''Metal'' is the twelfth album by Canadian heavy metal band Annihilator, released on April 16, 2007, by

SPV/Steamhammer SPV GmbH (short for ''Schallplatten Produktion und Vertrieb GmbH'', "Vinyl Production and Distribution Company") is a German independent record label. Founded on 1 January 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributors ...

. However, it wasn't released in the United States until January 15, 2008. The album includes several special guests who each contribute to separate tracks. This includes

Danko Jones Danko Jones is a Canadian hard rock trio from Toronto. The band consists of Danko Jones (vocals/guitar), John "JC" Calabrese (bass), and Rich Knox (drums).Angela Gossow, Steve "Lips" Kudlow,

Alexi Laiho Alexi Laiho (; born Markku Uula Aleksi Laiho; 8 April 1979 – 29 December 2020) was a Finnish guitarist, composer, and vocalist. He was best known as the lead guitarist, lead vocalist and founding member of the melodic death metal band Children ...

Anders Björler Anders Björler (born 26 February 1973) is a Swedish musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist in the metal bands The Haunted and At the Gates, alongside his bass-playing twin brother Jonas Björler. Björler has also directed, edite ...

Michael Amott Michael Amott (born 28 July 1969) is a Swedish guitarist, founding member of the metal bands Arch Enemy, Spiritual Beggars and Carnage (band), Carnage, as well as a former member of Carcass (band), Carcass. He is the older brother of Christoph ...

Jesper Strömblad Clas Håkan Jesper Strömblad (born 28 November 1972) is a Swedish musician who is the guitarist of the bands The Halo Effect, Dimension Zero and Cyhra, and formerly of In Flames and The Resistance. He is best known as the founder and forme ...

Corey Beaulieu Corey King Beaulieu (born November 22, 1983) is an American musician best known as the guitarist of the heavy metal band Trivium. At live shows, he also performs backing and, sometimes, lead screaming vocals. Early life Born in Dover-Foxcro ...

, Jacob Lynam and William Adler. A re-recording of the album titled ''Metal II'' was released in 2022.

Reception

2007's ''Metal'' was received rather negatively by fans and received mixed to decent reviews from critics. From

Metal Storm Metal Storm Limited was a research and development company based in Brisbane, Australia, that specialized in electronically initiated superposed load weapons technology and owned the proprietary rights to the electronic ballistics technology ...

a reviewer gave it a positive review, stating that while the idea to have a guest on each song of the CD is good, the problem is that "it can sound a bit "false" sometimes too. I mean that it can be a bit like a copy-paste when the musicians didn't really work together. If a song like "Army Of One" with its federator Metal chorus or "Downright Dominate" sounds like a real collaboration some other songs like "Clown Parade" (even with an incredible solo performed by Jeff Loomis) or Couple Suicide (especially with the choruses performed by Angela Gossow) are a bit more unnatural." Following this they spoke on the positives of the album, complimenting the fact that "the riffs are great, the solos are exceptional, the voice of Dave Padden is good but definitely not "thrashy" so even if it's pleasant to listen to "Metal", that's a fact it's not a real album of Thrash Metal a la

Kreator Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current line-up consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mille Petrozza, Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen Reil, Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli- ...

Slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...

." They ended their review with "Metal is not the album of the year. It's not a perfect and pure Thrash album too, but it's always cool to listen to it, and definitely, Jeff Waters knows how to write some great killer riffs and I'm quite sure that the new songs will be great live. Don't expect real Thrash here but for sure you can expect some good nice music."

Track listing

''Metal II''

''Metal II'', a near complete re-recording of ''Metal'', was released on February 18, 2022, which serves as a tribute to

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...

and

, the latter of whom appears posthumously on one of the album's re-recorded tracks "Downright Dominate", which also features

Dave Lombardo David Lombardo (born February 16, 1965) is a Cuban-American drummer, best known as a co-founding member of the thrash metal band Slayer. He currently plays drums with Fantômas, Dead Cross, Mr. Bungle, Empire State Bastard, and Misfits. Lo ...

on drums and Stu Block on vocals. In January 2022, Jeff Waters announced that he would be once again stepping down as lead vocalist and focusing solely on lead guitar while Stu Block would handle lead vocals on the band's future live shows.

