Vancouver based shredder Jeff Waters has kept old-skull speed metal institution Annihilator alive and kicking, in one form or another (mostly another- cat’s a bit of a head chopping megalomaniac), since 1984, which, by perseverance alone, makes him a heavy metal legend. Past, future, and sometimes members of Danzig, Liege Lord, Savatage, Assault, and Overkill have all passed through the thorny gates of Annihilator at one point or another in the past 20 years, and even if the band’s fame has always been a somewhat Trans-Siberian affair, they retain a healthy following in power metal-mad Euro territories, and they absolutely love ‘em to death up north. They have over a dozen albums under their studded belts, and all of them, even the one with the possessed dolls and the disco chick on the cover (1999’s “Criteria for a Black Widow”), have offered up some meaty, beer-swilling thrash, agile guitar heroism, and a healthy dose of spookshow weirdness. The latest, “All For You”, falls neatly in line with the rest of ‘em, featuring vaguely psychotic lyrics (“Thought I’d be in cosmetic bliss/now I smell the stench of my own piss”) a cd booklet filled with creepy paintings of ghost girls and worms, and lots of off-kilter, neo-classical speed metal. As far as I can tell, this is some sort of concept record about being locked up in a possibly haunted asylum, sorta like Alice’s “From the Inside” without the jokes. And you gotta admit, that’s pretty metal.