intro, then morphs into typical Annihilator. Features a rather lengthy solo from Waters.

Schizos (Are Never Alone) - A long and multifacted instrumental, replete with a multitude of time changes (especially a vicious double time break about 44 seconds in), with Rampage chanting "Schizos are never alone". The song stops about 2 and a half minutes in before returning to the insanity that preceded it. Definitely one of the top tracks on the CD.

Human Insecticide - What a monster! Perhaps the craziest speed riff this side of Raining Blood, pulled off with deadly accuracy, and a nice slowdown in the middle typical of New York thrash, before returning to the insanity earlier in the piece. Excellent closing track.

Off Cuts

Burns Like A Buzzsaw Blade - This is by no means a bad track, but seems a little non-descript compared to the rest of the album.

Raw Sewage

None to be found here. According to popular belief, Jeff Waters was saving that for later...

Closing Comments

What we have here is one hell of a ride. If you like thrash metal driven by precise riffing and stellar lead work, and enjoy Rampage's vocal style, this is for you. Don't hesitate to pick it up.

I love to see them bleed... - 92%

Nightcrawler, October 9th, 2003

Annihilator's debut is by far their best work, judging from what I've heard of them (which, then again, isn't much...). They here delivers one of the absolute essentials of thrash fucking metal. The devastatingly heavy yet melodically aware and also pretty technical guitarwork of band leader Jeff Waters is of course the main focus of the album, but the vocals of Randy Rampage are also pretty awesome. His voice could be pretty much summed up in the chorus of the song Alison Hell: He starts with one piercing high note, then suddenly shrinks into a sinister growl, and finishes off in a wicked, raw midrange. In conclusion, this man's got a wide range, and he uses it perfectly.

The songwriting is pretty standard thrash: Fast, straightforward, heavy and right in your face. But this release manages to sound pretty unique, with many tempo changes and lots of melodic breaks and other weird parts all over. But if you'll approach this with an open mind, you'll be rewarded.
While the songwriting seems weird at first, eventually it all just sinks into place and fits perfectly. Just like the various heavy/melodic alternations during the intro to formerly mentioned Alison Hell, or even the almost orchestral guitarwork on the melodic break on W.T.Y.D. (Welcome To Your Death).
The guitar tone is menacingly heavy but also compliments the melodic parts perfectly, the production and mixing is done very tastefully, done loud and heavy yet with all instruments more or less audible. All instruments are played very well, and the songwriting is not only original but also catchy as hell (Human Insecticide and Burns Like A Buzzsaw Blade come to mind). On top of it all, the cover art totally rules. So all in all, we have a really complete package in here, and a definite essential for all you thrash maniacs out there.

There really isn't a single bad song on here, on the contrary each tune kicks a good amount of ass. The intro Crystal Ann shows that Jeff Waters has some immense skill on the acoustics as well, and it builds up a cool atmosphere before kicking into Alison Hell, which is the second best song on the album. The first minute just insane, with tons and further tons of riffs and the previously mentioned heavy/melodic alternations, all extremely well written and executed. And the song doesn't let up, it just keeps kicking your ass from start to finish. Awesome, awesome thrash.
Burns Like A Buzzsaw Blade starts a bit boring and over melodic, but from 0: 32 and on it's just relentless thrash metal.
Word Salad has that really groovy midpaced riff in the middle sounding something like Pantera meets Zakk Wylde, and some wicked catchy and varied riffwork under the verses.
And of course the closing track, Human Insecticide. The lyrics are cool as hell, dealing with genocide of insects. How metal is that?!
And the music... Fast, insane, relentless and all other praise words that are often used in thrash fucking metal. And then that mental shout-along chorus: "RE-TA-LI-ATE! DE-CA-PI-TATE! I like to see them bleed. A-NNI-HI-LATE! I am human insecticide!" Best song on the album, easily.
I could really go on and on with the dissection, but I think I'll leave it to you to discover the rest.

Annihilator never seemed to be able to top this. At this they got really close (Hunter Killer from Carnival Diablos is definitely in the same league as Human Insecticide!) but the other albums I've got by them all have their share of filler mixed with the great stuff. And from what I've heard and read, what I do not own by them isn't that great either...
Nope, Alice In Hell is the Annihilator you really need. The highlights... the four mentioned above are all excellent, but aside from those I'd also note W.T.Y.D. and the instrumental Schizos (Are Never Alone), which has perhaps the coolest song title ever. But it's all great stuff on here.

This Burns like a Buzzsaw Blade! - 85%

Demon_of_the_Fall, August 30th, 2003

1989 was the year and thrash was nearing an end....or so we thought. Annihilator released Alice In Hell and the metal world which was not yet familiar with Annihilator (many still don't not know of them Pathetic isn't it?) tried to listen in on what they had in store. The underground metal scene ate this shit up like a juicy fucking steak. If i wasn't 5 years old i'm pretty sure i would have been banging my head to this baby. This is close their thrashiest moment alongside with Never, Neverland carved individuality, and creativness into their music right from day one. Alice In Hell has great lyrics and a very unique vocalist named Randy Rampage, as he releases his shrieks of rage and gutteral but yet very tolerable voice. There are some instant classics on AIH such as Alice In Hell, W.T.Y.D, Burns the a Buzzsaw Blade, Schizos, Word Salad, and Phantasmagoria. Highly acclaimed cd that this was for the underground metal scene, that the media still didn't take notice to them (except perhaps in Japan and Europe). Some point this out as being Annihilator definate classic release and best effort to boot, but i tend to disagree on those terms due to the fact the Annihilator of old is much different than the annihilator of today. (which is abit more rockish yet still attaning the thrash elements of old) I tend to enjoy KOTK, Never Neverland, and Carnival Diablos much more although everone has their opinion. I just find this cd abit pre-mature, as Rampage sounds very much like a kid at times although this just adds to the atmousphere of the album. I really love this cd, but just not as much as some of their other works. AIH is definatly a must have for all thrash fans, and metal fan alike. I suggest picking this up if youi ever have the slim chance of finding this. I still havn't fucking found it and i've been listening to this for 3 years. Oh well I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do.
Welcome to the Annihilator Palace.

Best Tracks: Crystal Ann (nice acoustic peice), Alice in Hell, W.T.Y.D, Burns like a Buzzsaw Blade, Word Salad, Schizos Prt 1+2, Human Insecticide, Phantasmagoria