| Bolt Thrower ‘In Battle There Is No Law’
Vinyl Solution, 1988 Tyrant: The debut album of English battle grinders Bolt Thrower saw a last minute line up change which substantially improved the band sound. Original vocalist Alan West was retired in favour of the bands driver Karl Willets whose menacing growls help flesh out the cold epic feeling of the bands material. Down tuned rumbling guitars and squealing leads combine with some thrashier riffing and interesting drumming featuring rolls, double bass, and blastbeats to form a harsh and entertaining stab at grinding deathmetal. Slow/fast tempo bridges set the atmosphere for the war obsessed lyrical content that successfully fleshes out the darker depraved side of battle sounding more ominous than other death bands who focus on gore and killing. A fairly low end production job does little to hamper the solid material here, in fact it revels in the harsh gravelly fuzz and sounds quite natural. Recommended for fans of the bands later works ( ‘In Battle There Is No Law’ is virtually a simplified blue print of ‘Realm Of Chaos’ ), but the casual Bolt Thrower listener may do well to avoid this early slab of brutality. Favourite Tracks – Concession Of Pain ; In Battle There Is No Law ; Forgotten Existence Mark – 7/10 Bolt Thrower 'Realm Of Chaos' Earache, 1989 Tyrant: Bolt Thrower play heavy, down tuned, mid paced grinding death metal with a distinctive rumble sound that immediately identifies the English newcomers from their competition. The typical Bolt Thrower tracks usually starts off with a heavy grinding riff before the guitars proceed to break into a comfortable chugging riff for the verse before bringing back a bass heavy riff with melodic overlays for the chorus. The drumming isn't ground breaking, but adequate, with a good sound that suits the music whilst remaining varied and interesting. The lyrics, sound, and artwork of Realm Of Chaos has a very dark forboding feel with songs about war, extinction, and occasionally fantasy orientated battles with excellent artwork by Games Workshop depicting futuristic and fantasy style battles. The production is a little grainy and low but suits the overall feel of the album when coupled with the intros and outros which sound like huge industrial fans with eerie background noises creating an impending and crushing atmosphere. Realm Of Chaos was well ahead of its early death metal counterparts and was an exceptional album of its time and still stands up surprisingly well today. Overall highly recommended for fans of early death or doom metal. Favourite Tracks - World Eater ; Lost Souls Domain ; Through The Eye Of Terror Mark - 7.5/10 Bolt Thrower 'War Master' Earache, 1991 Tyrant: Bolt Throwers second album for Earache shows some progression and a bit more musical proficiency than its predecessor Realm Of Chaos. The guitars still rumble in the background in the bands trademark style but there are significantly more varied song structures with an increase in melodic overlays and riffing styles. The production isn't as raw either but although smoother still sounds a little flat and lacks the brutality and darkness of Realms Of Chaos. Karl's vocals are again great with his deep voice growling out all the lyrics with an intelligible clarity uncommon in the early scene. The lyrics still predominantly focus around war and once again the Games Workshop artists provide excellent cover art of a bloody massacre. The drumming has improved showing a lot more variation allowing the creation of more individual sounding tracks, whilst the short solos resplendent in Realm Of Chaos still make brief appearances adding a more depth. Bolt Thrower refined their unique sound on this release and produced another excellent album of bruising death oppression. 10 tracks lasting approximately 45 minutes. Favourite Tracks - War Master ; Cenotaph ; Destructive Infinity Mark - 8.5/10 Bolt Thrower 'The IVth Crusade' Earache, 1992 Tyrant: Bolt Thrower are back again with war obsessed lyrics and down tuned, heavy, slow, and brooding death metal anthems. The English legends have chosen a more serious approach to their 4th full length studio release opting for a painting of the crusades over their usual characterised Games Workshop artwork. The IVth Crusade reminds me a little more of Realms Of Chaos than Warmaster, not in sound but in the music's general feel of darkness and hopelessness. Bolt Thrower are again refining their classic sound, the trademark low rumbling bass with plodding heavy guitar riffs overlayed by higher pitched leads that can be heard in development on previous albums is now in full swing here. Karl's vocals are in top form as he growls out messages of death and destruction over thought provoking riffs whose ominous rhythms are the perfect musical accompaniment to his prophecies of doom. The 'World Eater' saga sees it's third installment on The IVth Crusade in the form of 'Embers' and once again it is one of the stand out tracks on the album. A couple of tracks stand out from the usual Bolt Thrower fare due to their different approaches: 'Celestial Sanctuary' focus' on escapism from the turmoil of the real world into the nether world of slee', 'Ritual' focus's on the repetition and cyclic drudgery of existence whilst 'Where Next To Conquer' features and unusually boucey riff section. The albums final track is a history lesson/moral lecture on the futility of the world's wars and mankind's lust for destruction delivered in clean spoken delivery over typical slow Bolt Thrower guitars. Overall Bolt Thrower have again produced another high calibre entry into the realms of depressing death metal art. 11 tracks lasting over 53 minutes. Favourite Tracks - Dying Creed ; Embers ; As The World Burns Mark - 8/10 Bolt Thrower '…For Victory' Earache, 1994 Tyrant: The British War Machine is back with arguable their best work to date. For Victory sports a better, clearer production job than the band has seen before which lends the album a more professional feel overall. Bolt Thrower's classic grinding rumble is still abundant throughout For Victory although used less frequently with a lot more