It's amazing to think, upon entering the Globe (capacity a few hundred), that Onslaught have spent the summer playing to anywhere between two and ten thousand people every weekend at festivals throughout mainland Europe. Whilst the crowd eventually reaches a very respectably full level later on in proceedings, it still does paint a worrying picture for metal in this country that unless you've got a seven string guitar, a full colour neck tattoo and sleeves and your songs compose of 90% open string chugging you don't get given the time of day by the Metal Fashion Police (as established by certain national magazines when Bring Me The Horizon released their first album).

Anyway rant over and onto the business at hand.....Metal!!!! The Real Thing. Well, first up are Swansea's The Exiled and as Gaz E. had to once again tolerate my pre-gig kebab addiction we only managed to catch their last song. It did however have enough groove and heaviness to ensure I'll check them out further at the next opportunity.

Next up are Fallen Fate and despite the crowd still being somewhat sparse and their crowd interaction somewhat lacking, they do manage to produce a very entertaining set that brought to mind both Bullet For My Valentine and Kreator in equal measures. If they can find something to set themselves a little apart from the crowd this lot certainly have the chops to go places.

The last time I saw Gama Bomb supporting Sepultura on the other side of town they proved to be very entertaining, despite having the lightest weight live sound I'd ever heard from a metal band, courtesy of them missing their bassist for reasons unknown at the time. Anyway, tonight with said bassist Joe McGuigan back in situ their sound is back to its beefy best and the entertainment level never drops below "extremely". In frontman Philly Byrne they have a stand-up comedian, singer and pit-instigator extraordinaire. As he leads what becomes an increasingly frenetic crowd through their timeless classic thrash homages you can't help but smile. But despite their tongues always being planted firmly in cheek you can't fault the likes of 'Hammer Slammer', 'Final Fight', 'Three Witches' and 'Bullet Belt'. You won't see a band get a pit going with such abandon as Gama Bomb and you'll find that headbanging and grinning like an idiot is very easy indeed.

As the first chords of 'Killing Peace' fly out of the PA you immediately get the sensation of everything stepping up quite a few notches. When Onslaught released their 'Sound Of Violence' opus earlier this year I predicted that album should be the springboard for them to hopefully climb a few rungs through the echelons of metal. Whilst the album certainly was met with many an approving nod, it would appear that in the UK at least the band seem to be treading water, which is incredible as the band in a live setting are nothing short of blistering. As they air the first track of the night from that album. 'Born For War', it's obvious the power they harnessed on vinyl is even more intense live.

As they span their entire career, taking on 'Angels Of Death' from 'Power From Hell', their busy summer certainly has turned them into a very tight unit. A slight disappointment is the absence of anything from 'In Search Of Sanity', though time restrictions seem to be the cause for this, as 'Shellshock' does indeed get aired in London a few days after. However when you've got an ace up your sleeve like 'Metal Forces' (still one of my all-time faves by anyone) there's plenty of good stuff to compensate. 'Sound Of Violence', 'Code Black', 'Denomiac' and the always frantic 'Flame Of The Antichrist' all get the suitable treatment and as regular encore 'Power From Hell' decimates the masses it becomes apparent there's an unbreakable curfew afoot which results in a slightly truncated set. Nevertheless this does nothing to dilute the effect of a top notch set from a band who always seem to deserve so much better than they ultimately get.

Based on this and every showing they've ever produced, maybe one day, karma will stop being such a bitch to them and give them a break, in the UK at least.