Customer Reviews

Alice in Hell

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Uh oh, what's this? A dodgy thrash album? Well, it has all the trimmings to set off the average detector- a logo which looks like it's stolen from Blade Runner, five bemulleted denim-clad warriors trying to look tough on the back, a pretty girl being stalked by a demonic dolly on the front. This should really set alarm bells ringing. It almost makes Anthrax's 'Fistful Of Metal' look classy.

But never judge a book, or an album, by it's cover. The grooves within contain pure class.

The pretty intro piece "Crystal Ann" is a well executed classical guitar passage, merely whetting the appetite for some thrash action. And thrash this does! "Alison Hell" sets the standard for the rest of the album to follow. There are tasty guitar licks by the truckload. Annihilator main man and guitar slinger Jeff Waters wrote just about everything on the album, played all the guitars and bass, and threw in some backing vocals. Lead vocalist Randy Rampage (as if THAT was his real name...) looks like he'd just escaped from the introductory class at the Motley Crue School of Big Hair and Bad Makeup, but when the guy opens his mouth, the hair crimes are forgiven. Limited vocals were often a stumbling point for thrash outfits, but Rampage lets rip with a gutsy, tuneful shout reminiscent of a more restrained version of Overkill's Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth

The recording of the album took over a year, as it was done a small piece at a time, but there is excellent flow throughout, with no sense of anything being disjointed.

The music is second to none when it comes to riffs and solos. OK, so it's more polished than the likes of Slayer or Possessed, but both of those bands would have cleaned up their sound if they could have written melodies and solos like Waters. There is something new to discover on almost every listen, with the odd thing still hitting the ear more than a decade after first hearing it- a quick fill here, an unnoticed counter-melody there. However, it's not Malmsteen-esque guitar wankery. These are songs which will have you playing air guitar and compulsively banging your head, so be careful listening to it while using public transport if you don't want to attract funny looks.

Waters' lyrical bent was rather refreshing for the time. Each song has a quick explanatory note with the lyrics. He explored themes of mental illness and altered states of mind ('Schizos Are Never Alone Part I & II', 'Human Insecticide', 'Alison Hell', 'Word Salad'), and even literature, with a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's twisted supernatural story of love lost and found in 'Ligeia'. On any normal album, 'Ligeia' would be a contender for the best track on the album. It has an addictive crushing main riff, excellent guitar and bass interplay in the bridge section, intelligent, thoughtful lyrics, solos to die for, and a driving thrash pace to get even the most jaded toes tapping.

But this isn't any normal album. Last track off the ranks is the storming 'Human Insecticide'. It pushes the standard just that bit further. It rips straight into the main riff, a high-speed thrash classic- simple, memorable and irresistible for the air guitar enthusiast. Rampage puts in his most er, rampaging performance of the album, spitting out the lyrics as if he were the delusional psychotic subject of the song. Blasting out of first one speaker, then the other, then both, the fretboard frenzy seems to pick up speed as the song progresses. It thrashes it's way through several themes of the original concept, continuing to gain momentum until it all collapses in an exhausted, satisfied mess, like a slow motion train crash in a 1970s disaster movie.

Jeff Waters set the standard so high for himself with this stunning debut he has never even remotely approached such greatness again.

This is one of the best trash-metal albums of all time. The first thing that blew me away was the amazing skills of Jeff Waters on the guitar, I was absolutely impressed by the speed, the rhythms and the solos of Jeff.... this album is a clasic of metal and has some of the finest songs that I've ever heard... listen to 'Crystal ann' (This acoustic masterpiece is one of the best intros I've ever heard) , 'Alison Hell', 'WTYD' and you'll know what i'm talking about .... the psychotic melodies and the speed of 'Human Insecticide' (faster impossible) and 'Schizos Are Never Alone' will drive you crazy ... a MUST-HAVE!!!!

The first album from Annihilator is a classic one. This is thrash metal at its best, plenty of good guitar riffs and solos. Jeff Waters showed for the first time there his impressive technique and talent, with those guitar "phrases" and "screams" that sealed the Annihilator style forever. You'll love how guitars deal with dynamics in this album, and how their sound can be aggressive, dark and lyrical at the same time. Annihilator is a machine of playing music, with tempo changes and breaks that could qualify them as a progressive metal band, instead of thrashers.

