It was twenty years ago today, Jeff Waters taught the band to play. Annihilator’s classic debut album Alice in Hell was released at the very end of the eighties. Thrash was still hot and in its heydays. The spectacular songs that made up that album are still in the live set today. Everything seemed to go the right way, Annihilator was soon to become part of the premier metal league. Unfortunately when grunge hit the scene in the early nineties, it brought the sudden rise to a halt. A difficult decade followed, not just for Waters and company, but metal in general. As Waters tried to compete with the modern metal scene, bandmembers came and went, subsequent albums were of mixed quality. Annihilator was basically turning into a footnote in metal. It was the comeback album Criteria For A Black Widow which propelled them back into the scene. Maybe not back in the premier league, but certainly musically believable again. This live album is a good reminder of what Annihilator is capable of.

 

It is almost impossible to keep up with the line up changes this band has gone through. The only original member left is Jeff Waters. Here he is accompanied with Dave Padden on vocals. This sharing of vocal duties works very well. Not only on the newer songs, but also on the older material. Speaking of which, it is mostly comprised of songs of the first two albums. ‘Alice in Hell’, ‘W.T.Y.D’, ‘The Fun Palace’ and ‘Phantasmagoria’. The album they were touring for, simply called Metal, is represented with only two songs. Many albums are overlooked in favour of the best tracks they have. Although I find it strange that Schizo Deluxe and All for You are completely overlooked.

 

The band is captured live in the Czech Republic during the Masters of Rock festival in 2008. Some 30.000 people witnessed this show. It is a highly energetic show and Waters proves to be a great guitarplayer. Of course do not expect a visual show with lots of special effects and fireworks like Kiss. It is the sheer enthusiasm of the band which is admirable. It is nicely captured on film, although it is nothing spectacular really. It comes equipped with a good audio sound. It is a nice document, watchable, but I prefer to simply listen to the accompanying CD. It is very recommendable for long car trips, if I do say so myself. Annihilator is still one of the best metal acts ever.