positive punk: ONSLAUGHT

9.07.2025

ONSLAUGHT

"origins of aggression"

Year: 2025

Country: UK

City: Bristol

Label: Reigning Phoenix

Format: CD, 2 x LP

Tracks: 22

Time: 60 min.

Genre: rock

Style: Thrash

Years ago, the term "40 year band" seemed like a pipe dream for any band. I remember being 12 years old back in 2004, and hearing that the Rolling Stones were at 40 years into their career at that point. These days, there are more and more bands from the 80s reaching the 40 year mark and still going strong, that's all the reason to celebrate. Many bands are celebrating in their own ways with special shows/anniversary tours, new releases, reunions, or a combination of all. When it comes to the more extreme bands, there's not many that are still releasing music this late in their careers with the same level of aggression as their earlier stuff. Look at Onslaught for example. They released their first 3 albums in the 80s, broke up, reformed in 2005 and released Killing Peace, and each album that came after that were all at another level of intensity. Since the release of their last album Generation Antichrist in 2020, they've been teasing a return to the studio with album #8 to be coming.

As we sit here in 2025, 20 years after their reformation, they are celebrating 40 years since the release of Power From Hell and are heading out on a 40th anniversary tour by playing that album in its entirety. Nige Rockett has also been recovering from cancer, which took everyone by surprise, but he proved that cancer has once again chosen the wrong person to mess with. On the new music front, they took us all by surprise when they announced that the long-awaited album would be a collection of re-recordings of classic tracks and covers titled Origins Of Aggression. Definitely not what we were expecting, as we were all waiting for an album of all fresh material. When that will arrive, I have no idea, but the fan in me is hoping sooner than later, just saying.

What we have with Origins Of Aggression is a double album where the first disc contains re-recordings of tracks from the first 3 albums and the What Lies Ahead demo, and the second disc contains a bunch of covers by bands that influenced both Onslaught's classic metal and punk roots. The one issue I have with some of the track choices is that tracks like "Angels Of Death" and "Shellshock" have already been re-recorded in the past, so I don't see any reason to do it again. I think it's most likely so Dave Garnett can add his vocal to it as opposed to Sy Keeler, but I still see it as pointless to do it again. However, I will say that the decision to do modern versions of "Power From Hell", "Metal Forces", "Let There Be Death" and "Fight With The Beast" in particular was a good one, because the production on Power From Hell and The Force was pretty low-budget. The same goes for "Thermonuclear Devastation" and "Black Horse Of Famine", given that they both appeared on the What Lies Ahead demo, so hearing all those tracks with modern production and with so much more punch was a breath of fresh air, and it made the songs that much more aggressive and punishing. I know some fans will stick with the originals, but these are some damn good re-recordings.

Moving on to the covers disc, we get a pretty standard selection of British bands that have influenced the band's classic metal and punk roots, with one American band being thrown into the mix as well. There's covers from Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Motorhead who showcase the metal side of things, while there's a bigger selection of punk bands like Discharge, Exploited, Killing Joke, GBH, Sex Pistols, UK Subs and Dead Kennedys. On some tracks, Garnett gets to experiment with his voice after staying true to the Onslaught vocal style for a while. It was a bit surprising to see three of the covers be from Discharge, like "A Look At Tomorrow", "State Violence State Control" and "Drunk With Power". These three tracks in particular were nice to hear with modern production due to the low-budget production of the originals, but that was the spirit of punk back in the day.

In closing, I will say that I think what would've made this double album a smash would've been where the first disc was all fresh material, and the second disc being the re-recordings of the classics. Nothing wrong with the covers, but honestly, covers don't excite me as much as they used to, no matter how good they may sound. Maybe the odd one here and there, or maybe one as like a bonus track on a new album will be cool, but a whole album's worth of covers, I'll pass. I'm just being blunt and honest. Several of the re-recordings sound amazing and it was refreshing to hear some of the classics given a new life with modern production while still carrying that old-school vibe, but the covers did almost nothing for me. I think the overall announcement of an album of covers and re-recordings created a buzzkill for me after anticipating an album of all new material after 5 long years, and I'm sure many fans felt the same thing as well (*Review by Alex Stojanovic ).

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