As part of their 40th Anniversary activities, Onslaught have re-recorded an album’s worth of some of their earlier work and packaged it here with another disc of covers recorded recently highlighting some of the bands and songs that influenced the formation and sound of the band.
There are always two camps when it comes to the concept of re-recording your own old songs, one that feel it’s a pointless exercise that shouldn’t even be attempted and a the other view that thinks it depends more on the results as the originals are still there if the new versions aren’t for you. I’ve always been in the latter frame of mind as quite often older recordings lack production values making up for it with a more raw sound instead. I’ve often wanted to have classic songs with more modern production and being a huge Onslaught fan, I pre-ordered this album the day it was announced.
So, does it deliver what I wanted? Hell yes, it does! I would even go so far as to say that for me, it is the most successfully re-recorded album I’ve heard. They’ve got the balance exactly right to my ear, with the songs remaining virtually the same, retaining the energy and drive of the originals but now the production is clearer the songs have even more Power (From Hell presumably. The drums and bass can now be heard clearly, filling out the sound on the oldest songs excellently and supporting all those awesome, sexy riffs.
Listening to these versions Fight With The Beast or Metal Forces again now just makes me want to run around like a fool and throw things through the window like I was a teenager! I don’t think it’s just nostalgia talking here because it’s the same every time I listen to this (which I’ve done a LOT) and it’s the same every time – the volume goes up, a stupid grin comes out and total inability to sit still inhabits me. Oh well!
Power From Hell from the debut has never sounded better than here and sits perfectly well next to Shellshock from the third album, with the older song showing more of the punk attitude the band started with while the later one has a more Big Four thrash feel to it. Think Metal Militia compared to Disposable Heroes for the Metallica fans out there.
Now that these songs have a consistent production sound they actually hang together pretty well as an album, despite coming from three different albums, all written and recorded with different line-ups, making this the perfect Onslaught sampler, I would say. The oldest songs have gained the most with the re-recording as obviously the production has had the biggest change, but the consistent, more modern vocal style may help draw in younger fans now too. Great to hear Sy Keeler again on Metal Forces though, he’s such a brilliant singer.
And so on to Disc 2, the covers album. Starting with Motorhead’s Iron Fist, it’s a good choice of song as it’s familiar but not been done a million times before. Onslaught have covered Motorhead before of course, with a version of Bomber brought out as a single in 2010, which actually had Phil Campbell (and Tom Angelripper) guesting on it. Pretty faithful to the original, fast and frenetic, it’s a good start to the disc as it sits well next to their own material as you’d expect being an influence.
And so on to Disc 2, the covers album. Starting with Motorhead’s Iron Fist, it’s a good choice of song as it’s familiar but not been done a million times before. Onslaught have covered Motorhead before of course, with a version of Bomber brought out as a single in 2010, which actually had Phil Campbell (and Tom Angelripper) guesting on it. Pretty faithful to the original, fast and frenetic, it’s a good start to the disc as it sits well next to their own material as you’d expect being an influence.
Holidays In Cambodia is next up and is more of a departure from the original being much heavier, including the vocals, which is something I’m glad about as a bad impersonation of Jello Biafra would not work at all! Overall, it works well, I think. I’m not familiar with the originals of a number of the punk covers by the likes of Exploited and Discharge so can’t comment on how they compare, but they are perfectly listenable here, so no doubt will grow on me and get me looking them up one day.
There are some unexpected covers here – would you have guessed Judas Priest would appear, for example? This is a good thing as it keeps things interesting listening to this disc, don’t look at the listing and just enjoy whatever comes up next. None of this disc is essential listening but it is interesting and gives a flavour of the influences of the band. I’m treating this as a bonus disc and looked at in that light it’s a damn good one.
In summary, this is an album I’ll continue to play a lot more in the future as it’s just so bloody good and is making me consider a trip to Manchester later in the year for the band’s only UK gig this year at Damnation.
There are some unexpected covers here – would you have guessed Judas Priest would appear, for example? This is a good thing as it keeps things interesting listening to this disc, don’t look at the listing and just enjoy whatever comes up next. None of this disc is essential listening but it is interesting and gives a flavour of the influences of the band. I’m treating this as a bonus disc and looked at in that light it’s a damn good one.
In summary, this is an album I’ll continue to play a lot more in the future as it’s just so bloody good and is making me consider a trip to Manchester later in the year for the band’s only UK gig this year at Damnation.
At 45 minutes for disc 1 and 40 minutes for disc 2, it’s also perfect for those that want to go the whole hog with the nostalgia trip and record this bad boy onto a TDK D90 for their Walkman. The re-recorded album is an easy 10 for me, with the covers (bonus!) disc an 8. Fans of Thrash that aren’t familiar with Onslaught need to give this a listen ASAP. 9/10
I’d like to dedicate this review to a friend of mine who we sadly lost to cancer last year. He was the man who introduced me to Onslaught “back in the day”, took me to many a gig of theirs in and around Bristol (including one venue where they’re still banned to this day I believe!) and also introduced me to some of the bands covered on the second disc. Rest easy James, thanks for the music.
I’d like to dedicate this review to a friend of mine who we sadly lost to cancer last year. He was the man who introduced me to Onslaught “back in the day”, took me to many a gig of theirs in and around Bristol (including one venue where they’re still banned to this day I believe!) and also introduced me to some of the bands covered on the second disc. Rest easy James, thanks for the music.
Great review - and Rock on Psychojim 🤘🎸
ReplyDelete