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Annihilator > Waking the Fury > Reviews
Annihilator - Waking the Fury

Unfucking Yourself Part III: At Last, the Cigarette - 72%

autothrall, January 3rd, 2024
Written based on this version: 2002, CD, Steamhammer

The best thing I can say about Waking the Fury is that the WORST thing I can say about Waking the Fury is that the cover is kind of lame, a rather ugly photograph of the band just standing there. Not that these gents are ugly, mind you, just the coloring and composure of the photo and the way it works with the logo and title. Otherwise, maybe Joe Comeau's presence rubbed off a lot on this album, because it feels almost more like a power metal album (heavily in his wheelhouse) rather than a thrash album akin to Alice in Hell. There's also a strange level of fuzz to the mix on this one which is a bit unusual for that form, but it adds to the experience a little bit more crush and density, yet still letting all those blazing leads and warlike vocals breathe through the production.

I'm actually reminded a bit of Halford's second solo album, Crucible, which came out this same year of 2002 and had a comparable crunch. Just a bunch of burly power/heavy metal riffs slathered with good vocals and plenty of push and aggression, momentum almost never broken. That's not to say they don't do an occasional swerve like the almost industrial/groove metal vibes in "Prime Time Killing", but Joe's vocals make sure even that track stays above the belt, and it's way more in step with the surrounding material than Remains could ever pull off. A lot of the riffs here do feel rather 'stock' for power metal of the earlier 21st century, but they're at least function and reliable, and you won't be cranking this thing out of your speakers without some appropriate headbanging accompaniment. It's almost like Waters shut himself in a room with some records from Judas Priest and Accept and then put his spin on that formula, and would you know it?

It works rather well, at least better than anything the band had produced in the decade before it. I think the 'highs' from Carnival Diablos are a little better than the material here, but Waking the Fury benefits from the lack of bullshit that its predecessor suffered. There's a goofy riffing break or two here (like in "Cold Blooded"), but this is by far the most aggressive feeling Annihilator had been up to this point, even if it's not even specifically thrash. This would be an easy one to recommend whether you're into Agent Steel, Cage, or Forbidden, or the prior Joe Comeau output, and for once a little twist in the equation that actually succeeds rather than falls on its ass. I don't wanna hype this one up TOO much, for all its energy and passion and punishment, it's not always that catchy and I wouldn't rate it among other top flight albums of its style, but this is certainly in the upper echelon of Jeff Waters' output.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Wake me up when the album has ended - 30%

kluseba, May 10th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2002, CD, Steamhammer

Waking the Fury is the second and last studio album featuring singer Joe Comeau and while the predecessor Carnival Diablos was a quite diversified, fresh and inspired record, this album has a more streamlined and coherent guideline. Waking the Fury offers fast modern thrash metal with a lot of distorted guitar sounds. While Jeff Waters' lead guitar play comes around with a few good melodies, the rhythm guitar is exchangeable and generic, the rhythm section doesn't add anything to the sound and Joe Comeau's raw vocals always sound the same. That being said, the album was only recorded by three musicians, the other two guys on the cover that seem to suggest that Annihilator has actually become a band again and isn't a solo project anymore are two musicians who briefly joined the group after the recording sessions and didn't stay for a longer period of time like so many others before and after them.

Aside of a few isolated moments, Waking the Fury is a tiring, repetitive and predictable album with a digitalized and dry production that induces headaches. It's literally just fast and aggressive without offering anything remotely memorable. Don't get me wrong, I like fast thrash metal but Annihilator doesn't have Anthrax's lust for life, Kreator's intuition for developing a gloomy atmosphere, Over Kill's raw attitude or anything else that could be described as just remotely outstanding. The term ''soulless'' describes that album perfectly. The only slightly outstanding song is the hard rock track ''Nothing to Me'' due to its genre shift but even that song itself is only a weak copy of ''Shallow Grave'' from the predecessor which was nothing but an AC/DC tribute like there are thousands all around the world already.

If you want generic aggressiveness with a modern production, you might dig this album. Anyone who likes something more refined and wants to admire Jeff Waters' undeniable skills on the guitar should skip this uninspired output that might be among, if not the worst record of the Canadians. It's beyond me how this release got so much praise from fans and critics alike but I don't buy into this. In the end, this album is a furious and remarkable as Ottawa Fury FC, which means it almost doesn't stick out at all. My recommendation is to pick up Carnival Diablos and ignore this release.

