Written by:	Baz Anderson
Published:	November 17, 2010
Event:	Annihilator (Website)
Location:	Corporation, Sheffield, United Kingdom
Galleries:	Annihilator - Sheffield, England, 15th November 2010 by Baz Anderson (29)

Annihilator haven't had a straight path through the years, but with the release of their self-titled album this year, Jeff and company have been ensuring there is nothing questionable about this band. Still amidst their extensive European tour, Norwegian's [band]Svölk[/band] and Hull's Sworn Amongst found themselves as support for the UK leg of the tour. This evening was the turn for a darkened Sheffield to feel the force, but not before enduring the poor support acts.




The lighting for the two support bands was almost non-existent, as was the audience. Inside the main room of Sheffield's Corporation, the numbers of people were extremely low for the first half of the night. It isn't difficult to see why the headliners were the only band to create any kind of interest. Svölk over from Norway were first on, and filled the room with their heavy stoner metal. The lack of real audience killed the show, but the sounds coming from the stage were quite juicy. Nothing great, nothing memorable, but it was good enough to pass the time.



Still in the dark but with a marginally larger audience, Sworn Amongst from down the road in Hull took over after a quick changeover next. Still, a completely unenthusiastic audience stood and witnessed the band's metalcore show. At times it sounded a little all over the place, but the change to a faster pace was welcomed. Once again though, the audience did not seem bothered, the band provided nothing worthy of note.



And as if by magic the room at the Corporation became one of what you would expect to see from a metal show. The room became populated by an Annihilator-shirt wearing mob, although still not completely packed. The light switch was also found, enabling the audience to see the band clearly on stage. The room finally came alive with a huge roar for the band stepping onto the stage, and it was straight into "Ambush" for a lively start. Following up with "Clown Parade" and "Plasma Zombies", the band were full steam ahead for a show of fantastic thrash metal.



With the crowd chanting "Jeff... Jeff... Jeff..." the audience were certainly glad of the top quality metal pulverising their ears. Jeff and Dave both shared the lead vocal and guitaring duties, but it is only until you see Jeff Waters play live that it becomes so apparent how good of a guitar player he is. Dave didn't have a great deal to say in between songs, but did deliver his great vocals on all the Annihilator songs with all their varying original singers. The set included a wide range of songs hitting almost every Annihilator album, but a few. The great speed metal classic "W.T.Y.D." certainly welcomed us all back in time for a headbanging journey, but as well as going backwards in time, the band treated us to their different side with a rare performance of "Phoenix Rising" and the wonderful "Sounds Good To Me" in acoustic, with just Jeff and Dave on stage on a couple of the "dirtiest chairs in the world".



As well as the older songs, more recent thrashers such as "Ultra-Motion" and "The Trend" both went down like a storm. The audience might not have been as packed as the room has been in the past, and there wasn't the annoying constant calling for the audience to flap around into each other either. This was a good old thrash metal show of the highest quality that the audience were allowed to stand, headbang, and enjoy. The band certainly left with smiles on their faces, as were the Sheffield audience tonight. Annihilator blew away the competition tonight, putting on one of the best shows of the year by far.





Thanks to Talita at Earache for the accreditation.
Written by Barry Anderson.
Photos by Barry Anderson.