Review by Felix on July 4, 2019.

Flotsam and Jetsam started with two very strong releases. Therefore, they were well respected and seemed to be on right way. Yet with their third full-length, they committed suicide without stopping the further release of meaningless records. Just like lemmings, they were blind to their fate. Excuse me, what do you say? This review is not about Flotsam? It is about... Annihilator? Eh, please wait a moment... (sheepish smile), indeed, you are absolutely right. I am sorry for that.

However, it doesn't matter. The introduction is still valid. Just replace the name Flotsam and Jetsam by Annihilator and everything is fine. All broke down when Annihilator published Set the World on Fire, a lukewarm and pretty commercial output. But this work is not the topic here. Alice in Hell was not a typical thrash debut, because it was not based on the somehow fascinating mix of vehemence, velocity, naivety and unconcern. Annihilator put the emphasis on a partially more technical way of thrash. The quasi-title track shows this approach among other things in view of a short intermezzo that seems to send greetings to Mercyful Fate. I would not say that it is a progressive song configuration for a thrash album, but an unusual one. Compare it with the following "W.T.Y.D." and "Wicked Mystic". They are predominantly straight, direct, compact and more energetic. Especially the first one is driven by an ingenious riff and it scores with another catchy chorus. Its weird guitar solo does not destroy the focused overall impression. This track marks a highlight, while the more famous "Alison Hell" leaves me nearly completely cold. Its trickier song pattern fails to convey emotions.

The B side does not possess a comparable track. Despite some mid-tempo parts, for example in "Ligeia", the entire material puts the main focus on speed and energy. The riffs are mostly brilliant, the voice of Randy Rampage does not lack charisma and each and every song seems to be written by an experienced bunch of musicians, not by debutants. Waters has penned smooth yet powerful tracks with a very lively aura, which stand on their own feet. Of course, they fall under the category of thrash / speed metal, but they do not need a shoulder (of Metallica, Testament or anybody else) to lean on. Every riff sounds fresh and autonomous. The fantastic closer brings the album to a triumphant end but tracks like "Word Salad" do not pale beside this final attack. Okay, sometimes Waters enjoys his own solos a little bit too much, but generally speaking, the songs themselves - and not the narcissistic excursions of the band leader - play the main role. 

The nine compositions benefit from a very good sound. Maybe it is a tad polished, but that's not at the expense of its penetrating power. The album sounds clean, but not sterile, and everything is well balanced. In terms of its technical implementation, Alice in Hell is on a par with genre classics such as "Bonded by Blood" or "Forbidden Evil". Annihilator gave their homeland Canada the technical component and this was a good addition to the rumbling sound of Exciter, the rather simple speed of Razor, the crude humor of Piledriver and the anarchic noise of early Voivod. This debut catapulted Waters and his sidekicks on the radar of almost every thrasher and the scene was curious about the next steps of this new force. Only the dudes of Flotsam and Jetsam had something better to do. Back in 1989, they had already begun to sell their souls to the industry.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Felix on July 4, 2019.

Flotsam and Jetsam started with two very strong releases. Therefore, they were well respected and seemed to be on right way. Yet with their third full-length, they committed suicide without stopping the further release of meaningless records. Just like lemmings, they were blind to their fate. Excuse me, what do you say? This review is not about Flotsam? It is about... Annihilator? Eh, please wait a moment... (sheepish smile), indeed, you are absolutely right. I am sorry for that.

However, it doesn't matter. The introduction is still valid. Just replace the name Flotsam and Jetsam by Annihilator and everything is fine. All broke down when Annihilator published Set the World on Fire, a lukewarm and pretty commercial output. But this work is not the topic here. Alice in Hell was not a typical thrash debut, because it was not based on the somehow fascinating mix of vehemence, velocity, naivety and unconcern. Annihilator put the emphasis on a partially more technical way of thrash. The quasi-title track shows this approach among other things in view of a short intermezzo that seems to send greetings to Mercyful Fate. I would not say that it is a progressive song configuration for a thrash album, but an unusual one. Compare it with the following "W.T.Y.D." and "Wicked Mystic". They are predominantly straight, direct, compact and more energetic. Especially the first one is driven by an ingenious riff and it scores with another catchy chorus. Its weird guitar solo does not destroy the focused overall impression. This track marks a highlight, while the more famous "Alison Hell" leaves me nearly completely cold. Its trickier song pattern fails to convey emotions.