Compelling narcotic speed - 91%

gasmask_colostomy, December 10th, 2014

In many ways, music is its own drug. I take a bit of Slayer instead of cocaine, do a bit of Sabbath instead of weed, a hit of Blind Guardian instead of mushrooms. And Waking the Fury is ecstasy, especially the kind that is mixed with speed. For those of you who aren't into drugs (and also not to incriminate myself), the closest thing I can compare this album to is downing a whole bottle of energy drink and then setting yourself an impossible deadline for work or something. I can claim that because I've done it, and Annihilator help to produce the most flat-out sprint that your body and mind are capable of.

The first thing you're going to notice about Waking the Fury is the guitar tone. It's overdriven and crunchy for the rhythm guitars and like screaming shards of ice for the leads. "Overdriven and crunchy" is an understatement: it's more like someone eating a bag of very heavy crisps inside your ear. The drums are also compressed in a similar way, though not as noticeably, which means that they aren't thrashy in any way that you might expect, instead having an almost industrial accuracy and relentlessness at times. The break in the middle of 'Ultra-Motion' sounds inhumanly tight and rigidly controlled, before a juicy solo pisses all over the idea that anything generic is going on. This is all a bit strange, but this album is a drug and you expect some slight side effects to the high.

Now, there is nothing original about getting high - it's merely about going further with a normal sensation than you normally would, and that's what Jeff Waters has nailed on this album. The riffs don't reinvent the wheel, creaming off the more modern, adrenalized parts of thrash without becoming too technical. They do, however, grip you by the nads (or breasts I guess, all things being equal) and pull you along on a desperate surge of speed. The way that the riffs on 'My Precious Lunatic Asylum' seem to keep accelerating from 1:30 to 2:50 is perhaps the most thrilling way to come up without risking arrest. The leads are where the technicality lies: Waters has always been a phenomenal lead guitarist even when his songwriting choices have been questionable, so the relative simplicity of the core structure (verses, choruses, and plenty of instrumental time) gives his solos a platform to propel or decorate songs, whichever is necessary. There are plenty of traditional lead parts on Waking the Fury, as well as supporting melodies and fine touches, but a few solos go off the chain in the most gripping way imaginable - not quite Marty Friedman, but these guys are in the same sentence.

The other part of any drug is the addiction. Even if your body doesn't actually have a physiological requirement for another dose, the memory may be enough to compel you to repeat the experience. This is a catchy album, make no mistake about it. There are groove monsters like 'Ritual' that the most brainless mosher would love, then 'Torn' and 'The Blackest Day' have great choruses, while the other lyrics are memorable, if not terribly original. The surprises are not huge: there's a strutting AC/DC number (if AC/DC liked amphetamine more than beer, I guess) called 'Nothing to Me' that follows in the footsteps of Annihilator's previous hard rock attempts, plus the chilling riffs of 'Cold Blooded' that have a touch of black metal menace about them, particularly the outro riff. The real surprise is of course the surplus of energy and excitement that these songs exude and the fact that the album is remarkably consistent, without any real weak songs. The first 4 tracks edge it for me in terms of pure quality, with 'Ultra-Motion' the absolute stand-out - it just shits all over my brain in all kinds of ways.

Waking the Fury can't be called an innovative album, but it is unique and exciting in a way that few other albums can claim to be. It wouldn't surprise me if Jeff Waters turned up in your neighbourhood soon wearing a bulky coat and offering CDs in exchange for cash. Go ahead kids - say "yes".

Waters' overly-distorted vision comes to light. - 75%

Diamhea, January 29th, 2014

After the debacle that was Criteria for a Black Widow and the second departure of Rampage as Annihilator's vocalist, Waters found himself in a precarious position. The recruitment of Overkill veteran Joe Comeau on vocals was a good starting point, but 2001's Carnival Diablos failed to inspire fully from a compositional standpoint. Comeau managed to stick around long enough to head another Annihilator record, bringing us Waking the Fury a year later.

Despite all of the failed experiments and the revolving-door of vocalists throughout the '90s, Annihilator proves on Waking the Fury that they can at the very least write a solid, heavy collection of songs if pressured. No more humor-infused romps like "Brian Dance", no more overlong patience testers like "Hunter Killer"; everything is compact and lethality exudes from the band's determined approach. This becomes immediately apparent during the opener "Ultra-Motion", which detonates out of the gates courtesy of Waters' electrified picking hand and descending note clusters. Waters produced this album, lending a synthetic, artificial sheen to the guitars that remains one of the album's most memorable attributes. The guitar tone's awful reputation almost proceeds the music itself, akin to Overkill's W.F.O. and it's vehement bass tone.

