Created in Hate

Anihilated’s debut is somehow a small, overlooked effort. This band never succeeded in emerging from the underground, even if the published two albums. The biggest influences come from Slayer, especially from the first two efforts by the thrash metal gods. The production is too poor for a thrash album, even if it sounds pure, direct. However, a minimum of power should have been given in order to exalt the instruments, avoiding those immature sounds. It’s a pity, because the band plays quite violent on this album even if you cannot find anything in personality: everything has already been done by other and far more famous bands.

“Chase the Dragon” features a more mid-paced beginning to become a truly fast track with lots of hyper fast solos and drums up tempo. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, sounds so Slayer oriented: the vocals, the riffs (a blend of the ones from Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits) and the obsessive drumming. “Slaughter” features a quite long mid-paced section right at the beginning and then the fury is unleashed through long up tempo parts, as the vocals enter too. Everything sounds punkish and truly fast even if the riffs are truly simple to point directly on the “in your face” style.

“Power is the Path” has a far heavier death/thrash attitude. The vocals are a bit lower in tonality and we meet some riffs ala Death Strike (pre-Master band). The galloping riff in the middle is truly pounding, but the poor production soon suffocates it with the drums. The first part to “Anihilated” sounds quite dull for its mid-paced (with few ideas) progression, while the solos on the up tempo sections are a bit abused. “Nightmare” has a very good fast restart after the mid-paced introduction and the atmosphere is quite gloom. The vocals are a bit lower in tonality too as the drums are just unstoppable. However, few calmer moments can be found again to give variety to a quite long song.

“Final Dawn” has that riffs right at the beginning that is quite catchy but nothing spectacular. The fast restarts are normal and at times a bit harmless. The Slayer influences are stronger, as the punk ones too. “Aftermath” is remarkable for the good atmosphere of tragedy that comes out from the tapping guitars part and its more mid-paced march. Nothing revolutionary but worth a listen to break a bit the impact of the other songs. “Seventh Vial” has a more melodic beginning with arpeggios but the restarts are far more brutal, conserving a melodic hint for some riffs. The doomy section in the middle is just OK, like the sloppy, tired solo section.

Well, at the end it’s also good to know the way Metal Forces described this album. Unbelievable, right when the English mags were throwing shit on the other foreign releases (Italian ones anyone??), they were ready to exalt this album. Honestly, I can’t find anything astonishing on it and if this is described as “The most important UK thrash release to date”, I can only imagine the other ones! Really, there’s nothing particular here and the truly poor production puts the final seal on this release. Well, if you’d like to know the English mags’ point of view on the metal music, listen to this one and you’ll understand lots of things.

Thanks Corimngul for the info about Metal Forces point of view!