Customer Reviews

Never Neverland

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Altough Annihiliator would come to release other good metal albums, ntohing Jeff Waters and Co. released could match the sheer quality of their first two albums, ALICE IN HELL and NEVER NEVERLAND. These two albums are breathtaking, really great, astonishing musicianship displayed all around.

You can't miss: theses albums are worth our money. It's a mystery how a band can record albums of this quality and remain obscure, while Metallica sold out and continues to sell records by the millions...go figure...

I BOUGHT THIS ON A WHIM AT AN OLD TAPE STORE AND WAS BLOWN AWAY! THE PRODUCTION IS CRISP,THE MUSICIANSHIP IS SUPERB AND TIGHT, AND THE LYRICS ARE BY FAR SOME OF THE BEST I'VE EVER HEARD IN A METAL ALBUM. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN HUGE BUT IT GOT LOST.WHY? WHO KNOWS NOW BUT SINCE IT IS STILL AVAILABLE GET IT ITS BEST DESCRIBED AS CLASSY THRASH ITS PRETTY UNIQUE SOUNDING! TRUST ME IT STILL BLOWS ME AWAY TO LISTEN TO IT! THERES EVEN A THRASH SONG ABOUT THE PLEASURES OF MACARONI AND CHEESE! A FIRST IM SURE !GET IT AND BANG YOUR HEAD!

Annihilator was a metal band lead by guitar virtuoso Jeff Waters. He wrote or co-wrote every track on this album and proves a very creative, intelligent lyricist. Waters took a lot of care in these songs and even includes the stories behind the songs. Some examples: the title track is about a girl confined to a room by a fanatically overprotective grandmother after the girl looked at a boy in a grocery store; "Sixes and Sevens" comes from the British phrase for disorder; "Road to Ruin" is about a drunk driver ("impaired security at ninety miles an hour"); "Kraf Dinner" is about just what the title states without risking copyright infringes ("a cheddar cheese heart attack"); "Stonewall" was written after Waters moved to Vancouver and discovered the depressing reality of chemical damage to a river.

The music is also very creative. The guitar in "Never, Neverland" (not affiliated with Michael Jackson's estate) is beautiful (not unlike "Crystal Ann" from their debut album) and it incorporates a story-telling vocal. Things get silly, though, when they get to the defensive part: "Get back, back! Just leave us all alone! Take that and that! I'll break your every bone!" (can you imagine a little girl yelling this?). Some of the songs are preachy, especially "Stonewall" ("the power of corporations, spewing chemicals into the air. Fines are imposed to discourage, but what's a dime to a millionaire.") Still, the album rocks with, of course, excellent guitar. The music gets more thrash in the last tracks, although I find the first half of the album to be more interesting. It is also more solid than their previous album Alice in Hell.

This album has all the elements that a progressive metal fan would expect. Although "thrashy", as Annihilator likes to be, this is a masterpiece that no-one should miss. Guitar works, dynamics and tempo changes are very impressive in this release. This album follows the style of the first one (Alice In Hell), but it deserves five stars, since it is at the same time mature and powerful, elegant and aggressive, majestic and full of mystery. "The Fun Palace" is one of the biggest pieces that Annihilator has deployed during its existence. It has a lot of abrupt changes and rhythmical experimentation, with many original riffs and solos. "Imperiled Eyes" is on the same wave, with guitar harmonies and melodies looking for a contemporary sound, instead of a classical one. But every piece on this release has something to offer, from good rough primitive vocals to highly creative musical artwork. Recommended to those that are looking for quality, performance and sincerity.

Following the wave of its predecessor (Alice In Hell) the second album of Annihilator is just another masterpiece. The main difference is that this one is more melodic, but it still absolutely heavy and aggresive... especially in 'Phantasmagoria' and 'I Am In command'.... The guitar skills of Jeff Waters will blow you away, while the previous album was more rhythm-oriented, this album has possibly the best guitar solos and melodies I've ever heard.... "Alice In Hell" and "Never Neverland" are with no doubt included on my all-time top 10 metal albums and are far better than any album of Slayer or Megadeth

On a personal level, Never Neverland is a very special album to me, by the fact that thanks to it I discovered one of the most fantastic and overlooked guitar heroes on the face of the planet: Mr. Jeff Watters.
The dynamics of the songs, the great execution and the incredible amount of technical resources shown by the musicians on this recording makes of Never Neverland an overwhelming and bombastic sonic experience.
The chemistry between Watters and the killer rhythm section (Ray Hartman on drums and Wayne Darley on bass) is simply out of this world.
My actual rating is 4.5 stars. Never Neverland falls short from perfection due to vocalist Coburn Pharr's performance, which I found somewhat stiff and unexpressive, excepting the aforementioned complain everything else is state of the art.
Favorite songs: "The Fun Palace", "Sixes and Sevens", "Never Neverland","Road To Ruin", "Reduced To Ash".

If you expect every Annihilator album to be like Alice in Hell, you'll be disappointed early. Never Neverland would better with the vocal talents of Randy Rampage instead of Coburn Pharr, but it has its appeal yet.

Firstly, I'm always impressed with the instrumentation on these albums. All of the riffs are brilliant, and the solos masterful. Songs like The Fun Palace, Phantasmagoria, and I Am In Command are among Annihilator's classics even to this day. The Never Neverland title track 'ballad' is wicked as well. All the guitarwork on this CD is incredibly well done. As for lyrics, they tend to be more moralistic, advocating against drunk driving, pollution, gambling, nuclear warfare, and corrupt religious leaders. The only out of place song was the goofy Kraf Dinner, clearly about macaroni and cheese. On a whole, I liked this album, especially compared to some of the albums to come.

This gem had only one trouble: it came in 1990, when trahs was already losing its force, and when its pioneers like Metallica and Slayer had already ripped the benefits.
Also, the uncapacity of Jeff Waters to keep its singers made the band lack a solid indentity with its public.

But "NEVER NEVERLAND" is marvellous, the bes trash than can be created!

This album by Annihilator is an absolute masterpiece. It is definitely the best album of 1990, possibly the best, period. I don't think that there is a metal album that can compare to this album. Everything about Never Neverland is awesome. Coburn Pharr is absolutely fantastic and Jeff Waters shows why he is such a great musician. Jeff's rhthym guitar is terrific and there is not ONE bad song on this album. This album also features absolutely fast songs such as Phantasmagoria as well as slower melodic songs like Stonewall and the title track. This album does not have any ballads but who cares? This is a great album by a great band who to this day continues writing fast heavy metal after Megadeth and Metallica became more commercial. This album is better than any Pantera, Megadeth or Slayer album in my opinion. This record is just 10 times better than a few other famous albums of 1990 such as Cowboys From Hell or Rust In Peace.

Even though Jeff had a drinking problem, he wrote and still writes great music while Dave Mustaine who became greedy is now out of the music business and he really has lost his ability to write good meaningfull songs. This album is worth it for every heavy metal fan and anyone who is looking for a heavy metal cd with no flaws MUST buy this album.

This album is for little children in another time. No sense of good taste. Is like somebody comedian tries to ridiculous heavy metal. I like heavy metal , but Annihilator are so immature that make me realize that some people who laugh with heavy metal sometimes have right.