Long-running UK thrashers, Onslaught, are now armed with a new label, and the first release for the new label is this 2 disc set. The first disc is the band redoing 10 songs from their first three albums, due to how the band plays them live today. The second disc is the band covering many of their favorite bands’ songs, many of which are punk-related classics. I have gone on record before as saying I am not a fan of bands re-recording their older songs. I am a purist and just as Exodus re-recorded their Bonded By Blood classic album…whew I just was like – what is the ‘effin point in all of this. Now with Onslaught, and they have already re-recorded a few of these songs prior with their best vocalist ever Sy Keeler, and touching any song from their best album, 1986’s The Force, is the equivalent of blasphemy in my book. So here goes.

I do like “Black Horse of Famine”, which was one of the first songs they ever wrote. With that being said, the tune is more of a punk galloping song, as that is how the band was when they first started out. The song was strongly influenced by Motörhead. It gallops and is fun. The recording quality is most excellent on this. David Garnett, who entered the band in 2020, due to Sy no longer being able to tour, was the vocalist on Generation Antichrist, which is a very scorching Onslaught album. On these redone classics, yes, David is a polished thrash metal singer-I will give him that. However, the enunciation of every single syllable, every word, and every letter, for me, is downright irritating to say the least.

The classic “Power From Hell” is upgraded with the sound of better musicianship and production, and it’s actually very well done. The original 1985 classic has a menace with original vocalist Paul Mahoney, with his snarly, gravely vocals. That is missing here as David comes across a bit vanilla and typical as a thrash metal vocalist. Some of the time signature changes, like around the 2.40 time stamp, I think, add some extra oomph and creativity to the mix.

“Let There Be Death”, from The Force, benefits from some improved double bass drums in the beginning, but remember this is from Onslaught’s “Reign in Blood”, imo. There’s some double bass over the fast parts. David tries to harness the evilness of Sy’s pretty demonic, and evil vocals from 1986. It’s not all that bad. When he dips into some of his lower semi-death metal registers, with spitting out the song title, it is actually pretty cool. Again, the over-enunciation of the lyrics is overkill! “In Search of Sanity” and “Shellshock”, from the underrated In Search of Sanity album, for me come across the strongest in terms of vocals and music. The gang vocals on “Shellshock” are excellent.

Disc 2 begins with “Iron Fist” (Motörhead cover), arguably, one of the catchiest punkish/metal songs ever written. The music is there, but well the vocals again take away with the enunciation and way too perfect way of playing and singing this song. The galloping pace is cool and is well done. “Holiday in Cambodia” (Dead Kennedys cover) is actually done well, and I feel David does his best work on this album. It sounds like the band was having fun recording this – I like that. The Sabbath “War Pigs” classic is overall done well, paying respect to one of the greatest metal songs ever written, and the variety of other covers, like from Discharge and The Exploited, are played with conviction..

Sometimes, less is more is the way to go, when a band decides to re-record their songs or do cover songs. All the redone songs and covers on Origins of Aggression are played too perfectly, the production is too perfect, and the vocals are way too perfect to capture every single word written on all of these songs. This approach, for me, just makes these renditions just plain meh. Like, for instance, I appreciate when a band changes things up. Take a look at a band like Krisiun. When they have done covers of some of their favorite bands, they mix shit up and throw blast beats in the mix and make the songs their own. When bands do shot-for-shot, take-for-take of covers and their own songs, to me is pointless.

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