Annihilator is a Canadian thrash metal band founded in 1984 by vocalist, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, engineer, producer, mixer and mastering engineer Jeff Waters and former vocalist John Bates. They are the highest-selling heavy metal group from Canada in Canadian history, having sold more than three million albums worldwide, although most of their sales have been generated outside of the band's home country. Annihilator's first two studio albums — Alice in Hell (1989) and Never, Neverland (1990) — are considered to be influential Canadian heavy metal records. Many of their later albums also received high praise from critics, and enjoyed some success in Europe and Japan.