The guitars' buzzing distortion reminds me of the soundtrack to the PC game Unreal Tournament once set next to some of the more measured leadwork, like during the mid-paced stomper "Fire Power". While it lends a subtle essence of brutality to some of the groovier riffing passages, it devolves into a murky cacophony when the speed picks up. It is so digital and overdriven that if you listen to Waking the Fury with a good pair of headphones, it begins to make you dizzy and disoriented. Thankfully, Waters' typically enterprising leadwork features a more classic, flat tone. As per most Annihilator albums, you never know when a screaming solo section is going to fly out of left field, most evident during the exuberant "Cold Blooded". This is a welcome addition to Waking the Fury, because while Comeau is his usual gritty self, he can grow tiring during longer periods. He enunciates some of the words strangely, but the conviction of his delivery is endearing and fairly potent.

As per Comeau's caustic vocals, Waking the Fury doesn't feature any ballads or experimental elements that were more common when Randall was in the band. It's head-down full speed the entire time, which ends up being both the biggest asset and flaw here. "Nothing to Me" tries to be deeper lyrically but the grotesque inclination of the riffs always hogs the spotlight. The obligatory addiction-related track "Ritual" also comes off as a bit forced, even while it features a cool spoken-word section near the end. Even so, none of these songs necessarily overstay their welcome, and manage to make a pretty convincing case for the band's continued existence.

Comeau's departure after Waking the Fury resulted in more duds from Annihilator's camp, proving that the band lives and dies by the quality of their vocalist. I can't say that I enjoy this more than Set the World on Fire due to a lack of variation, but it was definitely a massive step in the right direction (at the time).

Not the normal ritual. - 70%

Ibanezmancons, August 18th, 2011

They're back! Everyone's favourite band! (snort) Seriously though, I'm surprise Annihilator didn't fold altogether at some point in their career. They seem to get so much hate (I'm not innocent of this), but Waters never gave up, and from that I've really built up a respect for him. As far as I know, he's never released a truly terrible album (although I've heard worse than usual things about 'All For You' and 'Metal'), just never a total classic. I think that's my biggest problem with them. Jeff's obviously turned himself around recently (2010-11), selling out shows after the release of their newest album, 'Annihilator', which is actually really good, and has apparently sold more copies than anything they've done in the past decade.

'Waking the Fury' is actually not as bad I thought it would be. I mean, the biggest mistake here seems to be the album cover... shouldn't the band have been on the back, and those cool, fuzzy cctv screens - symbolically more in keeping with the album's tone - be on the front? It must have put a few people off getting it.

The songs on this album are very, very fast, but sonically much more interesting than the last album, mainly thanks to the new, unusually fuzzy tone of the guitars. The increase in speed and fuzz does the album wonders, and really breathes new life into Annihilator, making them seem less like a tired thrash band, and more like a fresh new side-project. It also means I prefer the singer's vocals this time around, as he seems more comfortable and suitable with the new sound.

The first half of the album is definately the best. Most of the songs have a catchy, easy to remember chorus, and either tend not to totally stink musically ('Torn' is a good example - simplistic industrial metal riffs providing a backdrop for a simple little lead motiff which just works) or just straight up kick ass with no questions asked ('Ultra-Motion', 'My Precious Lunatic Asylum'). Unfortunately the second half, whilst not inherently awful, just isn't as interesting to me. Songs like 'Nothing To Me' and 'Fire Power' just aren't as catchy or impressive as the other songs, whilst 'Cold Blooded' and 'Prime-Time Killing' suffer under the tone of the guitars. 'The Blackest Day' is still pretty cool, and most like the songs of the first half (simple riffs, catchy chorus, longer).

Production is brilliant once again. I was surprised by this - the guitar tone alone would take a tone of work to get to sound right. Had it been too powerful, the album would have been a horrible mess of noise ('Cold Blooded' would have really suffered), but any weaker, and the album might've just been as boring as the last one. But they manage to pull it off.

A few songs tend to outstay their welcome by an extra verse or chorus, but are worth going back and listening to. It seems criminal I should give this album the same rating as I did for 'Alice In Hell', because I feel it's way more consistent. But, at the end of the day, it's not handing my ass back to me like it should. It does, however, make me a little prouder to be an Annihilator fan.

