Those two albums are perhaps odd companions, because - despite the fact that they signal a return to form for the band - they both have such an entirely different modus operandi that they could be recorded by different bands. This album has been issued as a Steamhammer double re-release along with 'Waking the Fury', which is the way I came across 'Carnival Diablos' and was introduced to Annihilator. Despite the three flawed opening tracks, this record is worth your attention, money and time if you care for well-crafted thrash metal with a handful of successful minor experiments. Even though the record is missing a clear guideline, it offers a musical rollercoaster ride that is both inspired and entertaining. If Annihilator had cut down its modern thrash metal tendencies focusing on aggressiveness rather than clever songwriting in the first three tunes, Carnival Diablos would be one of the group's most diversified, entertaining and inspired records ever. It's great to see that the band didn't take itself too seriously after all. The humorous hidden track ''Chicken and Corn'' also comes as a pleasant surprise because it closes an overall rather sinister and aggressive record on a light-hearted and silly note. An underrated highlight is the melancholic instrumental tune ''Liquid Oval'' that proves that Annihilator doesn't even need its exchangeable lead singers to convince. The group even offers a more than solid classic hard rock track called ''Shallow Grave'' that could please to older and more traditional listeners. The gloomy ''Time Bomb'' recalls the kind of music Judas Priest played back in those days, ''Insomniac'' might be the album's most diversified song with haunting calmer passages but also aggressive up-beat sections and ''Epic of War'' is a successful attempt at bringing the horrors of warfare to our ears. From that moment on, Annihilator delivers the goods and offers a diversified yet energizing record. Things get better with the title song ''Carnival Diablos'', a much calmer and moodier track with haunting vocal lines and melancholic guitar harmonies. Maybe the band tried to attract an angrier and younger audience here in the beginning of the millennium but Jeff Waters simply wastes his talent trying to sound like Pantera or Limp Bizkit. Start-stop riffs meet angry vocals and aren't a far call away from Pantera and the likes. The first three opening tracks don't give me much and offer more of the aggressive modern thrash metal sound practiced on the vapid predecessor. If the band had had a more charismatic and stable lead singer, they could have had an even bigger career in my book.Ĭarnival Diablos is an album that gets better from start to finish. Aside of a few exception, this has often been the case in Annihilator's career. The new frontman sounds energetic and motivated but is clearly lacking in the skills departement and doesn't really manage to stand out positively or negatively. The same could be said about new singer Joe Comeau's raw vocals reminding me of a mixture of meaner versions of Brian Johnson and Tim Owens at times. Drummer Ray Hartmann does a very decent job but nothing more. This is due to Jeff Water's new-found creative song writing in particular. Carnival Diablos is a big step forward for Annihilator after the disappointing Criteria for a Black Widow that failed to succeed at its attempt to go back to the band's early years.
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