"Crystal Ann" has a classical touch that takes your breath away from the beginning. It introduces then "Alison Hell", a masterpiece full of great riffs and musical experiments. The entire album has a vocal style a little bit rough for a non-trained ear, but it fits well in the dark style that Annihilator proposed in this CD. "WTYD" is a powerful piece, with amazing solos and rhythmical shredding.

However, I give the entire album four starts because it contains many other material with no transcendence, written only for headbangers, in spite of the quality of the whole CD. Nevertheless, this is not a show stopper at all. Said in one sentence, don't miss how Annihilator presented itself to the world! This release, although their first album, is a very good piece of artwork, and a must-have for any metal fan.

I was so into Metallica, Megadeth and Pantera when i first listened to this one. And i was like: "who are these guys, they rock!!"

Alice In Hell is a mind blasting experience. A fast, crushing set of killer riffs and solos, great vocals. The speed on this one is amazing, the whole album is great, all tracks are remarkable. Good harmonies. Nice changes. It has it all, a must-have in your collection.

THis album has an amazing guitarrist in the fomr of the band leader, Jeff Waters. But he's clearly held back by the bad performances of his mates, the singer and the drummer (don't even want to know their names). The drums mixing is dreadful in this album, and the vocals, after the track ALICE IN HELL, are a disgrace. Anyway, this album has a punch that few trash metal albuns have.

This album is one of the heaviest metal albums of the 80's. The riffs alone inspired many young pimpley-faced teen agers to play guitar, Jeff waters is one of the greatest metal soloists that there is. Not anyone can play with the energy that he has. I encourage any guitar player out there to buy this one and see how long it takes to get the solo's down. It was easier learning Satriani!

Well, this album is a classic example that makes one wonder why some bands (or artists) manage to achieve enduring stardom and others simply don't. ALICE IN HELL is better than anything Metallica ever released, for example. (except for the vocals - but they fit the music here). Maybe that's because trash's heyday was already past in 1989, when ALICE IN HELL was released...

Great album, all the tracks are special. And NEVER NEVERLAND would soon come...

this a classic annihilator album. if you like annihilator this is a must ad to your collection. i've grown up and listened to them in middle school in the '80s when hair metal bands were considered "evil" music. i just bought this cd again a few months ago, and nothing that jeff waters put together after this album ever comes closer. buy it, it is great metal, especially allison hell and human insecticide.

Annihilator's debut album Alice In Hell is a classic Thrash Metal release with great songs like W.Y.T.D., Ligeia, Alison Hell, World Salad and Schizos are never alone pt. 1 and 2 those are basically my favorite songs.

The album was quite good and sounds very aggressive and raw especially with Randy Rampage's growling while hes not exactly a good singer it did fit the style of music they were playing and it does sound like he has some attitude which is great but the vocals aren't that important since there was such an amazing set of songs and the guitar work was brilliant and they had some nice solos its very memorable.

The lyrics were interesting especially Legeia which was about a short story by Edgar Allen Poe, Jeff Waters the lead guitarist and founding member of the group wrote all the songs and was able to produce his own demo tracks before he created Annihilator, even though some of lyrics were quite cheesy you cannot deny the fact that this guy is a genius and the killer riffs that he comes up with are amazingly good especially on Alison Hell this combines into one ultimate and inspiring thrash album.

I cannot think of a single bad song on this album if you liked Alice In Hell then you should check out their other albums Never Never Land and Set The World On Fire those two were pretty awesome as well.

Annihilator has released some of the fastest and most powerful metal albums since their incarnation, but they will never again release anything as powerful as this 1989 epic. From the multi acoutic flamenco intro Crystal Ann, to the final pounding notes of Human Insecticide, Alice in Hell screams glorious metal. Randy Rampage's vocals are dark and killer. The solos are fast and well thought out. The riffs are dark and heavy and perfectly complemented with bass and drums. Alison Hell, WTYD, Wicked Mystic, Word Salad, and the instrumental Schizos(Are Never Alone) go down in Annihilator history as classic metal movements in a wicked symphony. Annihilator's debut was better than most metal bands in existence and is worth purchasing beyond any doubt.