Let there be rock
I first saw Onslaught back in the eighties at the Parr hall in Warrington and they were great. Unfortunately they were playing to about 50 people. Not long after that Onslaught were no more and I was gutted.
So now it's 2006 and they're back, I was a little nervous about having my memory of this once great band sullied with a tired cash in comeback of a band going through the motions. No worries.
Lets get it out of the way right now, Onslaught were fantastic, they tore through their set with more energy and fury than a hundred so called metal bands fronted by self aware 'rock gods'
Opening with 'Let there be death' Sy Keeler's voice ripped across the room waking up a few cynical metal fans along the way. This guys voice could physically injure you I'm not kidding, and he delivers it with the powerful ease of someone who has been doing this a long time. They looked like they were enjoying themselves with the singer and bass player banging into each other at every opportunity, I remember James Hinder (bass) being crazy back in the day and he doesn't seem to have stabilised much lately, when not running headlong into Sy he's staring with wild eyed fury into the crowd.
A large circle pit soon opened up and the place went crazy, Onslaught probably have clothes older than some of the audience but that didn't stop them connecting full on with the crowd who lapped it up.
Onslaught have a new album called 'Killing Peace' out in the new year and they played a few songs from that, this is usually a atmosphere killer when the audience doesn't know the songs but the pit never slowed and I enjoyed the new stuff just as much as the old, especially 'Destroyer of Worlds' hope I got that title right? I'll be looking out for that coming out. The one notable omission was there were no songs from 'In Search of Sanity' while this album was a landmark it did spell the beginning of the end for the band so maybe that's why. More likely though is Sy doesn't want to sing anything he didn't record.
That aside thrash was back like it never went away and by the end there were smiling faces everywhere, they should have headlined and ended the day on a high, it was polished, brutal and the real deal, if you get chance to see them anywhere do so , it's like being beaten about the head by a towel filled with wet cement and that would cost you £50 behind the high street. Erm...so I'm told.
http://www.onslaughtfromhell.com