Reception

Reception of the 2022 re-recording has been positive from fans and range from decent to negative from critics. A reviewer from The Moshville Times questioned its existence, unsure as to why it was made. "I just don't see the point of it, the changes being so minor compared to the original. Both releases have excellent production, and the major differences are in the drum fills. I'd have to say that this is one for the completist, or for someone who doesn't already have Metal already. A curiosity rather than a necessity." Of

Louder Sound ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 196 ...

a reviewer of

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

spoke more harshly of the album, saying that "the songs are as bland now as ever. Army Of One idolizes metal with the creativity of a Wikipedia list ('Anthrax! Motörhead! Exodus! Slayer! Bang your head!'), while the album's melodies couldn't be flatter if they were pummelled beneath an iron foundry press. This is especially true of Couple Suicide's glam schmaltz, where Danko Jones and Angela Gossow's vocals have been mechanized and muddied by time." they concluded their review by stating that "If terrible ideas weighed a gram, this would be heavier than the Eiffel Tower." A more positive review came from Blabbermouth where the reviewer spoke positively of the album, saying that " etalfeels like an excellent entry point for diehard fans and newcomers. The title tells you what to expect. The album delivers. Your neck is going to hurt."

Personnel

''Metal''

;Band *

Dave Padden David James Padden (born February 13, 1976) is a Canadian musician, best known as the former lead vocalist for thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its ov ...

– vocals, rhythm guitars * Jeff Waters – lead guitar, bass, and lead vocals on "Operation Annihilation" *

Mike Mangini Michael Anthony Mangini (born April 18, 1963) is an American musician, best known for his tenure with the progressive metal band Dream Theater, with whom he performed from 2010 to 2023. He has also played with artists and bands including Annihi ...

– drums ;Session members *

– guitars (lead) (track 8) *

– guitars (lead) (track 4) *

– guitars (lead) (track 6) *

Jeff Loomis Jeff Loomis (born September 14, 1971) is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore during its existence from 1991 to 2011, as well as brief tenures in its precursor, Sanctuary (band) ...

– guitars (lead) (track 1) *

– guitars (lead) (track 5) *

– guitars (lead) (track 7) * Steve "Lips" Kudlow – guitars (lead) (track 3) *Jacob Lynam – guitars (lead) (track 9) *Allan Johnson – bass (track 11), backing vocals * Dan Beehler – drums, vocals (track 11), backing vocals *Jacques Bélanger – backing vocals *John Perinbam – backing vocals *Paul Malek – backing vocals *Brian Stephenson – backing vocals *Bob Walden – backing vocals *Scott Walsh – backing vocals ;Miscellaneous staff *Jeff Waters – engineering, mixing, producer *Jeff Yurek – engineering *Andy Sneap – engineering *Vic Florencia – engineering *Ben Schigel – engineering (additional) *Adam Ayan – mastering *Gyula Havancsák – cover art, design

''Metal II''

;Band * Stu Block – lead vocals * Jeff Waters – guitars, bass, co-lead vocals *

– drums ;Session members *Danko Jones – vocals (track 4) *Angela Gossow – vocals (track 4) *Dan Beehler – drums, vocals (track 5) *Allan Johnson – bass (track 5) *Willie Adler – guitars (lead) (track 1) *Alexi Laiho – guitars (lead) (tracks 2, 7) *Steve "Lips" Kudlow – guitars (lead) (track 3) *Jesper Strömblad – guitars (lead) (track 6) *Jacob Lynam – guitars (lead) (track 8) *Jeff Loomis – guitars (lead) (track 9) *Anders Björler – guitars (lead) (track 10) *Corey Beaulieu – guitars (lead) (track 11) ;Miscellaneous staff *Mike Fraser – mixing, engineering *Maor Appelbaum - remastering

References

External links

kvltsite.com review
{{Authority control Annihilator (band) albums 2007 albums SPV/Steamhammer albums