Onslaught-Sounds Of Violence

U.K. thrashers Onslaught have released their fifth studio album entitled Sounds Of Violence. I have waited for this album for quite some time as it is the follow-up to their bludgeoning 2007 release, Killing Peace. The album opens up with an intro track that sounds a lot like a war film soundtrack (note the Nazi-style eagle on the album cover. Slayer anyone?) that goes into the first "true" song "Born For War". The song has exceptionally fast riffs and an awesome breakdown that will leave any headbanger ready to snap their neck off. The song has an incredible angry energy to it that makes me want to stand up and punch the next person I see so hard that they won't wake up until next week. The next song on the album is the title track, "The Sound Of Violence". This song continues much in the same vein as "Born For War" with the exception being that the vocals in some parts of the song appear to have some sort of sound effect on them. A nice guitar solo helps to make this song above average, however, this song reminds me a lot of the title track from their last album for some reason.

The fourth song on the album is "Code Black". The one thing that stands out to me in this song is the intro. It sounds similar, if not identical, to Slayer's "Ghosts Of War" intro. Maybe they were trying to pay tribute to Slayer, I don't know, but it seems like these guys are, at the very least, big Slayer fans. This song is once again another fast song that will get you headbanging. The rest of the album continues in this fashion without much variation from the first four songs.

If you enjoyed Onslaught's previous release then you will probably like this one, however, many songs on Sounds Of Violence sound a lot like that release and the band doesn't appear to try to be moving into any sort of new or different territory (maybe they want to be like Slayer?).

 3.5/5