ONSLAUGHT: Live Damnation (2009)

Bristol thrash metal does not get the flowers it deserves. While everyone was busy arguing about the Bay Area, Onslaught were over in the UK making records that hit harder and faster than most of their American counterparts, and Live Damnation is the document that proves it.

Recorded at the peak of their reunion run, this is Onslaught doing what Onslaught does, which is playing thrash metal with the kind of controlled aggression that makes festival crowds lose their minds and sound engineers reach for the gain knob. Sy Keeler is one of the more underrated front men in the genre, all bark and bark and more bark, and the band behind him is locked in. Cuts from Power from Hell and The Force hit exactly as hard as you'd want them to live. This is a no-frills document of a band reminding everyone why they matter, and it belongs in any serious alternative or metal collection alongside your Exodus and Kreator live records.

Format: CD. Origin: United Kingdom. Released: 2009.

Fans of: Exodus, Kreator, Venom, Nuclear Assault, Tankard.