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Brennan F
Fan of all music from Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and their family tree's
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Brennan F's Album Reviews
Set The World On Fire is the 3rd album from Annihilator. The first and only to feature Aaron Randall. This album went on to create live staples such as Knight Jumps Queen, Set The World On Fire and Brian Dance.
The opener Set the World on Fire, is hard driven and Water's guitar is on full display. An awesome riff coupled with some great solos. Other songs with strong guitar work are Knight Jumps Queen, Bats in the Belfry and Brain Dance.
Randall's vocals are truly wonderful, the way he can twist his voice from high to low and aggressive to soft is quite impressive and it feels like he switches between them very well on each song. He can really rock with aggressive songs like Bats In the Belfry and Brian Dance, singing hard and fast while providing the imagery that he's a bit insane. It all works great, meanwhile he still manages to kill it on the ballads. Sounds Good to Me and Phoenix Rising have really memorable lyrics and Randall's softer voice shines through, couple that with Waters classical sounding guitar work at times and the songs are truly beautiful.
The Alice and Wonderland themes are alive and well throughout the album, something I wish they never drifted away from. Brain Dance is the diamond of the album for me, perfect play all around and the imagery of insanity of the singer with Alice Wonderland references is my favorite to listen to.
The only downsides for me are Don't Bother Me and The Edge. Don't bother me is a bit uninspiring guitar wise and the vocals are just boring and it feels like the song drags. The Edge is pretty good instrumentally with Jeff Waters laying down a decent riff and excellent drumming from Mangini. However, the lyrics are disjointed and don't really fit the song or the album themes.
Overall, this is my favorite album from Annihilator, yes it's more commercial and it has the ballads, but I truly enjoy those and I think if you listen to the work Jeff Water's lays down on those tracks you can really see where his masterclass shows. When he slows it down he can play some incredible scales and chords. Aaron Randall's vocals are also a real hero here making everything a true joy to listen to. I just wish we got more albums from Randall and Annihilator.
The opener Set the World on Fire, is hard driven and Water's guitar is on full display. An awesome riff coupled with some great solos. Other songs with strong guitar work are Knight Jumps Queen, Bats in the Belfry and Brain Dance.
Randall's vocals are truly wonderful, the way he can twist his voice from high to low and aggressive to soft is quite impressive and it feels like he switches between them very well on each song. He can really rock with aggressive songs like Bats In the Belfry and Brian Dance, singing hard and fast while providing the imagery that he's a bit insane. It all works great, meanwhile he still manages to kill it on the ballads. Sounds Good to Me and Phoenix Rising have really memorable lyrics and Randall's softer voice shines through, couple that with Waters classical sounding guitar work at times and the songs are truly beautiful.
The Alice and Wonderland themes are alive and well throughout the album, something I wish they never drifted away from. Brain Dance is the diamond of the album for me, perfect play all around and the imagery of insanity of the singer with Alice Wonderland references is my favorite to listen to.
The only downsides for me are Don't Bother Me and The Edge. Don't bother me is a bit uninspiring guitar wise and the vocals are just boring and it feels like the song drags. The Edge is pretty good instrumentally with Jeff Waters laying down a decent riff and excellent drumming from Mangini. However, the lyrics are disjointed and don't really fit the song or the album themes.
Overall, this is my favorite album from Annihilator, yes it's more commercial and it has the ballads, but I truly enjoy those and I think if you listen to the work Jeff Water's lays down on those tracks you can really see where his masterclass shows. When he slows it down he can play some incredible scales and chords. Aaron Randall's vocals are also a real hero here making everything a true joy to listen to. I just wish we got more albums from Randall and Annihilator.
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