Their Finest Moment Since Never Neverland. - 97%

BlackCatTheory, October 28th, 2010

Not that I agree with the metal community’s penchant for bashing the hell out of Dave Padden, but, in my heart of hearts I must admit that Joe Comeau remains the second best Annihilator vocalist ever behind Coburn Pharr.

Following the crushingly dreadful attempted rehashing of the Alice in Hell line-up on Jeff Waters’ career low – Criteria For A Black Widow, Randy Rampage was quickly re-fired and one Joe Comeau was ushered in for Carnival Diabolos.

Joe was a cool guy. He looked cool, sounded cool, you get the picture. Concisely put, he was not the kind of person you normally associate with the Annihilator vocal chair!

Added to that that, Carnival Diabolos had a handful of catchy, well balanced songs. They were technical enough to appease the long-standing Annihilator fans but accessible enough to continue courting that elusive broader fan base that Waters always seems to have his eye on. For the first time in about a decade, Annihilator felt like a real band and prospects for their second album with Comeau looked good.

It was 2002 and metal was starting to become popular again. While many of Annihilator’s peers floundered in wage-slave obscurity or languished in musical-career meltdown, could this finally be the moment where Jeff Waters and co rise up and take their rightful crown? Would the world finally recognise Jeff as one of the greatest rock guitar players of all time?

On listening to Waking the Fury, initial signs said ‘yes’.

Ever the musical weather-vane, for once in his life, Jeff Waters decided to forget following the leader and just do things his way. He turned up the tempo, turned up the distortion and shat out an album of aggressive thrusting rocks songs that maximised his trademark insanely catchy riffing, technical melody sections and lots of solos.

Even the production was a departure – a dry, buzzing vortex of tightly compressed noise that grievously assaulted the listener. But what first sounded like a racket, soon wormed it’s way into your frontal lobes. Within ten minutes, you were banging like a nutter and the overall effect sounded like Iron Maiden being raped by Slipknot while old skool Annihilator looked on… and played with itself!

Something like that anyway.

Opener Ultramotion is so catchy, that as a long standing Annihilator fan, to listen to it, is to break out into a big smile and shoot the horns. Jeff’s admittedly hackneyed lyrics, in the hands of Joe Comeau, somehow manage to sound cool. When he growls ‘…the ultimate machine ever built.’ He could easily be talking about his band. Based on the impact of this album, it would not have been an empty claim. And Ultramotion was a harbinger of things to come: Torn is one of the greatest tunes Annihilator have ever committed to disk – strident, stylish and hellishly catchy. Striker, Ritual and The Blackest Day are also outstanding and the album rips to a close with the modern and utterly ferocious-sounding Cold-Blooded. There is barely a wasted heartbeat and not a single duff song. On paper My Precious Lunatic Asylum looks like it might be the kind of duff moment all we fans dread. On your stereo it is a pulsating, stabbing sex-beast of a song complete with a great breakdown for traded guitar solos in the middle and some insanely fast melody parts.

So there you have it. Just like Never Neverland, it’s a lean, mean fighting machine, just a ten-spot of brilliant rock songs played by brilliant musicians.

Sadly, it was not to last. Jeff, apparently unhappy with being immense, fired Comeau and guitarist Curran Murphy and then blatted straight into the uneven Dave Padden era. Comeau later expressed in an interview his disappointment at being ousted from Annihilator. It seems he believed there was better to come. I believed it too.

The Ultimate Machine Ever Built - 95%

Twisted_Psychology, March 11th, 2010
Written based on this version: 2002, CD, Steamhammer

While Annihilator never truly split up, they were certainly one of several bands that enjoyed a great comeback when the new millennium came about. "Criteria For A Black Widow" and "Carnival Diablos" may not be hailed as thrash classics by most (for whatever reasons) but they are both strong releases that I think measure up to the band's first and most defining efforts quite nicely. Unfortunately, the best installment in this trilogy was the end to the era for it was the first to feature Shatter Messiah/Nevermore guitarist Curran Murphy and the last to feature Primal Fear drummer Randy Black, bassist Russell Bergquist, and Liege Lord vocalist Joe Comeau.

The defining characteristic that seems to stick in most people's minds when they remember this album is its signature production. I personally barely noticed when I first listened to it but I can see why this dry, often "buzzing" effect annoys so many listeners. It does have a habit of making the guitar playing sound somewhat choppy and may overwhelm a few of the album's catchier moments. Fortunately, the uneasy feelings aren't too challenging to get over and sometimes manage to give the album's sound a unique edge.

