Jeff waters and crew are back again with another assaulting in your face record. 'Waking the Fury' is the second release to feature former Overkill axeman Joe Comeau handling lead vocals. Oh what a vocalist he is too. He handles all of the ranges of styles very successfully. I guess you could say the band is better than ever. The band really goes for the throat throughout the album. Busting it wide open is the furious opener 'Ultra Motion'. Rapid beats and riveting guitar assualt your senses. Slowing a bit in tempo but still crushing is 'Torn'. This track has some good choruses mixed with a lot of crunch. One of my favorites. 'Lunatic Asylum' is put together well with the music fitting the subject material. Another favorite of mine is 'Striker'. This track is classic example of what you don't hear as much as you want to. Solid metal at its best. "Ritual' is cool with it's vocal chants and grinding rhythms. Just as heavy is 'Prime Time Killing' which is followed by the bands look at 9-11 and the Trade Center disaster with the track 'The Blackest Day'. This track is as intense as the actual event itself. Another favorite of mine is the AC/DC / Rhino Bucket flavored 'Nothing to me' which Comeau pulls off brilliantly as usual. Another favorite follows with 'Fire Power' . Pulsating rhythms and machine gun sounding drumming get the adrenalin flowing. The fastest track on the disc 'Cold Blooded' closes it out brutal. Some of the fastest and most aggressive Annhiliator I've heard. This album is very consistent through each track quality wise and will please the Annihilator fans everywhere.
Overall
I really dig what Annihilator does and is about. The music is tough, but fun at the same time. As mentioned before, Joe Comeau is a great part of the band and the rest of the band really gels with chemistry. This release is very worthy of any metal fan's collection and should be considered essential!
Had to do some homework with this release. I recieved a Chinese copy of the album that had just about everything in.... yep, you guessed it...Chinese. Well, the homework's done and here comes the good word on this great band out of Taiwan. Musically I heard some likeness to some other bands such as Children of Bodom in the music and vocally there is a bit of a resemblance to Nightwish. In other words, very heavy music with opera style vocals with a bit of death vocal added in in bits. The album opens in an orchestrated piece titled 'Prelude' and then launches into the aggessive 'Love Hate' which mixes the two styles of vocals mentioned previously. Lead singer Pay shows a lot of grace with her vocal parts and the death style adds a bit of darkness to the whole picture. Continuing the pace is 'Emptiness' which shows a certain tightness of the band. 'Immortal Silence' is one of those tracks that more than most reminds me of Children of Bodom. Not totally vocally due to the nature of this bands style of vocals, but a bit more in the sound and style. The title track 'The soul that never dies' seems to concentrate on painting a visual presentation. The track has a bit more atmosphere than previously heard. 'Samsara' stays consistent with the majority of the album heard so far. 'Mind's Sky' is the musical journey of the disc that covers a lot of ground and is on of my favorites on the disc. The track chimes in around 9 minutes in length. 'Forever' get's back to the basics of the album in general. The big surprise of the album is the melodic and vocally driven 'Canticle'. The track shows a totally different side of the band. 'Light of the setting Sun' is typical of the rest of the album in tempo. Heavy, but not overdone. The final track 'Majestic Farewell' is another musical journey with length. The final track works well in it's 10 minute time frame.
Overall
Although I can't understand the lyrics of the album due to the Chinese vocals, this release rides high on it's musical presentation. The band comes across as a solid unit and vocally the band is fairly unique with only a few other acts embracing the style. If you like it intense with this type os twist in vocals, you may want to spin this band. Watch for more of these guys in the future!
