{"id":43784,"date":"2013-09-24T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2013-09-24T00:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=43784"},"modified":"2016-05-09T20:25:19","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T20:25:19","slug":"feature-onslaught-09-13-pt1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-onslaught-09-13-pt1\/","title":{"rendered":"ONSLAUGHT – Chaos Is King, Part One (September 2013) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ONSLAUGHT – Chaos Is King<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nSeptember 2013<\/span><\/p>\n

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Onslaught (l-r): Jeff Williams, Sy Keeler, Michael Hourihan, Nige Rockett and Andy Rosser-Davies<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nSounds Of Violence<\/em><\/a> \u2013 the fifth studio full-length to be issued by British thrash metal outfit Onslaught \u2013 arrived in January 2011 through AFM Records. Prior to its release, rhythm guitarist Nige Rockett and lead axeman Andy Rosser-Davies had already begun to pen material in preparation for a sixth studio affair. These writing sessions would culminate in the issue of September 2013\u2019s VI<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was just to try to get ahead the game, so we didn\u2019t get a big backlog,\u201d supplements Nige. \u201cOur new label wanted us to release the next one within almost two years of Sounds Of Violence<\/em>. I didn\u2019t really want too much pressure to come onto us at the end, and so yeah, we had a lot of ideas left over from Sounds Of Violence<\/em>, which we built on from there. It was kind of an easy process for me and Andy really, because we had gotten to know the way the other works on the Sounds Of Violence<\/em> album. When it came to write this one, it was really easy to be honest. That was nice of course, because it was gonna be a tough album to follow. We feel we\u2019ve done a good job. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe first song that we wrote actually was \u2018Chaos Is King\u2019 for the VI<\/em> album, and it\u2019s kind of a prequel to the track \u2018Code Black\u2019 from the previous record. If you listen to the intro of \u2018Code Black\u2019 on the Sounds Of Violence<\/em> album, you will actually hear the tail part of \u2018Chaos Is King\u2019 from the new album. It\u2019s kind of confusing a little bit. It\u2019s more of a movie type thing, but we tried to put it into music, and I think it kind of works. The lyrics are related, and yeah, I think it\u2019s come off kind of okay. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just went from there. I think it probably took around five to six months in total; if we added everything together like writing, demoing, and recording, there was five to six months of work I guess. That\u2019s fairly quick I guess, especially for Onslaught, as we\u2019ve generally taken three to four years between albums. We\u2019re pleased with the way it\u2019s gone, especially as the final result has really pleased us no end. We\u2019re really proud of what we\u2019ve done so far with this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Onslaught\u2019s creative well isn\u2019t dry. \u201cOne thing Onslaught never do is, we never write…,\u201d the composer begins. \u201cYou see a lot of bands who say \u2018We wrote 12-14 songs, and we\u2019re gonna use 10-11.\u2019 We never do that. If it isn\u2019t good enough, we just throw it away. But yeah, we just bounce ideas off of each other all the time. We sit down in our little studio, and one of us will bring riffs in. The other one of us will go \u2018Man, let\u2019s alter this\u2019 or \u2019\u2026 Do this.\u2019 I think it\u2019s really a total 50 \/ 50 effort in terms of the music, between me and Andy. With virtually every riff we wrote, the other one would try to improve on it. That\u2019s just the way we work. <\/p>\n

\u201cI write all of the lyrics and the vocal parts for the band, but musically it was me and Andy sort of 50 \/ 50, straight down the middle. There was never a recording session that we\u2019ve had, where we didn\u2019t create something positive for the album. There was never a day where we had sat there, and gone home at the end of the day without having done anything. We\u2019re never short of inspiration, so yeah. We make a good team, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