Musically, this album is probably the band's heaviest and most thrash-centric to date. Just about every kind of thrash is represented including some Slayer influenced speed runs ("Ultra-Motion," "Cold Blooded"), more melodic battering rams ("Torn," "Ritual," "The Blackest Day"), and a few more ambitious tracks ("My Previous Lunatic Asylum," "Striker") thrown into the mix. Of course, there are plenty of experimental moments left over from "Carnival Diablos." Some dissonant grooves appear on "Prime-Time Killing," "Fire Power" brings about a great mid-tempo march, and "Nothing To Me" is another outlet for the band's AC/DC influence that was first seen on "Shallow Grave."

The lyrics are also decently written and bring about some good variety not really seen since "Never, Neverland." Each song seems to have its own subject and Comeau's excellent delivery continues to prevent even the cheesiest lines from sounding bad. On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be much depth here and a few tough guy-isms are spread in small amounts through the record. Jeff, I admire your talents but no one will take a line like "intimidation is my reputation" seriously after listening to something like "Chicken and Corn." Just saying...

All in all, it's a damn shame that this album is so overlooked for it may be one of the band's best efforts to date. Comeau and the other departing bandmates leave on a pretty high note that I'd probably put just below "Never, Neverland" and as one of the best thrash albums to come out in the 2000's. Of course, that's probably why so many listeners are so bitter towards the ongoing Padden era...

Pros:
1) Probably the heaviest Annihilator album to date
2) Excellent band performance
3) Good lyrical variety

Cons:
1) The infamous production...
2) A few shallow lines here and there
3) A few controversial experiments

My Current Favorites:
"Ultra-Motion," "Torn," "My Previous Lunatic Asylum," "Nothing To Me," and "Fire Power"

Ultra fast and frenzied fuzz. - 87%

hells_unicorn, October 21st, 2008

Of all the albums that Annihilator has put out since their debut, this is the only one that successfully navigates the ice berg filled ocean that is Jeff Waters’ creative well. There are no ballads or sideshow attractions to speak of, and very little genre bending going on. You could potentially argue that since this came out around the peak of the power/speed metal revival that took place in Europe that this had some commercial motivations, which could also be argued about bringing in Jon Comeau on both this album and the last, but the quality of this speaks for itself. The jury is in and the verdict is that there will be a constant barrage of speed metal with a few occasional thrash interludes for a sentence of roughly 50 minutes, no appeals, and no possibility of parole.

Some might point to 90s Judas Priest work with Ripper Owens such as “Jugulator”, but honestly this sounds closer to what Iron Savior and Primal Fear were doing at this time. It differentiates itself from them quite a lot in the heavily techno-like production, although the actual riff work mostly follows the same simplistic approach. The guitar sound on the rhythm tracks is sort of a hyper-fuzz drenched, modernized version of “Screaming For Vengeance”. Funnily enough it actually reminds me a little of the guitar sound employed on Darkthrone’s “A Blaze In The Northern Sky”, although the rest of the arrangement doesn’t sound nearly as distant and reverb steeped. If you’re not used to this kind of guitar sound, have a large attachment to the Metallica-like distortion used on most of Annihilator’s non-experimental albums and if you haven’t even heard any pre-1985 heavy metal, this might not agree with your ears very well.

The pacing of this entire cybernetic monster can be summed up by saying the title of the opening thrash killer “Ultra-Motion”. When you couple the extremely fuzzy distortion with Waters’ extremely fast picking hand, the opening riff of this song is a complete blur, although the pick attack is sharp enough to pierce through the hazy guitar tone. The song then succeeds to fly back and forth between “Painkiller” sounding speed metal and “Eternal Nightmare” oriented thrash riffing. Although this thing doesn’t quite throw out as many riffs as your typical Bay Area band circa 1987, a lot of it comes really close to invoking the same wicked feel. The lead work is utterly sick, trading in and out different ideas that parallel both K.K. Downing and David Shankle. Put it all together with a really powerful and slightly gravely vocal delivery out of maestro Jon Comeau and you’ve got an instant winner.

