onslaught sounds of violence

Released: 31 January 2011 Label: AFM

Despite featuring two members of the band that recorded Onslaught’s debut album Power From Hell way back in 1985 and three that recorded the classic The Force the year later the Onslaught of 2011 is a very different beast to the one that was plying their trade back in the mid-1980s and, some would say thankfully, they’re even more different than the one that released the rather poorly received In Search of Sanity back in 1989.

Following the dramatic intro track that could almost be a war movie theme you are instead greeted by a much more ‘modern’ style of death / thrash riffing that bands like The Crown or Dew-Scented would be proud of. As the album continues the band seem to switch between this more modern thrash sound and the updated take on the classic thrash sound that has categorized the past few Exodus albums with lots of big riffs, driving drums and some genuinely excellent lead guitar parts spicing things up. I was disappointed though with the complete lack of Sy Keeler’s distinctive falsetto vocals on this album. In the past he’s switched between his almost hardcore-esque snarl and classic metal vocals that put the vast majority of power metal singers to shame, here though while the punky snarl remains there’s actually a tendency to make things even more aggressive with the odd death growl here and there rather than mixing things up with his distinctive falsetto.

I really did enjoy Sounds of Violence but it does lack a bit of distinctiveness and I can’t imagine many people picking this as an Onslaught album on first listen in the same way that they would with, say, Destruction or Kreator. That minor niggle apart though it is an enjoyable, consistent album and I imagine songs from it will slip into their live set quite easily... just bring back Sy’s falsetto for the next album eh guys!

by Neil Woodfin