Alice in Hell
| Alice in Hell | ||||
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| Annihilator studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Roadrunner Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
9 12 (re-release) |
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running time |
37:27 |
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| occupation |
Tour band:
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Jeff Waters |
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Studio (s) |
Live West Productions, Fiasco Bros. Studios, New Westminster , BC, Canada |
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Alice in Hell is the debut album by the Canadian thrash metal band Annihilator . It was released in September 1989 by Roadrunner Records and is now considered a classic of Thrash Metal.
style
On Alice in Hell , Annihilator play Thrash Metal with speed and light Power Metal influences. The acoustic intro Crystal Ann is mostly followed by songs with fast rhythm passages and many breaks, as well as solos that are often played extremely quickly. Alison Hell , the title song, is - according to detailed explanations of every piece in the booklet - about a girl who is frightened at night by something that is outside as well as by her own imaginations - a theme that Metallica has discussed with Enter Sandman in similar shape is varied. The other pieces also deal with topics such as death ( WTYD ), sexuality ( Burns Like a Buzzsaw Blade ) or the mentally ill ( Word Salad , Schizos Are Never Alone ), with the latter songs sometimes containing not very serious allusions. Ligeia refers to a story by Edgar Allan Poe . Human Insecticide is about a prisoner who plays judge and enforcer with the insects in his cell.
Emergence
After signing the record deal with Roadrunner, Alice in Hell was largely recorded and produced by Jeff Waters on his own: he played all the guitars and bass. Randy Rampage (previously DOA ), who has just joined the band, can be heard as the singer . In addition to drummer Ray Hartmann, who also plays on the album, the second guitarist David Davis and bassist Wayne Darley were brought in for the tour. On the album cover, however, Anthony Greenham is named as the second guitarist. However, he had only auditioned for the band, but failed to implement Waters' material. Nevertheless, at the request of the record company, he was put on the cover photo at that time, since Annihilator were intended as a quintet. Then Davis was brought in, who played the tour for Alice in Hell .
The songs come from Jeff Waters' pen, some of them come from previous demos such as WTYD . The lyrics were partly written by Jody Weil and John Bates, the band's first singer. Originally the album was supposed to be called Power Position . When the album was released, a US tour with Exodus was originally planned, but when this did not materialize, the band toured Europe after only two appearances in Vancouver with Onslaught , where they made a name for themselves as a good live band. Only then did a US tour follow. A little later, singer Randy Rampage was fired because of an argument with him on tour. A video was made for the title track, which soon became a band classic - here, at the instigation of MTV, Jeff Waters' T-shirt with the advertising slogan “Fly Virgin ” had to be made unrecognizable, otherwise it could be confused with Virgin Records .
reception
Alice in Hell became Roadrunner's best-selling debut album until 1990. Rock Hard called the album in the person of Holger Stratmann "the speed debut of the year". The guitar work in particular is "first class". Had the album been released five years earlier, it would have received the status of Kill 'Em All . Stratmann gave him nine out of ten points. The magazine also put the record in 72nd place in its 500 album bestseller list. Eduardo Rivadavia from Allmusic describes the music as a technical “thinking man's thrash metal”, although Waters sometimes takes himself a little too seriously with his lyrics. Three out of five stars were given on the website. Mike Stagno of Sputnikmusic.com said: "... the band did not gain the same popularity as some of the other thrash acts, especially in North America, which is unfortunate, as the band put out some very quality material. Alice in Hell ranks near the top of the band's discography, and is definitely an essential thrash album. "(" ... the band achieved the popularity of other Thrash albums, especially in North America, which is a shame, given the high quality material on them. Alice in Hell is one of the best works in the band's oeuvre and is definitely an essential Thrash album. ")
Track list
- Crystal Ann (Waters) - 1:40
- Alison Hell (Bates, Waters) - 5:00
- WTYD (Bates, Waters) - 4:56
- Wicked Mystic (Waters, Weil) - 3:38
- Burns Like a Buzzsaw Blade (Bates, Waters, Weil) - 3:33
- Word Salad (Waters) - 5:49
- Schizos (Are Never Alone), Parts. I & II (Waters) - 4:32
- Ligeia (Waters) - 4:47
- Human Insecticide (Bates, Waters) - 4:50
- Powerdrain (Demo) (Waters) - 2:49 *
- Schizos (Are Never Alone), Parts. I & II (Demo) (Waters) - 4:18 *
- Ligeia (Demo) (Waters) - 4:56 *
The demo tracks recorded in 1988 that appeared as a bonus on the 1998 version are marked with *. WTYD means Welcome to Your Death .
Individual evidence
- ↑ www.roadrunnerrecords.com: Alice in Hell ( Memento from May 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 6, 2015.
- ↑ a b Annihilator Alice in Hell Review by Mike Stagno STAFF August 6th, 2006
- ↑ a b www.allmusic.de: Review Alice in Hell by Eduardo Rivadavia
- ↑ a b c d Holger Stratmann: Live Destroyers! in: Rock Hard, No. 34, September / October 1989, pp. 14-15.
- ↑ www.rockhard.de: Review Never, Neverland by Holger Stratmann
- ↑ www.rockhard.de: Review Alice in Hell by Holger Stratmann
- ↑ Rock Hard (Ed.): Best of Rock and Metal , Heel-Verlag, Königswinter 2007, p. 194 f.
Web links
- Alice in Hell at Allmusic (English)