Annihilator is a Canadian heavy metal band founded in 1984 by vocalist, guitarist, bassist, songwriter,engineer, producer, mixer, mastering engineer Jeff Waters and vocalist John Bates. They are the highest selling heavy metal group, from Canada, in Canadian history, having sold more than 3 million albums worldwide, although most of their sales have been generated outside of the band's home country. Their first 2 studio albums, Alice in Hell and Never, Neverland, are considered to be influential Canadian heavy metal records.

Since its inception, Annihilator has released fourteen studio albums and has featured legendary guitarist/songwriter/engineer/producer Jeff Waters as the only consistent member. Waters had originally started the band with the intention of keeping it a "band" but found out quickly that he was finding himself playing and writing all the instrumental parts, lyrics and melody lines. After the band's debut release, he decided to hire a singer and drummer to record the records with him and then often hiring different musicians for the live touring end, confusing quite a few fans in the early years.