Annihilist
Vol. 1
Release Date: 7 January 2016
Review by Daniel Tucceri
Despite their name, Melbourne tech-death metal quintet Annihilist aren’t quite the pessimists their name leads you to believe. Vocalist Harry Pendock is a man who finds ‘Solace in Suffering’, as he puts it, distilling it into half an hour of well-crafted brutality.
Annihilist certainly are not playing metal by numbers. Guitarist Josh Voce gives a stern nod to his classical influences, with an intricate guitar prelude which becomes no less complex once it is submerged in squalls of distortion. The production is world class, with each instrument perfectly balanced with the other, but not at the expense of the band’s innately raw approach to death metal.
Fans of Psycroptic would be served well to investigate their fledgling countrymen Annihilist. The level of diversity they manage to pack into half an hour is exceptional, particularly for the funereal piano interlude that precedes epic album closer and highlight, Embers.