Since 1989, Canada's Annihilator have not stopped putting out records and touring the world. Despite the ever-changing climate of the metal world (and releasing a series of "different" metal records with various lineups along the way), Jeff Waters and company have consistently delivered strong albums since the band's debut Alice In Hell.

Then there was 1990's best-selling Never, Neverland, 1995's King Of The Kill, Schizo Deluxe in 2005 and many other critically-acclaimed releases up until 2015's Suicide Society. The 'under-the-radar' influence of this band, and writer/guitarist/vocalist Jeff Waters, has been felt throughout the entire realm of the metal world by a ton of well-known musicians and bands; that influence even stretching into the hard rock and instrumentalist genre.

Annihilator's main man Jeff Waters, in his usual humble manner, offers this in response: "Annihilator's music has been influenced by a good hundred of my favorite bands and musicians; you can hear their contributions to what I have been doing all throughout Annihilator's catalogue. It's a bonus and an honor when bands and musicians I love mention that I had something to do with their playing or songs!"

Which all leads to the fact that Annihilator's 16th studio release, For The Demented (out November 3rd via Neverland Music/Silver Lining Music), is certainly their most complete and definitive statement yet. The album will be available in a Limited Edition Digipack with Lenticular cover, a jewel-case CD, a 12" 180g coloured vinyl in gatefold and digital download. Pre-order will go live next week.

Watch a new music video for the absolute burner of a new track, “Twisted Lobotomy”, below.

"It was time to analyze what a lot of fans over the years have kept telling me," says Waters. "It was time to sit down and figure out "why" Annihilator's early "thrash-meets-melodic" caught the ears of so many and to try to sweep the "fan" part of my writing/playing/singing out the door and welcome back the mostly-original Waters writing that was to be the first four Annihilator albums."

Waters didn't venture back alone while looking back through Annihilator's history. "I was well aware that trying to re-capture the past usually fails, or at least won't come close. So, I decided to bring in fresh ears, both musically and physically with Rich Hinks, my bassist for the last few years. And doing most all of the records by myself, including writing and playing most all on my own, as well as mixing, mastering, engineering, etc..., well it can become routine and can often hinder you from being objective and more creative.

"Rich came in and co-wrote the music with me, as well as co-produced the beginning stages of the record. His background of classic thrash metal meets a newer "math" metal style was the perfect combination for me to simply ask, 'What do you think of this?' He would most-often reply with "not the Annihilator style I like", so we would keep going until we both felt that core Annihilator riffing and writing style presented itself.

"Bottom line, For The Demented captures some feel from Annihilator's 1985-87 demos mixed with the first four Annihilator records. Back to the thrash-meets-melody but with some pure Waters guitar riffing, up-graded lead guitar shredding and vocals back to the demo-days meets the King of The Kill record. Lyrically, I placed a theme on the record: the human mind and all of its glory, complexity, diversity, weaknesses and insanity! Pretty much the craziness of the music is matched by the lyrics.

"I think metal fans are going to hear much of what they have been waiting for from Annihilator."

For The Demented tracklisting:

“Twisted Lobotomy”
“One To Kill”
“For The Demented”
“Pieces Of You”
“The Demon You Know”
“Phantom Asylum”
“Altering The Alter”
“The Way”
“Dark”
“Not All There”

“Twisted Lobotomy” video:

Annihilator tour dates (with Testament):

November
12 - Antwerp, Belgium - Trix *
13 - Hannover, Germany - Musikzentrum **
14 - Berlin, Germany - Astra *
15 - Warsaw, Poland - Progresja *
16 - Kosice, Slovakia - Colloseum *
17 - Wroclaw, Poland - A2 *
18 - Budapest, Hungary - Barba Negra *
19 - Brno, Czech Republic - Sono Centrum *
20 - Vienna, Austria - Arena *
22 - Wiesbaden, Germany - Schlachthof *
23 - München, Germany - Backstage *
24 - Saarbrücken, Germany - Garage *
25 - Stuttgart, Germany - LKA/Longhorn *
26 - Ljubljana, Slovenia - Kino Siska *
27 - Nürnberg, Germany - Löwensaal *
28 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7 *
30 - Bologna, Italy - Estragon *

December
1 - Milano, Italy - Live Club *
2 - Fribourg, Switzerland - Fri-Son *
3 - Toulouse, France - Bikini *
4 - Madrid, Spain - Riviera *
6 - Lyon, France - Transbordeur *
7 - Nantes, France - Stereolux *
8 - Paris, France - Bataclan *
9 - Oberhausen, Germany - Ruhrpott Metal Meeting *
10 - Haarlem, Netherlands - Patronaat *

* with Testament & Death
** with Death Angel

Annihilator is:

Jeff Waters - vox, guitar
Fabio Alessandrini - drums
Rich Hinks - bass
Aaron Homma - guitar

(Photo - Jasmina Vrcko)