Onslaught - Live Damnation
Candlelight Records
Thrash Metal
8 songs ()
Release year: 2009
Onslaught, Candlelight Records
Reviewed by Thomas

Relatively newly reunited British thrash metal warriors Onslaught are back with a new live album that was recorded during last years’ Damnation festival in their home country. Following the comeback-album Killing Peace, they probably want to keep the interest up by releasing a short and in all honesty a little unnecessary live album. Live Damnation is as mentioned a recorded festival job which makes the whole thing much shorter than both the band and their fans probably wanted. However, Onslaught manage to put on a pretty good show with a healthy dose of thrash from both the early years and the more recent ones. The ideal opener Killing Peace from the album with the same name kicks things of in brutal fashion after a short symphonic intro. The band sounds surprisingly tight after all these years, and the whole crew does a proper job delivering proper thrash to a crowd audibly chock full of admiration and expectation.

I generally don’t take much notice of live albums, nor do I give them many spins if I ever pick them up. (With a few exceptions of course.) I was however a little excited when I saw that this was out both since I am a fan of their last album and the fact that when a high profile band of Onslaught‘s caliber releases something, you always give it a try. At least if you’re a thrash fan like me. As I mentioned earlier, this is actually a surprisingly tight and pretty good release. Older bands tend to go in two directions when it comes to live performances, either they’re very good and show a lot of routine, or they pretty much suck and sound both uninspired and very rusty. The latter is often the case with newly reformed bands, however, Onslaught has been around for two years since Killing Peace so I suppose they’ve used their time properly. The instruments work well together and create a wall of sound that’ll take you down from the very moment the opening riff of Killing Peace kicks in and the well-known warcry `Spitting blood in the face of God` tears down any remaining doubt that these guys lost their mojo along the way.

Every song creeps upon you and assaults you with something blunt, and especially the older songs played with newfound power is a joy to listen through. Metal Forces, Demoniac and Power From Hell trashes on like a war-machine gone mad and nothing can stop them from doing so. The songs from their latest album Killing Peace, the speedy Destroyer of the World and Burn aren’t quite on the same level as the above, but the guys shouldn’t be ashamed of themselves for including them as they bring tons of energy nonetheless. The only complaint I have, that they probably couldn’t have done anything with anyway, is that they ‘should’ve’ included more stuff from the early days. However, during the last steps of the tour for their last album and with very little time at hand, it is perfectly understandable that the guys chose a tracklist that pleases the fans of both their old and new material as well as them who are fan of both. A very solid live-album from veterans one would have thought might have been a little outdated. Well, Onslaught sure proved us wrong, as this is perfectly enjoyable even if you’re not into live albums in general.

Killing Songs :
Album as a whole
Thomas quoted no quote
Other albums by Onslaught that we have reviewed:
Onslaught - Generation Antichrist reviewed by Ben and quoted 78 / 100
Onslaught - VI reviewed by Andy and quoted 75 / 100
Onslaught - Killing Peace reviewed by Goat and quoted 72 / 100
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