Along with Devin Townsend, 3 Inches of Blood and Rush, one of Canada’s greatest contributions to the world of metal is Ottawa thrash band Annihilator. For the past 20 years, Annihilator have pumped out killer metal tunes, many of which easily make it on my personal favorites list (Alison Hell!). Check out the video above for some song clips from Annihilator’s upcoming self-titled album. Holy shit, Annihilator mainman Jeff Waters can fucking shred. If these clips are any indication of what this new album has in store, it’s going to be leaps and bounds better than their last effort, ‘Metal’ (which is honestly an alright album, but not all that impressive). Sounds like Jeff really pulled out all the stops for this one and I’m excited as hell to get my hands on this album when it drops May 17th.

Some fan-filmed videos of Jeff playing two of the new album tracks – “The Trend” & “Betrayed” – during a guitar workshop on March 11, 2010 at Italmélodie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (and from the looks of it, having a hell of a good time doing so) after the jump…

The Project Hate MCMXCIX – “You Come To Me Through Hell”
From the album: The Lustrate Process

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Why this song doesn’t suck:
Oh boy oh boy! One of my favorite industrial death bands, The Project Hate, is releasing a new album next month! And wait! What’s this? A new song from that album you say?! Well fuck me sideways! Inject that awesomeness directly into my eager earballs! Pronto!

Since I first got my hands on their 2005 album, “Armageddon March Eternal (Symphonies of Slit Wrists)”, I’ve been eating up everything The Project Hate has ever written. Their fresh mix of midpaced, growl-laden death metal with electronic/industrial elements and angelic female vocals thrown in to top off the awesome makes nearly everything this band releases pure aural gold. And I’ll be damned if this new track isn’t more than up to par with anything else they’ve released. With enough twists and turns throughout the track, the near 9-minute run time never even nears the realm of “boring”. We also get treated to quite a few guest surprises throughout the song to keep us on our toes.

Opeth – “The Grand Conjuration”
From the album: Ghost Reveries

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Why this song doesn’t suck:
From the first moment to the last, “The Grand Conjuration” cannot be described as anything but one huge, angry metal-to-the-bone song. Progressive death metal giants Opeth have always been a band to expand on their sound and create music of epic, sprawling proportions, and this song is no different. One of my favorite tracks off their 2005 album, Ghost Reveries, this song is 10 and a half minutes of creative and haunting guitar licks, intense drumming and a mix of ominous to absolutely brutal vocals as provided by band mainman, Mikael Akerfeldt.

Hypocrisy – “Fearless”
From the album: Virus

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Why this song doesn’t suck:
Holy shit, this song rocks. There’s little more that can be said about this track, or nearly anything Sweden’s Hypocrisy manages to crank out. I have to say I’m impressed and pretty partial to almost everything band mainman Peter Tägtgren, who in the case of Hypocrisy’s 2005 album, Virus, also served as producer and mixer, cranks out. I’m a huge fan of Peter’s sideband, Pain (which I’m sure will be featured in this series at some point), though Hypocrisy has always had a more full-on balls-crushing metal quality to them. An excellent example of what draws me to the brutality of this band is the song “Fearless”. It’s heavy as hell while still staying catchy and memorable.

I am greatly looking forward to the end of this week. Well, more specifically, the end of the workday tomorrow. After many long months of waiting, Chicago Powerfest 2008 is finally upon us. A group of friends and I will be driving out to Mokena, IL Thursday morning to indulge in a 3-night metal feast! For those of you who don’t know about Chicago Powerfest, it’s an annual multi-night concert that has featured some of the best local Chicago metal acts as well as a number of amazing national (and international) acts. The 2008 edition is no exception… 17 bands and nearly 20 hours of brain-splitting metal. In fact, this year features some of the most badass bands that I’m excited to get my very first live taste of…

While I can’t resist the screeching tone, causual strumming, or frenzied riffing of the king of all musical instruments, the electric guitar, I can’t help but be drawn to the mechanical sound of Industrial. It must be the geek in me that just loves the artificial, synthetic sound of an inspired industrial or electronica track. This seems odd since, technically speaking, the Industrial / Electronica sound isn’t all that far removed from the clicks-and-pops sound of many hip-hop “artists”.

Perhaps it’s because the sound is a little dirtier… less commercial or clean and much, much darker. A good track can take you on a journey, build up excitement, inspire you, energize you. The fact that many Industrial bands, such as Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, Ministry and Skinny Puppy also incorporate many metal elements into their music sure doesn’t hurt either.