01. W.T.Y.D. [0:05:06.66]
02. Wicked Mystic [0:03:41.38]
03. Ligeia [0:05:35.14]
04. Alison Hell [0:05:14.34]
05. Word Salad [0:06:02.69]
06. W.T.Y.D [0:04:49.46]
07. The Fun Palace [0:05:11.44]
08. Never, Neverland [0:05:19.04]
09. I Am In Command [0:03:40.07]
10. Stonewall [0:04:23.24]
11. Road To Ruin [0:04:34.26]
12. Sixes And Sevens [0:06:01.47]
13. Alison Hell [0:04:55.61]
14. Live Wire [0:05:27.50]
Annihilator - "In Command (Live 1989-1990)"
Limited digipak edition
Live albums can often tell a listener not only the actual viability of a band, but also the state that their in at the time it was recorded. Of all the live albums that I’ve encountered, this is probably the most telling in the latter regard as it features two eras of Annihilator, out of about 5 or 6 of course as Jeff Waters goes through band mates like you or I would underwear, which sound extremely different from each other despite being only 1 year apart. Determining which one of these eras is the superior one depends mostly on what kind of metal fan you are, as I’m sure most old school Thrash fans would likely go for the first half of this album for reasons of vocal character alone.
Of all the various vocalists I’ve heard who don’t quite cross over into the harsh death/thrash subgenre; Randy Rampage is definitely among the ugliest sounding. It really shows as each syllable out of his mouth on this performance is as gravely as a sports fan that has spent 10 years shouting himself hoarse every day in a packed arena. He struggles a little bit with that one high section in the middle of “Alison Hell”, but otherwise this sound is appropriate given the nature of the studio versions of most of these songs. The music behind him is executed flawlessly, as Jeff Waters’ perfectionist attitude would demand that these guys know these songs like the back of their hand before taking it to a live venue. This particular venue sounds a good deal smaller than the one featuring Coburn Pharr on vocals by virtue of the crowd noise level, which makes for a much more personal sounding listening experience. Basically other than the fact that they didn’t play “Human Insecticide”, there’s little to complain about as these songs are all executed with very strict precision and the quality of the mixing job is pretty high.
By contrast, the concert done in San Antonio is loaded with crowd noise, which has likely been turned down during the mastering of this to keep from having the music become drown in a sea of audience screams. Coburn Pharr has more of a semi-ugly voice that can be relatively hard edged when called for, but mostly follows that power/thrash model of switching between clean and dirty singing on a regular basis. It really shows in how much easier he hits the high notes on his rendition of “Alison Hell” with ease, yet during the growls just doesn’t quite exude the same level of attitude and fury. His rendition of “W.T.Y.D.” is also a little bit tamer and safer sounding, although by no means does it morph into some sort of clean sung easy listening quality of voice. He shines quite well on the AC/DC cover, as his multifaceted voice is more suited to classic hard rock than thrash metal. Aside from a different vocal quality, a larger bass presence and a lot more crowd sounds, the music on the second half of this is roughly the same in terms of overall quality of performance. You don’t hear any screw ups or gaps during the solos, the riffs are all crisp and clear, and the sound quality is still quite high for a live release in spite of all the background noise from the fans.
If you like Annihilator’s earlier era, this is a good pick up if you already have the first two studio albums. But in terms of an overall great live performance, the best live offering that Waters and company have put out is the “Double Live Annihilation” album with Jon Comeau at the helm, a man that seems to not know the meaning of a weak note if you catch my meaning. Both of these vocalists on this album were quite good, but the weaknesses and limitations in their respective styles definitely show through on here.
/1 
发表于 2020-1-11 15:31:45
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