Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Vienna (Wien) / Szene / Austria
Concert date: 10/24/2013
Attendance: 500
Oh, Canada. You’re not just the land of cold, hockey, moose, lumberjacks and maple syrup, you’re also the land that gave us Voivod, Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend, Rush, Exciter. Okay, you also gave us Justin Bieber, Celine Dion, Nickleback and Avril Lavigne (and, oh horror, apparently their duet too), but we forgive you. Because you also gave us Annihilator. A good month ago the legendary outfit from British Columbia put out its fourteenth studio album Feast, and shortly before that, despite a short set, it blew everyone away at the MetalDays festival in Tolmin. Back then the band, under the eternal leadership of the irreplaceable Jeff Waters, already played one track off the new record, and now Annihilator has taken the album promo out on the Feast On Europe tour, which once again stopped only well north of us – closest to us at an old acquaintance, Vienna’s Szene hall.
For this tour Annihilator brought along Swedish death ‘n’ roll crew The Generals as openers, and they stepped onto the Szene stage right on time. The Swedish Generals got three quarters of an hour and made the most of it: they dialed in a good sound and roared into death ‘n’ roll that came close to the music of their countrymen Entombed. So The Generals play dirty death metal with rock ‘n’ roll riffs, backed by a rattling bass, hard-hitting drums and brutal vocals. The Swedes really made the most of the opening slot, showed off their current album Blood For Blood in a great light, and with their Swedish-distorted guitars were pure manna for the ears of any Swedish death metal fan. Above all, with an energetic show they were an opener actually worth listening to, not one you a) avoid or b) drink your way through outside the hall. Finally, an opener that didn’t get stuck in the ears like a bone in the throat.
The crowd filled the hall nicely, and at a quarter past nine sharp the lights went out and the devilish intro from the great exorcism scene in The Exorcism of Emily Rose boomed from the speakers. »We are the one who dwell within… And I am Lucifer, the devil in the flesh,« lashed out of the PA, and the Canadian four-piece, somewhat surprisingly, greeted the crowd with their biggest hit, Alison Hell, from the legendary debut. From the first second on everything on stage worked perfectly, and the blast of toxic Canadian thrash metal exploded like an atomic bomb with the very first notes. The shockwaves just kept on coming, as Annihilator reeled off bangers and classics one after another, and Waters in particular acted like a kid standing on a stage for the first time, not a man who has already hit the ripe age of 47! Jeff Waters is a human can of Red Bull! What the man gets up to on stage is unbelievable, because for two hours he was everywhere – stage left and stage right, right out over the crowd, shoulder to shoulder with vocalist Dave Padden or bassist Alberto Campuzano, at the mic or bathed in the spotlight at center stage. And all that while shredding wildly and slaloming across the guitar strings. Yes, Jeff really is a guy whose fingers, and their wild, tireless energy leaping across the strings, you could watch in a trance for hours and hours, especially live, between solos that make jaws hit the floor, when he pulls faces that crack you up. A man who after thirty years on stage still acts like Jeff does deserves nothing less than deep respect and admiration. But it’s not only Jeff who shone, because the trio of Dave Padden and the two newcomers, bassist Alberto Campuzano and drummer Mike Harshaw, also showed superb stage presence and great form. Padden has finally become the perfect other half of Waters, as he has improved massively as a vocalist, shining both on the songs he sings on the albums and on tracks that stuck in memory thanks to the great vocal performances of Randy Rampage, Aaron Randall or Coburn Pharr. Dave was fantastic in the vocal harmonies with Jeff too, and Alberto, who like Jeff filled the stage for a full two hours, proved himself a great singer at just the right moments. Behind the kit another newcomer, Mike Harshaw, was brilliant, shaking the hall with »trademark« Annihilator syncopated drumming, lively transitions and a solo spot that was admittedly a bit unnecessary, but executed perfectly. Annihilator topped off this fantastic show with a juicy setlist, full of iron-clad classics, and we got to gorge ourselves even more on the wonderful sweet treats it was packed with – Knight Jumps Queen, the eco-minded gem from Set the World On Fire, No Zone, the almost-unheard Fiasco and Bliss/Second to None. The middle of the show Annihilator dedicated to their Austrian fans and their requests for songs from past gigs, so the Canadians served us a richly loaded triple Set the World On Fire platter, a medley of the gorgeous ballad Phoenix Rising, the »feel good« track Sounds Good To Me and the acoustic beauty Snake in the Grass. Only in the last third of the show did the new album get its turn, with two songs, wedged in between the Carnival Diablos hit Time Bomb and a banger from the previous record, Ambush, and the main set closed with the most brutal new song, Deadlock. As expected, the crowd demanded »one more song« and the guys didn’t make us beg for long, except Jeff Waters came back on stage with the words »You want one more? Fuck you… We’ll give you three more!« And we got Ultra-Motion, King of the Kill and Phantasmagoria to finish!
A combination of a bombastically fired-up band, Waters’ breathtaking soloing (a perfect fusion of instrument and musician), flawless sound, a two-hour show with a whopping twenty-two songs and a red-hot crowd can only add up to one thing – without a doubt one of the best gigs of the year! Even though Annihilator haven’t hit the quality of their first studio albums in the studio for quite a while, live they’re simply peerless and one of the few bands that just can’t disappoint on stage; what’s more, I could watch them again and again. If they sang »Blame, Canada« in South Park, I’d rather warble »Hail, Canada«, because Jeff Waters simply IS exactly what it said on his T-shirt. METALHEAD!
Setlist
ANNIHILATOR:
1. Alice in Hell
2. W.T.Y.D.
3. Knight Jumps Queen
4. Reduced to Ash
5. Set the World on Fire
6. Refresh the Demon
7. Never, Neverland
8. No Zone
9. The Fun Palace
10. Fiasco
11. Bliss
12. Second to None
13. I Am in Command
14. Phoenix Rising / Sounds Good to Me / Snake In the Grass
15. Drum Solo
16. No Way Out
17. Smear Campaign
18. Time Bomb
19. Ambush
20. Deadlock
—encore—
21. Ultra-Motion
22. King of the Kill
23. Phantasmagoria
THE GENERALS:
1. Dig Two Graves
2. Stand Up Straight
3. Blood For Blood
4. Shotgun Serenade
5. Hunger
6. My Own Demise
7. Consulting With The Sinner
8. The Illusionist
9. Blessing In Disguise
10. Evil Trancsends
Photo Gallery
