ANNIHILATOR: 'No Way Out' Video Released

"No Way Out", the new video from Canadian metal veterans ANNIHILATOR, can be seen below. The clip accompanies the band on their tour from the airport to the hotel room, from the rehearsal room to the stage at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany in front of over 80,000 metal fans.

"No Way Out" comes off ANNIHILATOR's 14th studio album, "Feast", which sold around 800 copies in the United States in its first week of release.

Asked what the tipping point was in terms of ANNIHILATOR shifting its focus away from North America, ANNIHILATOR mainman Jeff Waters told Dead Rhetoric: "[ANNIHILATOR's original record label] Roadrunner dropped everything that was metal. There were no bands left from that purge — Canadian or United States — that had the word metal in it. You had Robb Flynn from VIO-LENCE turn into MACHINE HEAD. They didn't start off with the thrash they have been playing recently — they had red jumpsuits on and changed their sound/image. Bands lost their record deals — nobody was in a position to carry on. Most bands just got jobs, some bands adapted and got rid of their name, changed musicians and went on. For MACHINE HEAD, that worked. We said, this is what we do. We had the luck of Europe and Japan staying with these styles and still buying our music.

"My opinion would be much different if those two territories had not been there, I probably would have been quite bitter and depressed.

"We didn't have an option in North America unless I wanted to change the name of the band and play a different form of music. 'Set The World On Fire' didn't do well in North America, but it was the second-biggest album for us ever in Japan, and 'King Of The Kill' was the biggest one there. 'Set The World On Fire' had us headlining to 80,000 people at the Dynamo festival in Europe, so we were going up but North America didn't see that. I didn't have time to tour the world and try to break back in Canada and the United States. Playing this was not the kind of music the labels wanted to sign anyway, a traditional form of heavy metal and thrash metal. Fans may have wanted it, but the industry didn't, the clubs didn't, the booking agents didn't. They weren't having it in 1993. I just decided I would vacation here and live in Canada, but do my hobby and living where people wanted me in Europe and Japan.

"My son is over 18; I can now tour wherever I want. With the Internet, it is awesome. The fans are finding us and wondering why we haven't been releasing records in North America and touring there. They think I don't like them, which is another misconception. If a label would sign me there, I would gladly tour, and now we got a deal through UDR Music/EMI, so there are no excuses."

Regarding the state of the metal scene in 2013, Waters said: "We are in a slight little lull here. ANTHRAX, you had your singer switch with Joey Belladonna coming back, a great album and tour, so we are waiting for a new record and hoping it's going to be a kick-ass record. You've got SLAYER who has lost the amazing Jeff Hanneman, but Kerry King also wrote a lot of their big songs too. They lost the team but they still have the one guy who could bring them back and resurrect themselves if he wants to do it. Gary Holt is now in there as one of the best riff writers and players in the history of thrash; very underrated guy. If Gary and Kerry hook up, if they block out the outside world and write one of the best records, they could do it for SLAYER. You have METALLICA; there's no new record from them. MEGADETH are doing what they are doing. We are waiting, what's coming. That may be one reason why the new ANNIHILATOR record is unexpectedly doing a zillion times better than anything since 2001. Within four hours of the actual release in Europe, which got released on a Friday the record company scrambled, EMI knew we had a problem because the first run sold out. The next week the label got it back in the stores for the next round and it's selling out all over again. I never ever thought that would happen for this band over there. Our ticket sales for the upcoming tour have gone through the roof. In a way, there is nothing coming out. DEVILDRIVER has a record coming out. With the lull of the 'Big Four,' there is an emptiness. The timing of our record has helped, I hope some new records come out soon that kick ass. Metal fans are waiting for something. Where is the next wave coming from? Where is the next surge of five or six killer records in six months? People are starving for stuff. I am searching iTunes looking for something I don't already have that is all the old-school stuff."

ANNIHILATOR's current touring lineup:

Jeff Waters - Guitar, Vocals
Dave Padden - Lead Vocals
Mike Harshaw - Drums
Alberto Campuzano - Bass