Given a radically aggressive first impression like this, you’d expect an extremely fuzzy power/thrash album from start to finish, but given the general ebb and flow of things during 2002, this is not how things turn out. “Cold Blooded” is the only song on here that really thrashes out with a vengeance in both the riff department and in the vocal assault, and mostly sounds like an industrially produced Anthrax song with a harsher sounding singer and about twice as many guitar acrobatics. “My Precious Lunatic Asylum” has some isolated thrash elements in the riffing here and there, some of which sound a little similar to “The Years Of Decay”, but mostly it sounds closer to a “Painkiller” style song with the rapid paced, detached vocals that are geared towards the thrash style.

The bulk of what’s left on here is definitely influenced greatly by the late 90s, early 2000s German speed metal scene, most of which was heavily Judas Priest influenced. “Torn” and “Ritual” are both right out of that classic mid tempo, signature heavy and minimalist riffing play book that Accept pioneered and Iron Savior has carried on to this very day. To keep the flow of things going, the latter gallops a bit and both songs has a constant stream of double bass work. “The Blackest Day” is a little bit similar but gets a little deeper into mechanical sounding territory with the vocal tracking, while “Prime Time Killing” gets real heavy on the guitar effects and almost sounds like a full hybrid of industrial sounding groove and speed metal. “Fire Power” leaves the technological matrix a little and brings some melodic flavoring to the mix, definitely sounds like something that could have been on Primal Fear’s “Nuclear Fire” if it had a more conventional guitar sound.

The two songs on here that actually stand out the most are the ones leave the stylistic trappings of the current trend in speed metal circa 2002 and go back a little further. In my opinion, the best song on here is the catchy as hell traditional sounding speed metal number “Striker”. Parts of this are a dead ringer for Priest’s “Ram It Down”, while at other parts I swear Waters was listening to Accept’s “T.V. Wars” when he wrote this. A little more than half way through the song they drop everything and go into this little drum solo which sort of disrupts the flow a little, but doesn’t destroy the continuity of this song. The other song “Nothing To Me” brings back the AC/DC emulation that appeared on the last album, but actually marries it to the Annihilator style and puts in this epic sounding intro that sounds like something off of “Never, Neverland”. The single version of this song omits the intro, but honestly, it’s much better with it in there so don’t bother with the 2nd bonus track if your version has it because it’s nothing more than an outtake from “Highway To Hell” with a really fuzzy guitar sound.

When I first heard this album it didn’t agree heavily with my ears due to the very unusual production, but this is basically the second best Annihilator album after the debut. It’s definitely the most consistent and coherent album that this band has ever put out and it’s the best thing that Comeau has done since his brief thought legendary stint with Liege Lord. If you like Iron Savior, Primal Fear or Paragon then this will likely be up your alley. It is a good idea to give this album a couple of listens in order to properly sink in, as most speed metal albums don’t have a production quite like this, but believe me it is worth the effort.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on October 21, 2008.

My favourite Annihilator album - 90%

CannibalCorpse, September 25th, 2006

Sure, Annihilator's first two albums are hailed as masterpieces (especially Alice in Hell) and while I have to agree to some extent, my favourite Annihilator album is "Waking the Fury".

Many people have problems with the guitar tone presented on this album. I can see why, since the distortion is very strange, especially when you know how Jeff usually produces his albums. It took me a while to get over it, but now I realize that it actually fits the album perfectly. I don't think the rhythm sounds "thin" - it sounds more like Jeff played the guitars with a rather cheap Death Metal guitarpad. It just sounds very raw and somewhat digital.

"Waking the Fury" kicks off with the very good "Ultra Motion". The track is fast as hell and features some awesome lead guitars and soloing. Another good thing on the album is the addition of singer Joe Comeau (Ex-Overkill). He really got the balls and the attitude to carry this album. Sometimes, he sounds like a mix of Lemmy Kilminster and Rob Halford (especially in the verses of "Torn") which fits very well to the heavy-as-fuck riffs.

There are no ballads here, the album rarely slows down below mid-tempo. Another strong point on "Waking the Fury" is the kind of riffs Jeff Waters unleashes; I don't think there is a single riff rehashed from earlier albums (a problem he often had with the releases prior to this one). All of them sound unique and great.

Drumming duties were taken over by Randy Black (Primal Fear) and he's really good at his job. The drumming work is stellar and perfectly put into the mix.

In conclusion, "Waking the Fury" manages to incorporate oldschool Thrash with modern influences and an almost-industrial like guitar tone, great vocals, top-notch songwriting and the best soloing in the entire Annihilator catalogue (I'm not exaggerating here!)

