Annihilation Time-3 Tales of the Ancient Age

Teepee
2008



Oakland, California's Annihilation Time claim influences from punk bands like Sex Pistols and Black Flag as well as metal bands like Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath. Those combinations are not entirely removed from one another however back in the early 1980's most punk rock bands would not have claimed influence from metal bands and vice versa to some extent. It wasn't until the mid-1980's when bands like Metallica and Slayer came to prominence in the metal field while wearing Misfits and GBH shirts that the metal community began accept punk rock a little more. Then of course the "crossover" scene emerged around 1985-86 and lasted a few years as bands blended punk rock (mainly hardcore) with metal (mainly speed/thrash) to various degrees. Okay, I need to get away from the history lesson and get back to the present. Annihilation Time do a style that includes both punk and metal influences yet they use metal/ hard rock influences that are different from what punk rock bands used say twenty some years ago . I hear some early Motorhead and they were not far from punk rock, however no punk rock band twenty some years ago would have been caught dead pumping Thin Lizzy and AC/DC riffs into their songs and these guys do. The punk sound here is a fairly basic, rough as it should and firmly along the lines of early 1980's bands including Black Flag, the Exploited and maybe even Minor Threat. The thing is that even though these guys have both sounds present here, it's really more that the parts are somewhat separate than that they actually blend the two. Such as most of the songs start out with a late 70's hard rock riff and then it quickly becomes a straight forward punk song and the solo or one other little riff might be of a metal style, but that's about it. I think they play a rather, no-nonsense style that's easy to get into and when they get going their energy just propels them ahead and they don't look back. I appreciate the metal parts, but I am not sure they add a whole lot or really set this band apart that much. Annihilation Time have created a worthwhile punk album, but it's not anything that new or different.



http://www.myspace.com/annihilationtime