Among the decades-old origins of Thrash, Hardcore Punk looms large. Many acts evolved from those humble rage-fueled beginnings. Onslaught never forgot; Origins Of Aggression (Reigning Phoenix Music), a celebration of the band’s forty years, aggressively reminds us of their fidelity.

Back in the before times, when there really was a mass media, Punk Rock screamed protest and politics. The Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, and other Hardcore pioneers kept that rage and radicalism up front, so when the kids who tired of Glam/Hair Metal reached for inspiration, naturally, they got a pummeling of politics.

Metallica‘s Ride The Lightning, Megadeth‘s So Far, So Good, So What?, Sacred Reich’s Surf Nicaragua, Exodus‘s Fabulous Disaster, and so many more original Thrash bands came out hard against Western supremacy, poverty, and nuclear arms. Even Ozzy Osbourne put out The Ultimate Sin, with at least two different anti-nuke songs. If you recognize most or all of those albums and can give me at least two more relevant examples, stop reading and just get this album now.  Seriously. You’re the target audience. Yeah, you.

For the rest of you, read on. Unlike the majority of Thrash acts, Onslaught remained closer to Hardcore over a longer time. From the ten greatest hits, the first four tracks – “Thermonuclear Devastation,” “Black Horse Of Famine,” “Angels Of Death,” and “Power From Hell” bludgeon out an anti-nuke, anti-government politics with the naked rage of youth we all used to feel. (Some of us never lost it, we just contain it better.)

“Metal Forces” and “Thrash Till The Death” rip and shred with meta trope glee in the same self-referential woodchipper that gave us Kill ‘Em All. All ten original greatest hits tracks blister and only occasionally descend to a semblance of melody.

But wait! There’s more! Twelve more? Covers? Thrash covers! Omigod YES!

Bigger fans than I will immediately recognize more tunes than I did, but bloody well everyone can sing along with Motorhead‘s “Iron Fist,” Dead Kennedys’ “Holiday In Cambodia,” and Black Sabbath‘s “War Pigs.” The choice of “Holidays In The Sun” over “Anarchy in the U.K.” as the Sex Pistols inclusion was unexpected and so fun.

This face-melty collection of twenty-two ragers rocks. Hard. Get it. Get it now.

Buy the album here:
https://onslaught.rpm.link/originsPR

8 / 10
LARRY ROGERS 
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