Live Damnation＜Clear Vinyl＞

This live album, recorded in 2008 after Onslaught had reunited the previous year, finds the second-tier U.K. thrash act in what was probably the strongest shape of their careers. They were just never all that great in the '80s, which is why their careers never took off the way those of truly path-breaking acts like Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth did -- or even European acts like Kreator and Destruction. The latter band is probably the one with whom Onslaught share the most sonic DNA; vocalist Sy Keeler, who sang on the group's second album, 1986'sThe Force, and on 2007's Killing Peace, is a raspy shrieker much like Destruction's Marcel Shirmer, and the group's primitive riffing and minimalist beats have the same rawness of the German group. The set list includes four tracks from the reunion album, as expected. They also play three tracks from The Force and one from 1985's debut album, Power from Hell. No songs from the group's third album, 1989's In Search of Sanity -- possibly because Keeler's vocals were rumored to have been overdubbed by his replacement at the time, possibly because the album just wasn't very good. In any case, this is a decent performance by a thoroughly also-ran thrash band. For diehards only. ~ Phil Freeman