ANNIHILATOR Frontman JEFF WATERS On Vocalist DAVE PADDEN's Departure – "There Were No Personality Issues; In His Words, He Just Got Tired Of The Travelling"

Annihilator mastermind Jeff Waters spoke to ArmyOfOneTV at Megaforce Records in New York City on Tuesday Sept 1st. He discussed the band’s new album, Suicide Society, the worldwide touring state of the band, the departure of vocalist/guitarist Dave Padden, and more.

ArmyOfOneTV – ANNIHILATOR ‘Jeff Waters’ (CA)

Waters recently posted the following update.

“Well, it is almost tour time for yet another Annihilator studio CD, Suicide Society… a pretty killer one. A lot of thrash and a lot of melody! Very proud of this one. Usually, Annihilator tours/live shows are pretty raw; lots of fun, smiling, running around and making mistakes, no real emphasis on lights and pyro, image, stage props, etc. A pretty raw and real show. But this time around, I think we will step it up a bit. Many of the venues we play now are getting bigger (well, not the actual venues, but the one’s they put us in! hehe!) and we will be giving you much more of a show this time! Still fun, still real but now with a bigger crew, bigger lightshow, bigger! We cannot wait to see our fans again and we have one wicked set-list we will be rehearsing soon. Killer merchandise at the shows, too, thanks to our CD cover/booklet artist Gyula Havancsák .Tell all your metal friends that this is the Annihilator tour to see. We won’t let you down!

On a completely opposite note, here is a short low-res set of clips from our “totally raw” (basically like jamming in the rehearsal room with some friends hanging out; just 80,000+ of them!) Annihilator at Wacken 2015…..hi-quality coming soooooooooon!”

Annihilator will release their brand new (and 15th) studio album, Suicide Society, on September 18th via UDR Music worldwide. A new EPK (Electronic Press Kit) supporting the upcoming release can be found below.

As usual, guitar wizard Jeff Waters handles all songwriting duties, plays all guitar & bass, engineers, produces, mixes and masters Suicide Society… and Waters is also back commanding lead vocal duties, as he did on the critically acclaimed King Of The Kill (1994), Refresh The Demon (1996), Remains (1997) and other Annihilator albums over the years.

Waters on his return to vocal duties: “Dave (Padden/vocalist from 03-14) and I have, essentially, been Annihilator since 2003 but he resigned last December, citing having had enough of touring, being away from home and other commitments. I thank him for his 11 years with Annihilator. That said, Annihilator and I are known for never giving up and, occasionally, coming up with something even better than its former offering(s): this is undeniably the case with Suicide Society!”

Waters later elaborated on his initial statement: “Those who expect a King Of The Kill vocal are in for something interesting! I intentionally tried to avoid the cliché metal vocal/rock stuff I did then (but didn’t realize I was doing it then!) and weed out the bad in my voice and style; try to find the good stuff and only do those things! I guess you will be the judge but I am stoked!”

With Suicide Society, Annihilator goes headfirst into some of the most technically perfect, crisp, and crushingly taut, riffage Waters has ever produced. Although Waters’ vocals keep traces of stylings from his King Of The Kill album, they now evoke a surprising blend of legends such as Staley, Osbourne, Hetfield and Mustaine. This, in a twisted way, mirrors Waters’ signature blend of riffing, drums grooves and bass; all drawing from multiple sources and genres.

Waters has built a worldwide reputation as being a premier guitarist and songwriter; the conciseness and arrangement of “Creepin’ Again” is both an air-guitarist’s dream and a sharp reminder of this. The gloriously-brutal thrash of “My Revenge” calls up a vintage of ’85 with the technical chops of 2015. The neo-classic title track defiantly expresses anger at the state of world affairs, while offering up hope in closing. With the multi-layered power of the anthem “Snap”, Waters illustrates the diversity of Annihilator’s sound, without sacrificing one decibel of attack.

“Metal fans will likely sport evil, satisfied grins on their faces, when they hear this record”, chuckles Waters, “but in the words of Joe Perry: “Let the Music Do the Talking”!”

Tracklisting:
“Suicide Society”
“My Revenge”
“Snap”
“Creepin’ Again”
“Narcotic Avenue”
“The One You Serve”
“Break, Enter”
“Death Scent”
“Every Minute“

EPK:

“Creepin’ Again” lyric video:

“Suicide Society”:

Audio clips: