Artist: Onslaught
Title: Sounds Of Violence
Type: Album
Label: AFM Records

I was saying just the other day that I am really bored of thrash at the moment, so perhaps if you’re looking for a sycophantic review you may want to look away now. But, to be honest, hearing an album like this is a good reminder of why that is. You really can’t fault an album like ‘The Force,’ it has everything I look for in a thrash album and stands up there along with Bonded By Blood and New Order as a real classic and one I’ll always go back to and dust off from the shelf once in a while when I’m in the mood for a thrash. But then I have to say without wishing to sound ageist that it strikes me as a young man’s game that only really works when there’s a certain youthful energy and child-like enthusiasm to back things up. Perhaps somewhere between then and settling down with a wife and kids and a steady job some of that spark is lost along the way or maybe it’s sheer coincidence. Thrash is, after all, by its nature, highly formulaic and it can’t take long under such conditions to run out of genuine ideas.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad album. It is…okay. Nothing more. I’m not going to pretend it ripped my face off or tore me a new one or whatever other similes imply it is anything other than mediocre. Whether or not you will disagree with me depends largely on your attitude to the dross been peddled by some of these dinosaurs in recent years. If the painfully tedious ‘Gods Of Chaos’ from Kreator landed in your top 10 the other year and you got excited when Exodus confirmed Bloodstock then chances are you’ll regard my ramblings here as utter twaddle. Much like recent output from such bands, this is a perfectly passable album – I can quite happily listen to it and will probably unknowingly bang my head to the monstrously heavy ‘Born For War’ which has some solid thrashing riffs and nice slinky solos. The musicianship can’t be faulted; this is as tight as a Jewish stockbroker and the sound is nice and punchy while the production gives that lustrous modern finish. It’s just that it’s nothing I haven’t heard a thousand times before and really is lacking that secret ingredient that really gives a thrash album it’s kick.

‘Godhead’ has a certain coolness to it that makes you want to nod your head in agreement; slow and crushingly heavy and vocally laced with fury and resentment. ‘Antitheist’ as well has me thinking there is a certain anti-religious slant to the lyrics here. Again, this is hardly a terrible record, but it just does nothing to hold my attention and above all else is a rather unexciting and forgettable example of modern thrash. What was I reviewing again?

http://www.myspace.com/onslaughtuk