"Prime Time Killing" is often loathed by Annihilator fans (and I can hear why) but it's not as bad as most of them say. Sure, it has a Pantera-like groove and doesn't sound quite like the rest of the album (neither does Nothing to Me, but that's another story) but it still features some rather good riff work.

Highlights are the catchy solo-fest "Torn", the oldschool "Striker", the groove-monster "The Blackest Day" and the heavy-as-hell "Fire Power".

If you're a fan of oldschool and/or modern Thrash, give "Waking the Fury" a chance, you might enjoy it as much as I do.

Annihilator's Painkiller? - 60%

UltraBoris, August 8th, 2004

Well... not really. It's just that this album seems like a real blitzfest from beginning to end, without a single bit of the mood-ring bullshittery that has spread the stench of the suckage vortex over previous albums... nothing like "Never Never Land" (title track) or any of the all-out stomachache mallcorisms from previous albums.

That said, this sure as fuck ain't Painkiller. It's more Jugulator than anything else, with the same techno-ish guitar tone. It's not that BAD, it just sounds a bit too digital for anyone's own good. But the songwriting, while not insanely imaginative, is enjoyable. There's only one kinda Pantera-ish song here, and that is Prime Time Killing... it's not nearly as mallcore as people make it out to be, especially in the context of Annihilator's career.

The rest then goes from AC/DC (Nothing to Me, continuing on the proud tradition started by Shallow Grave) to more recent but still not quite terrible Slayer (a COMPLETE tribute on the song Cold Blooded, though I can't fucking remember which song... it goes "you will feel the misery, master of my enemy"... it's one of the few post-Divine song moments that aren't lame, but I can't be bothered to figure out which album it is) to the frenetic speed/thrash that is the trademark of Annihilator (Ultra Motion), though recently it's been dragged into self-parody. Here it somehow sounds fresh and different, though it's probably because the double-bass is cranked up, the riffage is made simpler, and the guitar tone is such a wackjob that it just doesn't SOUND like Alice in Hell. Also, throw in the fact that there is a LOT of soloing to be found and a lot more speed metal riffage, and yes this is basically Jugulator.

It's not bad, really. The vocals are a real highlight, because this guy sounds a lot like Halford at times, and that is a Good Thing any way you look at it. The songwriting is a bit lame, but not really to the point of being irritating, which puts it a step above other Annihilator releases.

Damn...That guitar gets to be irritating!!!!!!!!!! - 80%

skolnick, February 9th, 2003

So...Jeff Waters and his team got back to work again...Exited “for nearly a decade” guitarist Dave Davis and “Alice in Hell” original drummer Ray Hartmann and entered Jeff’s well known drummer, Randy Black and a new guy in the Annihilator camp…Ex-Nevermore guitar player Curran Murphy. We all know how Waters is always capable of bringing us some of the most technical and heavy riffs that thrash ever knew…yes you got it…he wrote the whole damn thing again! Normally Jeff’s baby, Annihilator, usually unleashes some heavy quality albums, and that was no exception for “Waking the Fury”. It’s a good album with some variations going from the most heavy thrash going to some heavy metal tunes with some really crunchy riffs…Everything’s almost fine…except for that guitar sound…It seems that Jeff shouldn’t had bought that damn pedal in that cursed day, at that fucking hour. That kind of sound is just too thin…don’t get me wrong… It doesn’t sound bad at all, I just think those songs would be twice the fun if they had that guitar sound from “Alice in Hell” or “Criteria for A Black Widow”. Because of this sound, this record can be a little bit irritating in the first times you listen to it, but it eventually after some time this album starts to get really interesting.
Jeff finally got the perfect vocalist. Joe Comeau has some great vocals and we can see perfectly that he pulls the whole thing out of his throat… Russell Bergquist is the weakest presence in this record…Bass? You’ll even ask yourself sometimes if he really played it on this one…

The songs are good metal tunes. Jeff really hits it hard on songs like “Ultra-Motion”, “Torn”, “My Precious Lunatic Asylum”, “Striker”, “The Blackest Day” or even “Cold Blooded”. The other songs are good, but not as good as these ones, except for “Nothing To Me”, a radio-friendly song that comes in the wave of “Shallow Grave” and just kicks some serious ass…

Well, if we had to choose one band for always being there, keeping the Metal flag up and the flame alive, that’s definitively Annihilator. Hearing this kind of songs today is really great. I’ll just be expecting one more pearl from Waters & Co. in the future, but a little more thicker…I fuckin hope!!!

