Annihilator
King Of The Kill (CD Digipak)

On their fourth album, "King of the Kill," Jeff Waters apparently realized he couldn't get along with vocalist Aaron Randall, so he decided to sing all the vocals himself. How did he do it, you ask? As usual—his gruff, largely melody-less voice fared better than Randall's unattractive vocals, but it didn't seem to offer any hint of a bright future for the band, though it suited the overall atmosphere and emotion perfectly—after all, it was the composer himself singing, not a stranger. The band's style had returned to its original form, but overall, "King of the Kill," in my opinion, fell far short of the success of such works as "Alice in Hell" and "Never, Neverland," though it did improve the band's standing, which had been so badly lost on the previous, unsuccessful album, "Set the World on Fire." The recording quality is decent. The musical material itself is quite varied – the disc contains both lyrical digressions and genuine thrash-fueled outbursts. All this is true, but the only thing that worries me is the decline in the overall quality of the musical material. For some reason, in 1989 and 1990, the band could be singled out as one of the most influential thrash metal acts, but now they're just another decent thrash band. Hmm, it seems we'll soon be able to completely forget that Waters once created masterpieces! Only such compositions on the disc as the uptempo title track "King Of the Kill," the action-packed "Bad Child," and the progressive number "Hell Is A War" live up to the old, time-tested genius. And although the album even contains two ballads, unfortunately, neither of them really touched me. Overall, the plasticity of "King Of The Kill" is sure to find its audience among the band's fans.