melodic riffs laid over the top giving the songs a more balanced feel. Karl also utilises a little range in his deathly growls which still predominantly focus on his traditional deep growl, but on some tracks like 'Armageddon Bound' he sounds a little more raspy than usual. The song writing has become more proficient and catchy without sacrificing any extremity, and the leads sections lend a more thoughtful sound like those found on 'As The World Burns' off of the IVth Crusade as opposed to the darker melodies from the same album. For Victory is also notably faster than the last Bolt Thrower release but this in no way detracts from the quality or asthetic of the music or the bands style. Musically and lyrically as a whole, For Victory is far less foreboding than its predecessors and instead more concerned with war in its purest more form. Unfortunately due to a lack of fans interest ( or understanding ) Bolt Thrower chose to omit a song from the World Eater saga for this album but minor gripes aside Bolt Thrower still remain heavy and emotive whilst producing both their best album and song so far in '…For Victory' and it's title track respectively. A must for fans and a good place to start if you've never heard Bolt Thrower before and think you might be interested in doing so. 10 tracks lasting just under 40 minutes. Favourite Tracks - …For Victory ; Graven Image ; Tank (Mk.1) Mark - 8.5/10 Bolt Thrower 'Mercenary' Metal Blade, 1998 Tyrant: Bolt Thrower's 6th full length album comes after a long 4 year silence and a fair deal of line up turbulence. Originally a new vocalist was recruited for Mercenary ( ex Pestilence singer ) but for a number of reasons it didn't work out, so after some convincing Karl again stepped up and said he'd come back for one last album. Also now departed is Andy Whale ( Bolt Thrower's long time drummer ) but Alex Thomas has stepped in to fill his shoes quite competently but in a slightly different manner. Even after 4 years you can immediately tell that this is a Bolt Thrower album, time has not dulled their low tuned rumble which has returned with a vengeance and is more prominent than it ever was in the bands previous opus …For Victory. The melodic leads that over lay the signature rumble are still present as are the simple heavier riffs of The IVth Crusade. Bolt Thrower's wealth of talent and experience immediately shines on Mercenary with all of the songs immediately grabbing the attention being both catchy and well written with a large riff count and excellent timing changes. Another plus for Mercenary is the recommencement and the forth instalment of the World Eater saga in the form of the superb 'Powder Burns' which is once again a stand out track on the album. Mercenary is easily Bolt Thrower's best album in my opinion combining the best elements of all their previous works into a more cohesive, effective package with a crisp clean production. Whilst the band still haven't topped For Victory's awesome title track, the songs on Mercenary are of a higher and more consistent standard overall than they were on that album. A greater amount of variation provides the songs with their own unique identity whilst retaining Bolt Thrower's signature sound. A must for all lovers of death metal or grindcore and a definite buy or die for fans. 9 tracks lasting over 46 minutes. Favourite Tracks - Mercenary ; Powder Burns ; No Guts, No Glory Mark - 9/10 Bolt Thrower 'Honour, Valour, Pride' Metal Blade, 2001 Tyrant: The War Machine is back again armed with a new vocalist Dave Ingram and putting together 45 minutes of material drawing influence from their whole career. Dave is a little rougher than Karl was and doesn't have the deepness and clarity he possesses, but he does an admirable job regardless considering the quality of his previous work in Benediction. Starting off with sounds of battle, the first song breaks into a typical Bolt Thrower riff that could have come off of Mercenary and moves through the paces of a typical outing of rumbling guitars, down tuned bass and everything in between..... marvellous. Its great to see a band that can consistently put out good albums their fans will like, without being influenced by the times to change and experiment. This is not the masterpiece 'Mercenary' was but that album had Karl and that does count to BT fans. That said this is still Bolt Thrower thru and thru and a decent album all the same. The only standout variation on the album is the slightly bass influenced intro of K-Machine which some will barely note, but is worthy of mention all the same. Favourite Tracks - Contact Wait Out ; Valour ; K-Machine Rating - 7/10 Bolt Thrower 'Those Once Loyal' Metal Blade, 2005 Tyrant: Bolt Thrower's 8th album see's the return of vocalist Karl Willet's along with a return of the melodic Mercenary style material. Karl sounds deeper and rougher on Those Once Loyal losing a little of his clarity but making up for it with a more brutal performance. Willets must have a glossary of war terminology at home after some less convincing song titles on Honour, Valour, Pride, Those Once Loyal returns with some classics like 'Entrenched', 'Salvo', and 'When Cannons Fade'. From the opening melodic lead intro of 'At First Light' to the moment Karl growls the songs title before a rumbling riff breaks in it is apparent that Bolt Thrower have again found their spark. Those Once Loyal is a fine example of Bolt Thrower's melodic death/grind fusion going from good track to good track like an unstoppable metal tank. A couple of tracks will raise a few eyebrows namedly 'The Killchain' and 'Last Stand Of Humanity' due to their bouncey mosh friendly riffing which recall the unusual 'Where Next To Conquer' from The 4th Crusade. Featuring a generous and decently varied 9 tracks of Bolt Thrower at their best Those Once Loyal will again appeal to long time Bolt Thrower fans or new comers a like whilst the casual listener will have trouble decerning any notalbe difference from their last 4 releases. Favourite Tracks - At First Light ; Last Stand Of Humanity ; Entrenched Mark - 8.5/10 |
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