The appointment of Andy-Rosser Davies was confirmed on February 2nd, 2008, January 2011\u2019s Sounds Of Violence<\/em> marking the shredder\u2019s debut. \u201cUnfortunately, I think in this day and age, bands have a lot of issues with member changes,\u201d Nige observes. \u201cYou can just look at the history of other bands, like Exodus, Testament, Anthrax, blah blah blah. I think it\u2019s just part and parcel of being in a band. Not everybody can commit fully all of the time. We always try to make the negative of a membership change into a positive thing, and bring in somebody who actually brings more to the table. Andy definitely brought lots to the Onslaught table when he joined. As I say, we make a great writing team, and he\u2019s obviously a fantastic lead guitarist. He\u2019s definitely had a very positive impact on the band.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lyricist has concentrated on rhythm guitar duties since Onslaught\u2019s 2005 formation, leaving lead responsibilities to a bandmate. \u201cI used to do all of the leads back in the 80s period, but since we got back together, because I had a ten-year layoff, it was something that I didn\u2019t wanna do when I came back,\u201d he explains. \u201cI concentrated more on my rhythm playing, so when we write the parts, what you will find is I do most of the rhythm parts that are on their own where the whole band drops out and stuff like that. Andy is obviously concentrating on the solos. When it comes to recording the album, I will play all of the rhythm parts on the records just for tightness. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s the way it works, but Andy will do a few little bits here and there. He\u2019s obviously got his solos to concentrate on, and a lot of overdubs and stuff. That makes things quicker and more cost effective in the studio, especially as we\u2019re laying down sometimes four, five, or six rhythm guitar parts. They have to be super-tight, so it\u2019s obviously better to get one person to play all of that on record. That\u2019s the way it\u2019s been all the way through, and I think most bands work that way as well. Obviously there\u2019s a big part of Andy on the record of course, but we stick to our strengths, and that\u2019s the way we like to do things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lead guitar parts were mainly supplied by Nige himself on Onslaught\u2019s trio of 80s full-lengths. \u201cObviously on the first album (Power From Hell<\/em><\/a>, February 1985), the leads weren\u2019t that great anyway,\u201d he chuckles. \u201cWe only had one guitarist, though. With the second album (The Force<\/em>, May 1986) we added a second guitarist, but then I was sort of doing all of the leads then. On the Sanity<\/em> album (In Search Of Sanity<\/em>, August 1989) I did a big part of them, although Rob Trottman \u2013 who was our guitarist at the time \u2013 did some as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said, when I came back I had not played for ten years. It was really gonna take a lot of really, really hard work. It was hard enough to get the rhythm playing back up to speed, but to try to get the leads back up there as well was gonna be a bit too much, especially with the writing. There was also the fact that we weren\u2019t able to do that full-time any more, so it was always a better option to get somebody in as a lead guitarist.\u201d<\/p>\n

With each respective studio outing issued since Onslaught\u2019s reformation, the axe-slinger believes the assortment are developing more of a rhythm and becoming better and better. \u201cWe came back with Killing Peace<\/em> (March 2007), which we thought was a pretty strong album,\u201d he cites. \u201cWhen Andy then joined, we got this great rhythm going between us. As I said, we made Sounds Of Violence<\/em>, which I thought was our best album at the time, as did a lot of people. And as I said, we thought it was gonna be very tough to follow, but yeah, we just seem to be going from strength to strength at the moment. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m planning for the next album already and this one\u2019s not out yet, as was the case last time. I\u2019ve got a very good feeling about the next one as well. I just don\u2019t wanna release anything that is substandard compared to our previous albums. I\u2019d feel disappointed for myself and disappointed for the fans if we ever did that, so we need to rise to the challenge on every album and make a better one each time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans and journalists alike inevitably weigh Onslaught\u2019s noughties catalogue against its 80s catalogue. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to compare because the 80s were a totally different time and era, really,\u201d Nige cautions. \u201cThe first two albums were kind of hailed as classic albums, but I think times have moved on and the band has improved no end, really. I definitely think that as much as everybody… They used to say that The Force<\/em> is the classic Onslaught album, but I\u2019m hoping that people start changing their thinking now with Sounds Of Violence<\/em> and VI<\/em>. We\u2019ve had some amazing reviews of the album thus far, and the majority of those are saying that this is Onslaught\u2019s best album. We just hope that the fans think that way too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albeit boasting roots which date back to 1983, not all thrash aficionados are aware of Onslaught\u2019s existence. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible really when you think about,\u201d the axeman muses. \u201cWe\u2019re a fairly high profile band, but obviously because Facebook is such a vast medium now, we\u2019re still getting people who say \u2018Who are this band?\u2019 They\u2019ve never heard of this band. It\u2019s great, really. We\u2019re obviously getting introduced to new fans all of the time, and hopefully the album VI<\/em> is gonna expand our fanbase a great deal more. It\u2019s incredible that some people \u2013 even in the UK and Europe \u2013 are not aware of the band, though. It\u2019s weird, but it\u2019s a good thing that we\u2019re now reaching out to these people. We\u2019re just gonna keep on pushing and pushing, and get our name out as much as possible. That\u2019s the only way we can make this band grow even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

A fresh crop of thrash outfits have emerged in recent years. \u201cThrash has been getting stronger,\u201d Nige admits. \u201cWe came back, and I guess it was kind of on its way up. In the last five years in particular though, with the Big Four and the likes of Testament, Kreator, Overkill, ourselves, and Exodus releasing really, really strong albums, it\u2019s really getting a new generation of fans into thrash again. That\u2019s great. We\u2019re witnessing it, especially at live shows. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are lots of young kids there as well, which is really cool. Obviously that leads to new bands forming, which is great as well for the scene. Obviously the scene needs to keep building from the bottom. The only thing that I would say is I think some of these bands need to try to push thrash into a new direction, instead of doing what the old school bands are doing. They should just try to take thrash in a little bit of a more different direction, just to help the movement to continue once the other bands start to fade out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certain newer thrash ensembles come across as more of a homage, as opposed to adding new ingredients to the thrash recipe. \u201cYeah, that\u2019s right,\u201d the guitarist agrees. \u201cDefinitely. That\u2019s what I think they should do. It\u2019s not easy, mind you (laughs). I don\u2019t know how they\u2019re gonna do it, but I think that\u2019s what it needs for the scene to keep expanding further beyond the likes of the main bands in the genre.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nige feels each respective territory possesses its own individual thrash identity, particularly as it relates to Germany. \u201cThe German bands especially have a very distinct sound as compared to the British and American bands, I would say,\u201d he reckons. \u201cEven with the latest Kreator album (Phantom Antichrist<\/em><\/a>, June 2012) though, I think the line is getting a little less hard. Probably because of the way things are recorded these days, I think the line is becoming a little fainter now. Obviously the language and vocal tones make a little difference. Whereas with the English and American bands, we all kind of speak in the same tongue, if you know what I mean, the Germans always have that really aggressive sounding vocal in there just because of the way they pronounce the English. I think that makes it quite distinct for them, anyway. I\u2019m not too sure about the English side of things. There aren\u2019t really a great deal of bands over here any more. That\u2019s quite sad for the UK scene, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless a British concern, whether Onslaught\u2019s musical stylings identify the group as a British thrash quintet is open to debate. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had a hardcore punk tinge to our sound,\u201d the songwriter references. \u201cIt\u2019s always been based around that, because that\u2019s where we came from and what I grew up on. There has always been that kind of influence in there, and also we came from the Mot\u00f6rhead side of things as well. I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s difficult to say. A lot of people said that the Sounds Of Violence<\/em> album had quite an English feel to it, although I didn\u2019t really hear it myself. We just write music that feels good, and sounds good. It\u2019s not something we ever try to consciously do, to remember that we\u2019re a British band and that we need to keep this British identity. It doesn\u2019t work like that. We just feel that we write the best thrash metal that we possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite harbouring an active thrash scene, the music industry is financially difficult within the United Kingdom. \u201cThat\u2019s