Cool solo by Jeff Waters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4dlChASrB8&NR=1

They are ALL cool solos coming from Jeff's guitar. A genius, methinks.

I think Jeff Waters is an amazing player, but I don't think he really knows how to write good metal. Yeah, he writes some amazing riffs and solos, but overall I think he's a weirdo, and I wonder if he even likes metal.

AchrisK wrote:

I think Jeff Waters is an amazing player, but I don't think he really knows how to write good metal. Yeah, he writes some amazing riffs and solos, but overall I think he's a weirdo, and I wonder if he even likes metal.

After he gave up on Annihilator in the 1990's, he went to a Slayer concert, as he is a big fan of Slayer. Sitting in the audience, he realized how much he missed being on stage and making real metal music and he reformed the original Annihilator for Criteria for a Black Widow. I think Jeff is a metal fan. When he concentrates on what he does best, he's unbeatable. When he tries to modernize his sound, it usually comes out like crap.

Having said that, I really like "Metal". People are bagging on it left and right but it's really not a bad CD at all. "Clown Parade" and "Army of One" are worth the price of admission alone.

ult

One of my pet peeves is having to listen to albums that are part killer and part stupid. It probably has a lot to do with how I listen. I am a whole album listener, and I rarely skip songs. So for me to be happy an album has to have enough good to outweigh the bad. I discard a lot of albums that have some good, because it is outweighed by the bad. I got no time to waste on a 30%-100% lame album.

This is how I have felt about a lot of post-Scrolls Mortification, and it seems it is the same for just about every Annihilator release I hear. With Annihilator it is a strong paradox, because some of the riffs and solos are amazing, but then some of the song structures and vocal phrasing and lyrics are just beyond dumb. I am always torn. I want to enjoy the band, and I do, but then inevitably they ruin it for me.

AchrisK wrote:

One of my pet peeves is having to listen to albums that are part killer and part stupid. It probably has a lot to do with how I listen. I am a whole album listener, and I rarely skip songs. So for me to be happy an album has to have enough good to outweigh the bad. I discard a lot of albums that have some good, because it is outweighed by the bad. I got no time to waste on a 30%-100% lame album.

This is how I have felt about a lot of post-Scrolls Mortification, and it seems it is the same for just about every Annihilator release I hear. With Annihilator it is a strong paradox, because some of the riffs and solos are amazing, but then some of the song structures and vocal phrasing and lyrics are just beyond dumb. I am always torn. I want to enjoy the band, and I do, but then inevitably they ruin it for me.

I hear you man. Not too long ago i started a thread about bands with stupid lyrics and as much as i love Annihilator's music they are plagued with weak, dumb lyrics.

I agree that Annihilator have some real ignorant lyrics, but I really think that if you are looking for intelligent, thought provoking statements, then you should read a book.

However questionable, the music is intended to cause the listener to swing their head back and forth, throw devil horns in the air, and to incite such "deep" statements as "metal up your a$$". I think we should leave the complex interpretations for the Tori Amos crowd.

Just one man's opinion.

spectrefate wrote:

I agree that Annihilator have some real ignorant lyrics, but I really think that if you are looking for intelligent, thought provoking statements, then you should read a book.

However questionable, the music is intended to cause the listener to swing their head back and forth, throw devil horns in the air, and to incite such "deep" statements as "metal up your a$$". I think we should leave the complex interpretations for the Tori Amos crowd.

Just one man's opinion.

That may be true for alot of metal but good lyrics are also used in metal for example i think Metallica wrote some good stuff from RTL through the Black album and Metal Church have always had decent or great lyrics. It's the music that swings the head back and forth as you say but why to dumb words? Why not go for the total package?

I think Jeff is an incredibly skilled writer when it comes to music. He does a lot of weird stuff and mish-mashes a lot of riffs, but it's quite unique and generally gels quite well. Where he falls flat is his inability to write lyrics, as his tend to come off as just basic and poorly thought out. This applies to the vocal melodies as well as the words. Choruses like "SIXES! ...and sevens!" just seem weak. I always thought he should get someone else to write vocal melodies and lyrics. Having said that, there's some instances where I think the vocal melodies are great, despite the lyrics, like Bats in the Belfrey and 21.

Anyway, I think Jeff's a great guitarist. His lead skills are absolutely amazing.

Smindas wrote:

I think Jeff is an incredibly skilled writer when it comes to music. He does a lot of weird stuff and mish-mashes a lot of riffs, but it's quite unique and generally gels quite well. Where he falls flat is his inability to write lyrics, as his tend to come off as just basic and poorly thought out. This applies to the vocal melodies as well as the words. Choruses like "SIXES! ...and sevens!" just seem weak. I always thought he should get someone else to write vocal melodies and lyrics. Having said that, there's some instances where I think the vocal melodies are great, despite the lyrics, like Bats in the Belfrey and 21.

Anyway, I think Jeff's a great guitarist. His lead skills are absolutely amazing.

This post comes closer to what I am talking about. I don't care too much what the actual lyrics are, so much as how they sound within the context of a song. The vocal phrasing or vocal melodies is what I often have a problem with. the fact that the lyrics may also be dumb just takes it to another level of bad. Sixes and sevens is a perfect example. He could be saying the dumbest or coolest thing, but when a vocalist "sings" those lines, they sound utterly stupid to me. Also some of his vocal arrangements are very unmetal. I am not trying to be some kind of purist or snob, but some of those rock and roll-ish vocal arrangements just bother me. Stonewall is a perfect example of this. I hate all the vocals in that song.