Onslaught - Killing Peace
Candlelight
Thrash Metal
9 songs (44:07)
Release year: 2007
Onslaught, Candlelight
Reviewed by Goat

It’s rather a shame that England has produced so few memorable Thrash bands. Ask the average Metalhead and you’ll be lucky if they can think of the Martin Walkyier-fronted Sabbat, let alone eighties relic Onslaught. Whilst we’re making up for lost time with the likes of Evile gaining fans, there’s little chance of England’s green and unpleasant land becoming the new Bay Area anytime soon...

Few people could have expected Onslaught to reform in 2005, years after the band’s commercial failure with 1989’s In Search Of Sanity, and with original vocalist Sy Keeler to boot. Listening to Killing Peace – the first release from the band in eighteen years, don’t forget – is not the journey back in time that you’d expect. Anyone who has heard recent albums from either Slayer or Exodus will be instantly familiar with what’s on offer here, plenty of groovy riffs, mildly harsh vocals, and lyrical clichés about hating religion. Having said that, this is an enjoyable listen for precisely those reasons. All too often bands are tagged as being Thrashy these days only to sound like the bastard child of Gothenburgian Melodeath and the scourge that is modern Metalcore, so finding bands that actually Thrash is always a pleasure.

It helps too that the majority of songs on offer are well-written, riff-filled tunes that will gain the ears of many a young, Municipal Wasted newcomer to the genre. The title track moves along nicely and has a fist-raised chorus that must have been meant for spitting out over a mosh-pit, whilst Destroyer Of Worlds’ lightning-fast lyrics will cause a few dropped jaws. The Bush sample in Twisted Jesus is well placed, and stops a relatively lengthy track from getting repetitive. For the most part, however, the album is made up of mid-paced chuggers that’ll cause more than a little headbanging amongst those who can accept Thrash that wasn’t made in the eighties.

Overall, it’s a more than decent comeback from the cult legends, but whether this will lead to an increased profile for the band is doubtful. Killing Peace isn’t the world-beating Painkiller of a Thrash machine that it could have been, but it’s decent enough to be worth a listen.

MySpace
Killing Songs :
Killing Peace, Destroyer Of Worlds, Twisted Jesus, Shock & Awe
Goat quoted 72 / 100
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 - Live Damnation reviewed by Thomas and quoted no quote
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