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 Balls out Thrash with the wrong vocalist.- |
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I'll be the first to admit it: I never gave Onslaught a chance. This is a band whos name is on the tongues of every Thrash fan, and a band that many will throw out in any conversation about the style, typically in a positive light. The group formed in 1983 in Bristol, England, broke up in 1991, and reformed in 2005. Sounds of Violence marks the group's second full-length since reuniting, and given the amount of adoration and respect the Thrash community of the world has given this band, it was a bright day to find Sounds of Violence in my digital inbox for review, taking this opportunity to finally hear what the big deal was with this group considering the amount of praise my friends gave their last full-length effort, Killing Peace. Perhaps this album wasn't really the best jumping on point for this specific band. Sounds of Violence is a little rough to listen to right from the start. The music itself isn't necessarily that bad, but it has a cross between a very heavy and less fast, as well as intense, interpretation of heavier Ministry, even with the vocals, but also leaving out the Industrial element. Many of the songs capture a crushing heaviness to them that are simply fantastic and can honestly be described as "balls out" metal assaults. The material also has this rough, dirty feel to it that gives it a strong old-school Hard Rock attitude to it sometimes, like during "The Sound of Violence", easily one of the catchiest and heaviest tracks of the recording. For the most part, this is what the album seems to offer the listener throughout, and aside the overall level of soul crushing heaviness some songs give off in the guitars, it's decent material that doesn't have many unique traits that seems to focus solely on sounding heavy. Take "Code Black" for example. This song is a slower paced track that comes off more as a modern Exodus inspired track with a vocal approach that gives off traits of a Lamb of God bad-ass approach without the vocal distortion. Those vocals work well against the over-the-top heavy guitars and pounding drums, but the song itself becomes very boring rather quickly due to it's very long track length, and general feeling of the song being drawn out. There are plenty of extended bridges that seem to just prolong the inevitable ending of the song, and when you step back and picture the song at a faster pace, it simply sounds like a much faster song played at a slower pace for some reason. While not a bad track, it could have been greatly cut down. The loonger tracks on here are all generally like this: Heavy and entertaining for a little while, then just drawn out and causing you to grow anxious for the end. It's the faster, shorter songs on the recording that stand out. Of the faster tracks, "Rest in Pieces" stands out the most, though "The Sound of Violence" is easily the catchiest of the tracks. "Rest in Pieces" just takes the music into generally accepted fields, bringing the band's intensity into the mix with some general slightly technical chords that will trigger instant Slayer memories in the listener, offering enough intensity and fury to keep the song sounding fresh and varied from start to finish. The only thing holding back the song, and many others, are the vocals. It's hard to look at this album and try to figure out what vocal approach, or even sound would best work with it due to how heavy the music comes across, but the aforementioned Ministry/Lamb of God approach to this style laced with some rhaspy Thrash vocals just doesn't quite drive the fury home on these tracks sometimes. The music demands a commanding vocalist, and sadly the vocals performed here don't quite work and sound better fitted to an early Overkill release due to it's more Crossover Thrash/Punk attitude. This approach works perfectly on the lead single "Bomber" due to that same exact attitude being portrayed in the music. The vocals on "Suicideology" come close, as therer are moments where they become rather deep and almost gutteral in a sense, and those feel more appropriate for this recording. The music on the shorter tracks are well done and enough to hold the listener's attention for a good number of spins thanks to it's intensity. The only thing working against them are the vocals as pointed out. The longer tracks all basically feel drawn out, though "Antitheist" manages to incorporate a decent amount of changes that it's enjoyable, and has a much longer appeal to the listener, but after a few times through the song will start to wear a little thin like the others of longer length. "Into the Abyss" is an introduction track that bleeds into "Born for War", but it simply doesn't set anything up for the album, though "Born for War" manages to make the listener aware of what is to come. This track is also not the most bland of the longer songs, but, like the others, it will start to feel drawn out after a while despite it's much faster pace when compared to "Code Black", but the song still comes off a little unmemorable in comparison. "End of the Storm" sets up a nice sudden change of pace to the catchy as all hell "Bomber", but this track should have been the album's opener instead, with all bleeding into "Born for War" removed from the track, as it sets up a better atmosphere for the rest of the heavy recording. Is Sounds of Violence is bad album? No, it's far from it. But it's also not the best Thrash release you can find, and more then likely not the strongest by the band in general. It is heavy though, and while the shorter songs seems to take up after bands like Slayer and modern day Exodus with an Overkill enthusiast handling vocal duties, those tracks are all well done and often pack quite a nasty bite to them. The music feels dirty and intense, crushing you at times with fast paced riffs and balls-to-the-wall Thrash Metal that will leave any violent-sounding music fanatic happy at the end of the day, but in the end there's a little too much working against it to make it a must have album past the affects of OCD devout fandom. |
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Digital review copy of this release provided by: AFM Records via Earsplit PR.
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