«
»
Upcoming Bullshit

THE NEW ONSLAUGHT ALBUM ART IS WWWWEIRRRRRRRDDDD

 Wednesday, November 17th, 2010 at 1:00pm by

I really liked Onslaught’s last album, 2007′s Killing Peace, but judging by a lot of the reviews I read, I was in the minority. Whatever. I was still stoked to hear their new album, Sounds of Violence.

But now I’ve seen the album art, and all I can say is… “Huh?”

Look familiar? It should. The design is a very clear play on the Nazi eagle:

Now, I don’t think Onslaught are Nazis, or anti-semites, or bigots of any kind — at least, not as far as I know. But I don’t see the point of this. What’s the symbolism here? There’s obviously all sorts of associations with the pentagram, but… are they saying Wiccans are evil? I don’t get it.

I suspect that, ultimately, this is an awful lot like Slayer naming their fan club after the Nazi army: just a poor decision based on what someone in the band’s camp thought was “cool,” regardless of the implications.

I don’t mind the recycling of this kind of imagery as long as it has some kind of meaning behind it; I know this is gonna sound like a weird comparison, but Ridley Scott lifted a lot of shots from the Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will for a scene in Gladiator wherein his villain was throwing himself a parade, but because Scott was making a point about despotism, the connection seemed appropriate. But if you’re doing it just for the sake of doing it, well, I’d just as soon not own an album cover that makes me feel icky, y’know?

Feel free, as always, to disagree with my assessment in the comments section. Sounds of Violence comes out in the U.S. on February 8.

-AR

Tags: , ,
  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Uberto-Zacarias/639519178 Uberto Zacarias

    looks like the anal cunt cover, defenders of the hate

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dre-Toledo/628955415 Dre Toledo

    I remember “Killing Peace” blowed my ears years ago, good thrash/death album.
    Spitting blood in the face of gooood! (funny lyrics)

  • jim jones

    What’s wrong with Nazis, they were not all bad. That Hitler guy shot himself in the head to avoid capture, that’s metal, right?

  • fritz

    Killing Piece was seriously one of the best thrash albums released in years. Can’t wait for the new record, the artwork doesn’t bother me too much.

    • Will

      I second that. SHOCK ANNNND AWWEEEE!!!! love that track.

  • B

    I think the reason is that they don’t attach any more weight to it than say, Metallica singing Creeping Death. It’s a past event.

  • Stolas Trephinator

    Shouldn’t we be ripping on some Saxon albums too? They used a Nazi-esque eagle.

  • Trux

    I gotta say, I am with Axl in this one.

  • NoNameNoSlogan

    Slayer did that shit like 20 years ago….nazi imagery is nothing new

  • pescarojo

    Welp, I’m not sure what to make of the Onslaught cover. I’m guessing it’s just meant to suggest a combo of two ‘violent’ ideologies: fascism and satanism (even though yes I realize the Nazis were technically socialists). It’s probably just meant to be controversial and spur discussions like this one.

    Worth mentioning that ‘Wehrmacht’ (Slatanic or otherwise) is not a Nazi army, nor a Nazi term. It is much more general, and means simply ‘armed forces’ and could be applied to the armed forces of any country by a German language speaker. Now, if Slayer had called their club the ‘Slatanic SS’ or something like that, that would be different.

    • Pat

      Actually “Wehrmacht” means “defense power” or “defense force,” so in German the Israeli Defense Force is “Israelische Wehrmacht.” Sounds pretty cool.

  • ian

    The sun-rays and the circle in the middle is an obvious play on the WWII Japanese flag. Obviously the band is playing with WWII imagery in general and not just Nazi imagery.

    By the way, Slayer has played around with that very same eagle symbol for YEARS. What do you think this is?:

    http://api.ning.com/files/-AQ4gbbr3JsQc2IKcoCoJzOTGPVe8mFLPEtK4VSKFGk_/Slayer_eagle_no_red_border.jpg?width=300

    Obviously not the same symbol, but you can’t deny the resemblences. WWII imagery has always been important to Slayer’s aesthetic.

    I don’t even get why you find yourself so offended to begin with with these things, and even though you say you’re not, you clearly are dude. Kerry King… King isn’t a Jewish name? I don’t see him crying about it.

  • makeral t. beardbucket

    Ridley Scott didn’t so much much lift from the Nazis as the Nazis actually lifted from the Romans. Much of the ‘look’ and intention of the grandeur of the Third Reich was inspired by the Roman empire. The ‘thousand year reich’ was supposed to repeat, so to speak, the rule and expanse of Rome.

    History lesson for the day children.

  • vedicardi

    SLAYER uses this stuff all the time, who gives a shit
    They’re using a pentagram too, I wonder what that means?!
    Are they satanists?!

    • GKIII

      Agreed. I don’t think it’s a big deal at all.

  • Ben

    That’s not a wiccan pentagram

    • Will

      Thank you. I was going to comment the same thing. If it were upside down from what is on the album cover then it’d be a wiccan pentagram.

    • Dirtman73

      I’m pretty sure the one on the Onslaught cover would be called a pentacle, or is that what Wiccans call their version? I’m too lazy to look it up.

  • Satanic Whoremaster

    This is the stupidest post in the history of this site. Nothing says metal quite like uber-sensitive political correctness.
    Gonna go listen to some Aryan Blood now.

  • Mike

    Haven’t slayer already used this exact same logo, except with SLAYER written in the pentagram?

  • Hillbilly Fuckhead

    Sorry Axl, I understand that you & Vince are Jewish and can see no value in someone mirroring anything to do with the prick assholes that murdered your ancestors; but I don’t really get why you and Vince don’t get the use of Nazi imagery in Metal… For example; I have a Melvin’s shirt with a very Nazi like Eagle plastered on the front. Do you & Vince think Buzz and the rest of the guys are Nazi’s?… Yes or no, let me try to spell it out for ya… Nazi imagery has become a part of certain counter cultures since the end of World War II… Largely popularized by the Hell’s Angels among other people that wanted to give hippies and every one else the middle finger, Not necessarily to embrace Nazi ideals, just as a fucked up way to say fuck you to everyone and everything… Can you see why that would be on a Metal band’s radar for album art now?

  • Thoth Tristmagistus

    Axl, the eagle has been used as both a spiritual and imperial symbol for many thousand years and by automatically associating it with Nazi-ism you degrade the symbol. That would be equivalent to automatically associating the hexagram, (i.e. the Star of David, also an ancient sacred symbol) with the inhuman atrocities perpetrated by the State of Israel (please note emphasis on a political entity, not an ‘ethnicity’) in Palestine.

  • lost goat

    theyre just using imagery- its not like its a swastika or anything saying “yes we love nazis”,its what metal bands do,they use provocative imagery

    and what about israel? their actions toward palestine are very nazi like

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Regina-Mitchell/560575671 Regina Mitchell

    Hi, I just want to clarify that Onslaught are not bigots, anti-semites, satanists or nazis. I commend you on a well written blog and understand you just want to know what the symbolism of the artwork is. As soon as i get a reply from the lads on this i will let you know.

    All the best and Have a great weekend,

    Regina

  • Nawel

    (this is kinda old news, but anyway…) I remember seeing “Slaytanic Wehrmacht” t-shirts as long as 20-something years ago…