All for You

by

Annihilator

Edit

I've been listening to this release repeatedly over about the last week trying to make my descision on this album. and over all I would have to say that it is pretty good, but far from being Annihilator's best album. "All For You" is a varied release that showcases Jeff Water's skills greatly and he has definatly come up with his fare share of killer riffs and solos on this. as for the new vocalist Dave Padden he can actually sing when he want's too. he reminds me just slightly of Mike Patton(Faith no More) but with a more aggressive edge. actually his vocals are most impressive with the exception of Demon Dance where he nearly ruins the song by sounding like the guy from System of a Down.The music in that song is almost good enough to make up for the vocals (almost). anyway I would recommend this album to someone but check out Carnival Diablos, or Waking the Fury out first.

I've followed & supported Jeff Waters' band since "Alice in Hell". I found that after the first three albums, you didn't know what you were getting when an Annihilator cd was purchased. I'm not talking about musical style or musical abilities. Jeff Waters is probably the most diverse & skilled guitarist in the metal realm, which is why I keep shelling out cash for his music. I find myself, quite often, questioning his reasoning as far as allowing input in the song writing department. Several albums sound like ideas were repeated many times over. After listening to "Waking the Fury", I felt that perhaps Annihilator was back in full force (considering the same line-up was actually used for 2 albums in a row was another selling feature to me). I think if songs were written as a collaberated effort (whether from his band or from an outside influence) and Jeff didn't take on all aspects of the song writing process, the quality of the songs would improve immensely. I'm not slammimg Jeff Waters as a song writer considering he's written some incredible songs over the years, but he's only human. I gave the album three stars because I expected more from the songs. Once again, while the musicianship is outstanding, the overall effect of the cd was disappointing to me (especially the "Talking Head" vocal style in Devil Dance).