Two decades is a long time in anyone's reckoning and the world has moved on from that of the late 1980's. However the more things that change the more they seem to stay the same, and in 2007 as in 1987 Thrash metal is on the rise. Unlike the first Thrash movement many of the bands making a name for themselves are doing so for the second time. As they did all those years ago Onslaught are once again leading the charge on behalf of the UK scene. With an endless list of bands from the pantheon of extreme metal reuniting seemingly on a daily basis the boys from Bristol have a crowded market place in which to re-establish themselves.

With reputation comes expectation, and I don't think you will find many who felt that 1989's "In Search Of Sanity" was ever a worthy successor to the bands now classic release "The Force". Nor was it a fitting epitaph to what were the UK's flagship Thrash act. So it was with as much trepidation as anticipation that I began to listen to opening track "Burn". I am for one glad to report "Killing Peace" is everything that "In Search Of Sanity" wasn't. Aggressive, raw and as savage as a menopausal pit-bull. In Sy Keeler Onslaught have the perfect foil for their brand of metal, a pumped up cross between Bobby Blitz Ellsworth and Rob Halford. Capable of guttural growls aswell as piercing wails; and one can only imagine what might have been should he have sung on the aforementioned "In Search Of Sanity".

While remaining true to the style that defined the genre and it's sound all those years ago, this is by no means Thrash metal by numbers. Slayeresque in much of the riffing, in "Killing Peace" Onslaught have mustered all the creative and collective energy that Slayer were once capable of and surpassed it. Lets be clear, this release isn't forging new ground and breaking barriers, but did we ever expect it to? Onslaught are from the old school and produce old school Thrash metal and their mantra is simple. Make music that assaults your ear drums and leaves you feeling like you've been hit by a bag of spanners. Job done!!!!