a tough question, man. I don\u2019t know. Things are really difficult in the UK for bands, as we\u2019ve found out since we came back,\u201d Nige laments. \u201cI guess we\u2019ve probably only played a handful of shows in England since we\u2019ve been back together, since 2006. It\u2019s much more of a struggle than it is for us in Europe, South America, and the rest of the world even. The press are really kind of fickle in England. They kind of work in a weird way (laughs), which I don\u2019t think is necessarily always the best for the bands. Everything we do in England is built purely on our own hard work and promotion, really. Of course we\u2019re a British band, but I think we appear to be more international than anything in this day and age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds Of Violence<\/em> cut \u2018Code Black\u2019 lyrically relates to the number \u2018Chaos Is King\u2019, the pair concerning a dictator. \u201c\u2018Code Black\u2019 was a story about a dictator in history, and the kind of things that he was planning,\u201d the wordsmith augments. \u201c\u2018Chaos Is King\u2019 is the prequel to that story and is basically about how he came to rise to power, whereas \u2018Code Black\u2019 was more about the era he was actually in power, and all of the evil stuff that went on then. \u2018Chaos Is King\u2019 was the fact that his ideology was to create as much chaos as possible to get himself into power, so they\u2019re kind of linked through that way. It was something we planned. I think it works. It\u2019s kind of cool, especially with the music, and how it ties around and goes around full circle. That\u2019s kind of like they do in the movies, but we\u2019ve tried it with the music. I\u2019m happy with how it turned out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nige cited \u2018Chaos Is King\u2019 as the most aggressive Onslaught tune to date. \u201cWhen we recorded it, everybody really pushed themselves to the limits on this one,\u201d he compliments. \u201c\u2018Chaos Is King\u2019 is definitely the most aggressive track. It was a real bitch to nail super-tight in the studio, but as I said, if we wanna further this band then we have to push ourselves to the limits, and that\u2019s what we did. There\u2019s some real, tough playing on this album, and I think everybody excelled themselves as much as possible. Sy\u2019s vocals (Sy Keeler) were a great step forward again from the last album, if that is possible. We never thought he would do it, but he did, and I think that\u2019s why the album turned out as strong as it has.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Middle Eastern flavour denotes \u2018Children Of The Sand\u2019, meanwhile, which the axe-slinger judged as being Onslaught\u2019s most experimental track to date. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019re aware or if you\u2019ve seen on the website, but we\u2019ve got some friends who are working out in Afghanistan,\u201d he informs. \u201cThey actually named their battalion and missile launchers after Onslaught, and they use the Onslaught logo at their base. They just sent us some of their thoughts back over, just letting us know what it\u2019s like out there. It was pretty heavy stuff, really, stuff that we don\u2019t necessarily get told by our governments and what have you. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo yeah, they sent us a lot of their thoughts and said \u2018Please feel free to use any of this for lyrical inspiration,\u2019 which I did. There are a couple of songs on VI<\/em> where I took lyrical inspiration from that, \u2018Children Of The Sand\u2019 being one of them. When we actually came to write the music, it just lent itself to that Middle Eastern, Arabic kind of sound with the guitar chord progressions that we used and stuff. When we had actually finished the main part of the music and Sy\u2019s vocals were in it, I just really wanted something else just to enhance and bring out what the song was truly about. <\/p>\n

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\u201cWe tried putting some keyboards into the song \u2013 sort of stringy keyboard sounds \u2013 but it just didn\u2019t sound quite right. I really hate the idea of using keyboards in thrash metal, anyway. When I went to Sweden to mix the album with Thomas Johansson, I discussed it with him. He actually knew some guy there who was a fantastic string player. We got him into the studio for a couple of hours and talked through some parts, and so he actually played live strings on the album. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt really brought the choruses to life in particular, which was absolutely fantastic. Obviously it\u2019s really great to have a real musician play on there, rather than keyboard strings and stuff. Obviously we added the female vocals in the choruses and the intro, and it just brought the whole thing together in an amazing way. We just sat there gob-smacked when it was finally finished. I couldn\u2019t have dreamed in a thousand years that it would\u2019ve ever turned out that way. For me it\u2019s one of the best songs we\u2019ve ever done personally, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Children Of The Sand\u2019\u2019s nature paves the way for further experimentation on future compositions. \u201cNow we\u2019ve done that, I think you have to in future,\u201d Nige concedes. \u201cLike I said earlier, we don\u2019t wanna be seen to be standing still. We always need to keep moving forward. I have actually got an idea. I was speaking to the guys about it the other day. I have got an idea for something different on the next track again, which is something we\u2019re gonna try to put together over the next year or so. It\u2019s quite interesting. Obviously I don\u2019t wanna give too much away at the moment, but if it works it could be the same kind of thing. Just something a little bit more experimental, just to give the album a different flavour. But yeah, I\u2019m definitely gonna do something like that. As I said, the idea\u2019s coming together nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow VI<\/em> numbers to touch upon the Middle East include \u2018Slaughterize\u2019. \u201cOne of the other tracks which is particularly relevant as well is \u2018Enemy Of My Enemy\u2019, which is an old Arabic saying anyway,\u201d the axeman elaborates. \u201cEspecially with the situation that\u2019s going on in Syria at the moment \u2013 the Americans trying to come in one side, and then all of a sudden, the Russians and the Chinese coming on the other side \u2013 that particular song and the lyrics in that song become very, very kind of relevant at the moment. It was kind of weird for us when the situation arose, because like I said, it\u2019s just very strange. That\u2019s kind of what that song was about, without knowing that situation was actually arising. It\u2019s very spooky.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was originally written moreso about… If you look back at when Russia were actually out in Afghanistan, the Americans and I believe possibly the British government were funding and sending arms to the Taliban, so obviously they were kind of enemies with Russia. They weren\u2019t our best friends, but they were less of an enemy. They were being helped, but then all of a sudden the tables turned, and the Taliban are our main enemy again. That\u2019s what the story\u2019s about. It\u2019s been a thing through time. Nations will always take another nation who\u2019s maybe not their best friend, but who they\u2019ve got a common enemy with, and ally together to fight that one thing. The majority of the time it always turns full circle, and comes back the other way. It got really relevant with that, but it was based more on historical events. All of a sudden it became very modern day news too, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

The majority of Onslaught\u2019s material is lyrically preoccupied with the group\u2019s dislike of religion. \u201cThat\u2019s basically what causes most of the wars all around the world and what\u2019s caused them throughout the sands of time, really,\u201d Nige argues. \u201cI\u2019ve got a fairly religious family, and that\u2019s how I kind of got drawn into all of this as a kid. That\u2019s why I dislike religion so much, but if you particularly look out there, even though we\u2019re told it\u2019s religion, there are a lot of other causes going on behind the scenes that we don\u2019t really get told about. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m aware of some of the situations which I can\u2019t really say about too much, but religion is the root cause I believe. I don\u2019t know why. It\u2019s meant to be a free world, and everybody should be able to believe in what they like \u2013 whether they believe in religion or not. For some people though, it seems like they have to force their beliefs on other people. That\u2019s where all this trouble stems from \u2013 as far back as time I think, from what I can see.\u201d<\/p>\n

1 | 2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ONSLAUGHT – Chaos Is King Anthony Morgan September 2013 Onslaught (l-r): Jeff Williams, Sy Keeler, Michael Hourihan, Nige Rockett and Andy Rosser-Davies Sounds Of Violence \u2013 the fifth studio full-length to be issued by British thrash metal outfit Onslaught \u2013 arrived in January 2011 through AFM Records. Prior to its release, rhythm guitarist Nige Rockett […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-onslaught"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43784"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44063,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43784\/revisions\/44063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}