Album review: Onslaught “Generation Antichrist”
British thrash metal band Onslaught has a new vocalist and a terrific new album ready for an assault on your ears.
Thrash metal band Onslaught was formed in Bristol, England in the early 1980s and released its debut album “Power from Hell” in 1985. Only guitarist Nige Rockett remains from the original lineup of the band, but who cares? Onslaught in 2020 is a fantastic band. “Generation Antichrist” is the band’s seventh full-length studio album. New vocalist Dave Garnett does a stellar job on this album. He is a very good fit for the music. Onslaught somehow manages to combine old-school thrash metal with more contemporary sounds to arrive at a spectacular modern thrash metal sound which is different and better than most thrash metal out there. The album was recorded in Uppsala, Sweden with Daniel Bergstrand (Behemoth, In Flames, Meshuggah). Perhaps it is his production that has brought the best out of this band. The result is very good. I absolutely love it! It’s uncompromising, in-your-face thrash metal music. Aggression has always been part of Onslaught’s music, but here it gets properly channelled and used to the best advantage of the music without messing things up. Lyric-wise the album deals with the mad world we live in today with political and religious nutters stirring shit up. The relentless raw and punk-like energy of this band is combined with first-class songwriting. Really terrific stuff. I haven’t felt this excited about thrash metal since I saw Anthrax live for the first time in 1990. There are so many great and pummelling songs on this album. Some of my immediate favourites include “Strike Fast, Strike Hard”, “Bow Down to the Clowns”, “Generation Antichrist”, “Addicted to the Smell of Death” and “Religiousuicide”. It’s a non-stop guitar attack. “A Perfect Day to Die” (a re-recorded version of the song that was released as a single in 2019) is described as a Motörhead tribute and there certainly are some great Motörhead nods in there, not least the rumbling bass. OK, it’s only August, but this is a major contender for album of the year. It hits you right in the brain with terrific thrash metal.
Onslaught’s new album “Generation Antichrist” is out on 7th August via AFM Records.
