Live & Dangerous: Onslaught, Desecration, Lifer and Bull Riff Stampede

Onslaught, Desecration, Lifer and Bull Riff Stampede Bogiez Cardiff 20/09/12

I missed Bull Riff Stampede so I'm sorry to them for that but I am reliably informed that they were very good so excellent.

Lifer

Are a thrash/doom band from South Wales that play heavy dirty metal that mixes head ripping thrash and chugging breakdown filled doom/stoner metal. The band were heavy and powerful with some great riffs and powerful drumming. The only thing that reduced this bands power was the vocals which were a little lost in the mix meaning that the band were not as confrontational as they think they would usually be. 6/10

Desecration

Welsh death-metal destroyers Desecration proceeded to wipe away any sound problems with their extremely heavy brand of death metal. They were a cacophony of Obituary style light-speed riffage and barked vocals with some very technical soloing. The band got a huge ovation from the crowd after every song and with good reason because they were very good at what they do and tonight they proved they can bring the death metal noise. 8/10

Onslaught

From just over the water Bristol based thrashers Onslaught were on the first date of the ‘Full Force’ tour meaning that they were going to play all of their seminal 1985 album The Force (which was vocalist Sy Keeler’s debut) The band started with a few modern tracks like Born Of War and The Sound Of Violence before playing all of the previously mentioned album which features classic tracks like Metal Forces, Fight With The Beast and Demoniac this was a fantastic retro run through of a classic thrash album which got a lot the crowd air-guitaring and moshing like mad. However a lot of the crowd did seem to thin out after Desecration which was a shame as Onslaught were on top form throughout and played a blinding set with Keeler on top vocal form and the guitars of Andy-Rosser Davies and Nige Rockett were excellent as were Mike Hourian’s drums (who had already played with Desecration) and Jeff William’s bass. The band ended with a few more classics like Thermonuclear Devastation and Onslaught (Power From Hell) leaving the crowd on massive high. The band were excellent and the set was almost flawless a brilliant showing from one of British thrash’s best bands. 8/10