Annihilator has spent the last three-and-a-half decades churning out consistent, adrenalized thrash ready and worthy of any pit since the VHS and cassette days of ’84. Despite lineup changes, the name has been kept alive by Jeff Waters keeping vintage fans and gaining new ones.
Ballistic Sadistic is the newest thrash serving from the Canadian veterans. It’s a fast, technical throwback to earlier work, and an update on back to basics. Never, Neverland has been revisited bringing back the vintage sound dragging Alice kicking and screaming out of hell into 2020 by the throat.
Ballistic explodes with their trademark thrash standard snarl with gritty neck twisting riffs that pin your ears against the wall. Lyrical procedures cover abuse of power, politics and bringing the darkest corners and spirits of the asylum to loud life. Waters and crew are still working man thrash icons playing their passion through menacing sounds.
They’ve been around long enough to be cited by genre peers Megadeth and Pantera while influencing the newer blood reaching across the genre to the ears and fingers of Lamb of God and Children of Bodom.
Packing moments of vintage Exodus, Ballistic, Sadistic packs a mighty punch with Tyson fury and no stinking ballad.
“Armed to the Teeth” is the opening smasher. Mashing and annihilating on frets, with raw machine sparking riffs starting immediately. Battlefield bedlam is harsh and immediate as guitars screech and scream out their battle cry.
“The Attitude” is a high-raised thrash middle finger, stating the highest defiance.
We all get a little crazy sometimes, especially in the “Psycho Ward.” It’s a new mental “Stone Wall” in the loony bin as guitars spiral like a mind unraveling into decay. The voices yell and scream. Serial killers, fake messiahs and cult leaders find new homes where all great cracked minds go to ferment. Four walls costumed cushioned for recreation and personal destruction. Let the party begin.
The gods and fathers of the battlefield stake their claim to historical bloodshed on “I am Warfare” with harsh vibrating strings and helicopter fire in the battalion blitzkrieg. We see another suit and tie guy “Dressed Up for Evil,” politicians, T.V. evangelists, all hidden devils in power positions.
“One Wrong Move” sets itself apart with a surprise melodic break midway through while “Lip Service” sets the world on fire as the knight plays chess with the queen with promises and words given but unfulfilled.
Ballistic, Sadistic is a welcomed addition to the bands history, showing they’re still packing the goods, living up to their namesake.