Oh Satan, what an awful guitar sound! - 60%

MacMoney, November 5th, 2002

The stalwarts of canadian thrash metal are back again, just a year after their last release, Carnival Diablos. Annihilator is the guitarist Jeff Waters's band. They started as a normal band but after two thrash albums and one, a bit more commercial metal/rock hybrid something happened and Jeff Waters ended up recording the next album by himself. Randy Black did the drum tracks but Waters did the rest. Their mid-catalogue isn't that appreciated or well known but Annihilator's debut, Alice in Hell, is a classic and essential thrash metal. The follow-up, Never Neverland, is almost as essential and excellent. The line-up has gone through some changes. The long time guitar player Dave Scott Davis (first two and latest two albums) has been replaced by an ex-Nevermore guitarist Curran Murphy. Randy Hartmann also had to leave due to personal problems and an old friend of Waters, Randy Black was brought in as a replacement.

What first drove me off from the album is the guitar sound. The guitars sound quite thin when playing the rhythm. Or so it seemed at first since there is only one guitar playing in the beginning of 'Ultra Motion'. After the second guitar kicks in the guitar sound gets somewhat better but still it sounds rather artificial and not very strong. Fortunately at higher notes (i.e. leads and solos) the guitars sound much better and those higher notes are used quite much since leads are abundant. As an example I could mention the almost two minute long part in 'Lunatic Asylum' where only a simple riff is played and both Waters and Murphy take turns in the lead guitar. Surprisingly it doesn't get boring.

Jeff Waters and Curran Murphy are both good, if not excellent, guitarists and quite different from each other so the large amount of leads doesn't get boring or numbing. There is still more than enough rhythm guitaring. Most of the guitar riffs are repeated to no end and some of them aren't that good to begin with. It gets a bit annyoing to hear that one riff being played for a minute in the beginning and then again a minute near the ending of the song. This happens only in a couple of songs though and the not-so-good riffs are surpassed by the amount of good riffs but not by much. Waters has been smart enough to usually put an interesting lead over any simplistic riff.

Joe Comeau (ex-Overkill and Liege Lord) is a surprisingly good vocalist. His voice is very strong and though his range isn't that impressive, he can reflect various kinds of attitudes and emotions through his voice. Unfortunately that ability isn't used that much on 'Waking the Fury'. Mostly his vocals are of the thrashy yelling type though his melodic vocals are used almost as often. The one dimensionality of the vocals is a consequence of the fact that the tracks are kinda alike with each other. Sure 'Nothing to Me' is more in the AC/DC direction, 'Prime Time Killing' sounds a bit like Pantera and 'Striker' could be from the era of older Annihilator but the fact remains that most of the songs are straightforward aggressive songs. Sure some of the songs are really catchy like 'Striker' and 'Ultra Motion' but there aren't any slower and moodier songs like 'Carnival Diablos' or 'Liquid Oval'. Still the album has it's moments and is worth the money. The aforementioned 'Striker' is one kickass song and the first three songs aren't much behind it.

Not Quite A Fury, But Still Fairly Exciting - 70%

thebloodfeaster, July 29th, 2002

I enjoy this cd alot at the beginning. The first track, Ultra Motion, is a straight ahead in your face thrasher. Unfortunately I had not heard Carnival Diablos at the time of this review, so I could not compare it to that, but I hear people have called that album a disappointment. This is not a disappointment for me at all, although I thought for a moment at the beginning of track 6 that it might turn out to be one. The sixth song, Prime Time Killing, starts out with a nu-metallish sound which scared the hell out of me, since the album had started out so strong and I wondered why the band would go and fuck up a good thing like that. But the song itself is not so bad, about thirty seconds into it the nu-ness goes away, and only pops up for a few short intervals throughout the song. Still, this is probably the weakest track on the album. The next lowspot is Nothing To Me. It's a catchy song, but too hardrockish for what I want to hear when I put on a thrash cd. At least it's better than Prime Time Killing. Good thing the last song ends with some decent thrashing. The guitars have a fuzzy quality to them, which I don't remember from previous Annihilator albums I've listened to, although I admit it's been awhile since I've listened to one. Overall the album reminds me of a cross between Overkill and what Megadeth was trying to achieve with The World Needs a Hero but failed so miserably at. It contains it's fair amount of thrash throughout but kind of lets off the steam after it hits that nu-metallish song. If it had kept up the speed all the way through I would have given this a four, but as it is it only gets a very strong three.