The B side does not possess a comparable track. Despite some mid-tempo parts, for example in "Ligeia", the entire material puts the main focus on speed and energy. The riffs are mostly brilliant, the voice of Randy Rampage does not lack charisma and each and every song seems to be written by an experienced bunch of musicians, not by debutants. Waters has penned smooth yet powerful tracks with a very lively aura, which stand on their own feet. Of course, they fall under the category of thrash / speed metal, but they do not need a shoulder (of Metallica, Testament or anybody else) to lean on. Every riff sounds fresh and autonomous. The fantastic closer brings the album to a triumphant end but tracks like "Word Salad" do not pale beside this final attack. Okay, sometimes Waters enjoys his own solos a little bit too much, but generally speaking, the songs themselves - and not the narcissistic excursions of the band leader - play the main role. 

The nine compositions benefit from a very good sound. Maybe it is a tad polished, but that's not at the expense of its penetrating power. The album sounds clean, but not sterile, and everything is well balanced. In terms of its technical implementation, Alice in Hell is on a par with genre classics such as "Bonded by Blood" or "Forbidden Evil". Annihilator gave their homeland Canada the technical component and this was a good addition to the rumbling sound of Exciter, the rather simple speed of Razor, the crude humor of Piledriver and the anarchic noise of early Voivod. This debut catapulted Waters and his sidekicks on the radar of almost every thrasher and the scene was curious about the next steps of this new force. Only the dudes of Flotsam and Jetsam had something better to do. Back in 1989, they had already begun to sell their souls to the industry.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Denis on November 27, 2002.

I don't know what's going on nowadays with the black metal scene but the more I find out about it, the more I discover stuff that I like. Now with this new band, I'm thrilled once more with something totally different. This is far from old school but rather a new musical direction. It mixes up elements of industrial with a black metal structure and the end result is highly consumable to my musically oriented ears.

A band with a strange name built around a Norwegian elite corp. The guitarist and drummer are both from Mayhem. Red Harvest is the current band of the keyboard player. This CD is made of four songs but I whish it would be actually a full length. Another thing that is too bad is that maybe there won't be another recording from them since this is more like a special/side project. Too bad. One can only hope for more in the future.

Here's a track-by-track brief description.

‘Fever Zauben’ has sirens sounds for an intro, then some machine gun black metal, and war samplings. The beat is very fast, complex but melodic even if it is highly technical. Lots of guitars tracks that ends with war sampling.

‘Unter Der Fahne’ begins with marching army, then drum roll. The next thing you know, the exciting guitar riffs rolls on with some keyboards notes. This song is some kind of a battle hymn changing to industrial/psychedelic with vocal effects to become in the end very Avant-garde with a drum solo and great precise guitar riffs.

‘Die Nacht Hat Augen’ starts with plane sampling then arise tornado-like riffs, stopping for a more Avant-garde passage made of strong bass, samplings, keys and spoken words. These two genres appear in alternance to finally end up to a much calmer mode with spacey keys sounding like a submarine sonar. A very thrilling composition.

‘Weltherrschaft’, this one comes in with spacey key work and machine gun rhythmic with broken beat. The guitar is being played with metered interruptions. The beat slows down gradually until a stop then only some psychedelic sounds completed the piece.

Bottom Line: "Weltherschaft" could be translated in English by "another post black metal adventure that has not being developed to its full length".

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Originality: 9.5
Production: 9.5
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.2 out of 10

Review by JD on May 31, 2012.

Independent bands are the backbone for metal. Many acts started out that way, as mainstream labels seem to shy away from some of the better but controversial bands. This is why metal is growing in the first place, as we all are staunchly independent because we make music not just for money (but we all still love money) but for what we want the music to stand for.

Austrian Black Metallers Eschaton are a perfect example of a band that is perfectly independent. They have taken their own musical road, combining very evil Black Metal with both Metalcore and Progressive parts to hand you a very unique and brutal EP. I love the leap into the unknown, and the willingness to think out of the box, but when it comes down to it, the album is sort of... disappointing.

While the song 'Transcending Satanism' is a good in your face sort of track, one that is the only true stand out, the fifteen minute epic 'The Black Tunnel' leaves you not only confused - but wondering what the hell they were doing. While 'Transcending Satanism' is straight to the point Black Metal - the more progressive sounding epic seems to falter, sputters and then dies in a lukewarm metallic sludge that lacks everything.

Seems to me if the band would do more in the way of the first track, they would be a force in the Black Metal field. What they are doing just confuses us and even themselves I think. I had high expectations for this EP and those expectations have crashed and sunk into oblivion like the Titanic did after the iceberg thing. Too bad... the idea was good, the work was not.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 5
Production: 6
Originality:6 (good idea, bad results)
Overall: 6

Rating: 6.0 out of 10