Band:	Onslaught
Album:	The Force
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	1986
Guest review by:	Cynic Metalhead

01. Let There Be Death
02. Metal Forces
03. Fight With The Beast
04. Demoniac
05. Flame Of The Antichrist
06. Contract In Blood
07. Thrash Till The Death

In the early 1980s, Onslaught emerged as a pioneering thrash metal force in the UK, evolving from a hardcore punk outfit. After releasing several demos, Onslaught unleashed their debut album, Power From Hell, in 1985, marking the band's significant transformation, and blending the raw energy of British punk with the grandiosity of NWOBHM. The album featured a rich tapestry of occult and political themes, artfully woven with the genre's quintessential focus on force, power, energy, and momentum, and this seamlessly established Onslaught as a formidable presence in the metal landscape.

In following up Power From Hell, a year after Onslaught accelerated their brew and released their sophomore album The Force, transforming into an unprecedented and relentless thrash metal band. The punk framework had now become a subset their sound, with The Exploited-esque directness, rhythmic consistency, and a sense of atonal apocalyptic urgency in the rhythm guitar. Onslaught had undergone some line-up reshuffling, moving Paul Mahoney from vocals to bass whil picking up vocalist Sy Keeler, who really bringss new life into the sound, keeping an evil atmosphere alive.

The Force features seven tracks, with an average song length of six minutes. The opening track, "Let There Be Death," immediately sets a progressive tone, beginning with a chugging riff and as the song progresses, the drumming gets denser and hammered, moving into full-blown thrash mode. James Hinder did an excellent work keeping the bass completely audible, and he battered out some delicious bass riffs too.

However, the meat of this album, as with any in the genre, lies in its riff work, and this record boasts some of the finest riffs you'll find. The guitars don't adhere to a single tempo; instead, they range wildly, delivering both blisteringly fast riffs and slower, chord-driven passages that are relentlessly fast and memorable, like in "Metal Forces".

While the rest of the album follows a similar suit, I need to draw your attention back to Sy Keeler, whose vocals are apt to the structure of the album, which peaks on eight-minute epic "Flame Of The Antichrist"; the song opens with a two-minute atmospheric interlude before it pumps out echoing voices and a riff colligating a blasphemous sound strikingly reminiscent of old-school stalwarts like Slayer and Bathory. The production was definitely improved when compared with Power From Hell, which is noticeable in the great mixing of songs; the only weakness that this album suffers from is with certain lengthy songs that then to drag towards their endings.

In totality, The Force marks Onslaught's finest release to date, and became a beacon for thrash bands from the UK such as Xentrix, Sabbat, and Slammer. If you like your thrash more hellish, raw, and evil - this album is up your alley; more precisely, fans of Venom, Slayer, and Mercyful Fate will find a lot to appreciate here.

Highlights: "Flame Of The Antichrist", "Power From Hell", "Metal Forces"