Band:	Onslaught
Album:	VI
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	September 20, 2013
Guest review by:	Lit.

01. A New World Order
02. Chaos Is King
03. Fuel For My Fire
04. Children Of The Sand
05. Slaughterize
06. 66'Fucking'6
07. Cruci-Fiction
08. Dead Man Walking
09. Enemy Of My Enemy
10. Shellshock [bonus]

Listening to this album brought to mind the previous effort by British death-or-glory boys Onslaught: "Expanding the threshold of power (power!)" (Sounds Of Violence, "Born For War") And you know what? That's exactly what they did.

Picking up from where the aforementioned album left off, VI continues Onslaught's revitalization and plays ferocious thrash metal at a dynamic and volatile pace. Fast blazers like "Chaos Is My King" and "Fuel For My Fire", the latter of which could be a representation of what Onslaught would've sounded like if they came from LA in the 80's rather than Britain, show the band doing as they've come together to do.

The heavy hitters, meanwhile, such as the scathing "Cruci-Fiction" and the colossal "Children Of The Sand", carry the album on its back, the latter especially with its touch of suitable middle-eastern influenced vocalization which really complements the combination of the chorus and the halting riff in it.

But the real highlights of the album as a whole (aside from the mad riffage) is a) vocalist Sy Keeler continuing to prove he has serious pipes, whether in rough cleans expected in thrash or the occasional growl that borders the genre of the band from a heavier thrash album to death-lite and b) the punishing production which really makes the album punishing in sound. Let's face it: if this album was released at a time when thrash was still in that paper-thin sound era, it would've lost all its venom.

Of course the album is not without retraction. The album begins to stumble by the last two somewhat-unmemorable tracks, and then there's the (albeit expected for a thrash metal band) use of clichés, the main culprit being 66'Fucking'6 which, while impressive song-wise, can be considered immature, as most so-called "metal anthems" tend to be. But then, if you're not one who cares about imagery, it shouldn't be a problem.

Basically what I'm saying: If you can get past the clichés, you'll be rewarded with a consistent thrash in a year that was severely lacking in that department, but in a group of veterans that have been taking it back with gusto.

Oh, and if you manage to find the version of the album that features the redoing of Shellshock (from the Shellshock EP of '88), go for it. It's a good reworking of an earlier semi-classic from the band and a sign of the current times and possible future of Onslaught.