Make no mistake about it - Jeff Waters is one phenomenal musician. A master of the Thrash riff, a guitar solo freak, and one of the flat out fastest players the scene has ever known, it's hard to argue the legitimacy of the talent of Jeff Waters. Even the songwriting is solid - more or less dedicated to the tried and true old school Thrash formula many of us grew up on, one can always count on nearly any given ANNIHILATOR song to be loaded with Metal mastery and neck breaking intensity. Take ANNIHILATOR's latest release, "Metal", for example - a prime showcase for Waters' identifiable guitar tone, tough as nails guitar riffs, and face melting guitar solos, not to mention the fact that he plays all bass tracks and provides vocals for the track "Operation Annihilation". Accompanying is also a solid drum delivery courtesy of Mike Mangini, who has played for ANNIHILATOR in the past, as well as EXTREME and the legendary Steve Vai.

But here's the kicker, and it's been a thorn in the side of many a Thrash fan for many a year - how, when one has such an extreme musical arsenal at their disposal and such an obvious comprehension of how to craft quality Thrash, can someone like Jeff Waters time and time again choose some of the worst vocalists the Metal scene has ever known? How does all this talent flourish and bay unrelentingly at the gates of success, only to be hindered and ultimately restrained by such horrible vocal choices throughout so many otherwise quality albums? The quandary becomes twofold particularly when one hears the song "Operation Annihilation" - Mr. Waters himself provides vocals for the song, and vocally it is far and away the strongest tune on the album. So in knowing that on top of everything else he's capable of, and seeing that he can also belt out some strong Thrash vocal displays, where is the logic in choosing such horrible singers? Dave Padden, while a solid musician to fill the role of second guitarist in the live setting, is ill fitted to front a band as aurally "annihilating" as ANNIHILATOR, just like most of Jeff's other choices throughout the band's long 20+ year legacy in Thrash.

"Metal" displays just how respected and revered Waters has become within the scene, boasting a pant load of guest appearances ranging from Angela Gossow and Michael Amott of ARCH ENEMY to Jeff Loomis of NEVERMORE to Anders Bjørler of THE HAUNTED; literally every single song on "Metal" features a guest appearance of some sort. Is it overkill to have a guest musician on absolutely every single song on the entire disc? Yeah, it certainly seems so; that's not what's going to help Waters here. The music is fine, he doesn't need any help; granted, Angela Gossow gives a great vocal delivery on "Couple Suicide" which is equally belittled by a lame co-vocal from Danko Jones, and the solos from the likes of Michael Amott ("Operation Annihilation") and Jeff Loomis ("Clown Parade") make for a good shred fest, but it helps not one bit when faced with the atrocious, unremarkable vocals that plague all but one song of the album. This has been a long running issue with ANNIHILATOR, and every sign indicates that nothing is going to change any time soon as far as that goes. More the shame, because ANNIHILATOR by all rights should be much farther up the food chain than they currently are. However, until the vocal maladies are remedied - which would require something as simple as Waters himself stepping up to the mic - ANNIHILATOR will continue to wallow in mediocrity; all because of an inexplicable insistence on overshadowing high quality musical Thrash with low quality vocal trash.