I have to be truthful here. After Alice In Hell and Never Neverland I haven’t really kept in touch with Annihilator. I know one thing never changed in all those years: Only Jeff Waters is Annihilator. All For You surprised me. Of everything I expected, I did not expect a mediocre thrash/speed metal album. Chewed up and spit out ideas that we might expect from some meaningless metal band from some obscure country but not from the man who once was on the brink of being the new metal sensation. Those days are long gone.

What really bites me are the absolute useless tracks like “The One” and “Holding On”. Concentrate on the riffs Jeff! Not on some lame attempt to profile Annihilator’s (your) mellow side. You shouldn’t even want a mellow side for Annihilator. You are the leader of a thrash metal band.

Acoustic and mellow tracks etc. are perfect for side projects. Enough said. Annihilator’s new singer, Dave Padden has that Hetfield timbre (like so many thrash metal singers), nothing wrong with that. Especially in the riff oriented songs he seems to shine. Each time Jeff Waters lays down a catchy riff it is truly a true metal riff, because as a guitar player he is still one of the best in the field. But unfortunately a good riff doesn’t mean a good song, although on “Demon Dance”, “Rage Absolute” and “Both Of Me” the band seems to reach back to Alice In Hell and Never Neverland: Headbanging powerful thrash/speed metal. In short: All For You reaches out to both extremes leaving us with a somewhat directionless album from a band that peaked early in its career.