Canadian thrashers Annihilator are the brainchild of guitarist Jeff Waters, whose revolving-door policy has elevated the band\'s high musician turnover to Spinal Tap proportions. Released to both public and critical acclaim at the height of the thrash metal boom, their 1989 debut Alice In Hell was hardly a band effort. Though they are pictured on the sleeve with Waters (who wrote, produced, and played guitar and bass on the entire album), vocalist Randy Rampage, drummer Ray Hartmann, bassist Wayne Darley, and guitarist Anthony Greenham were little more than hired guns, and only the first two actually performed on the disc. Not surprisingly, both Rampage and Greenham were gone by the release of the following year\'s Never, Neverland, replaced by Coburn Pharr on vocals and Dave Scott Davis (where do they come up with these names?) on guitar. Though not quite as inspired as its predecessor, the album sold well, and the band capitalized by touring relentlessly behind it. A three-year delay and numerous lineup changes preceded 1993\'s Set the world on fire, a decidedly more commercial project which sent Annihilator\'s popularity into a tailspin. Waters has retreated to thrashier terrain on subsequent efforts, and had some difficulty getting them issued in the U.S. That changed when Waters landed a deal with CMC International toward the end of the \'90s, and original vocalist Rampage returned in 2000 (as did Hartmann, Davis, and bassist Russell Bergquist) for Criteria for a Black Widow. Rampage exited again just as quickly, however, replaced by Joe Comeau (formerly of Overkill) for 2001\'s Carnival Diablos. ~ Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide