Annihilator
Set the World On Fire

THE REVIEW

Many Annihilator fans were disappointed after the release of this "Set the World On Fire," the group's third work.

With this album, the group abandons the purely thrash sounds of "Alice in Hell" and "Never Neverland," adding breathtaking melodies and a handful of ballads that appear for the first time on an Annihilator album; however, many elements are derived from the previous "Never Neverland."

Yet the album is quite original, very well-crafted, with cleaner guitars. Aaron Randall, the singer, does a good job (I noticed his problems with the "s," commonly known as "slurred speech"), revealing himself as the best singer Annihilator has ever had. The first track is the title-track, quite slow, yet heavy, with a superb offbeat riff. It is followed by the fast "No Zone", a short, very catchy song that definitely stands out among the others. The subsequent "Bats in the Belfry" is also an excellent song that lifts the mood, with a beautiful chorus ("Why don't you listen? I'm trying to help you!"). Melody (but not too much) arrives with "Snake On the Grass", a masterpiece of a song, starting with an acoustic guitar intro accompanied by Aaron's voice: the electric guitar in the chorus is beautiful, articulated as dictated by the "Annihilator style".

Here comes the first ballad, the poignant "Phoenix Rising", which, like most of the songs on the album, has its strong point in the 2-voice chorus, a really beautiful song. "Knight Jumps Queen" is the weakest song on the record, not even worth commenting on, I suggest you might even skip it to immediately enjoy the 7th track (another ballad of the album) which is also the most beautiful song on the entire album. A few notes of clean guitars at the beginning, then hearing Aaron kick off the flow of the song singing "saved away" (I believe that's what he says), leading to a beautiful verse ("Say goodbye and close your eyes, let’s drift away"), and an equally beautiful chorus ("Dream away don’t wait for the night, ’cause any old time at all sounds good to me").
"The Edge" is a great song too; I'm amazed that it was composed in a couple of hours (see booklet), the next "Don't Bother Me" remains at high levels, with a very "heavy" riff and the double pedal repeating dotted notes (dotted eighth note + sixteenth note).
To finish beautifully, there's "Brain Dance", proof of Jeff Waters' great compositional skill, an almost comical piece, but useful for lifting the spirits, the guitars sound playful, with a very nice middle section (which vaguely reminds me of some musical), full of technique (though not overly so).

I recommend this album to any metalhead with an open mind to melodies, this album marks a division (what a term!) among fans, at 50 and 50, some will continue to love them after having listened to their first two albums, while others will be deeply disappointed.