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I can say I was expecting much from Onslaught's re-union album, even with all the comments of "return to their roots" and "up there with their best" talk coming from the press clips that I'd read here and there. However, Onslaught have released an album which has firstly kept to the bands earlier good standards, without necessarily sticking to their early Venom/Slayer-inspired blueprints too tightly.

What Onslaught have done in the release of 'Killing Peace' is release another modern thrash album which sonically rubs shoulders with the likes of new Exodus, new Kreator and touches of Testament's last album. A lot of this is probably due to the modern Andy Sneap production, but there's also that more contemporary sounding edge to the riffs which, even if this album were to have been recorded note for note in 1986, it would still sound out of place alongside their earlier efforts. Returning vocalist Sy Keeler slips between Souza-like oinks and Petrozza-esque barks in his vocal display, whilst being proficient enough for what they are, his anti-Christian diatribes never quite manage to carve his own identity into the album. The riffs range from chugging mid-to-fast paced bombast to Slayer-melody stealing eeriness, and in tracks such as 'Burn' and 'Shock & Awe' the thrash is truly king once more, at times matching Kreator's recent efforts blow for blow. However, seeing as those two aforementioned tracks are the opener and closer of the album, it's the bit in between that is tainted with mild disappointment for me, as the album's body does tend to drag at times.

While the album isn't exactly up there with some of the other albums that have come out in the recent thrash renaissance (see Evile, Violator, Municipal Waste etc...), it certainly doesn't taint Onslaught's legacy one bit. A good enough album, but not exactly a classic.