With the near complete Alice In Hell line-up back together, Criteria For A Black Widow was something of a comeback release for Annihilator and a strong return to thrash metal after a few mixed-up speed/heavy metal albums. Simply put, everything goes in pairs: Bloodbath and Back To The Palace are awesome thrashers (even though the latter heavily borrows some old riffs), Nothing Left and Loving The Sinner are somewhat more typical but still good, and Schizos (Are Never Alone) Part III and Mending are fine instrumentals. On the weaker side, Punctured is a terrible groovy non-thrash attempt, and the title track is mostly in the same vein and sounds really awkward. Double Dare is plain dull and dumb whereas Sonic Homicide (where the old demo riff of Powerdrain ended up into) would be great if it weren’t for the totally annoying distorted vocals that effectively ruin the song. While the sum of everything is at least carefully positive and it was certainly nice to hear Randy Rampage on vocals again, in the end this album is an awfully big waste of potential. Consider that the result is still closer to Annihilator’s original glory than a few releases before and after this one, and it might just suffice.
1. Bloodbath
2. Back To The Palace
3. Punctured
4. Criteria For A Black Widow
5. Schizos (Are Never Alone) Part III
6. Nothing Left
7. Loving The Sinner
8. Double Dare
9. Sonic Homicide
10. Mending
