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All Music Guide:
One of Britain's most consistent and enduring death metal bands, Birmingham's Bolt Thrower has weathered the best and worst of times in the extreme genre's history without ever giving in to commercial temptations, or hardly even altering its sound. The fact that they were unusually blessed with a steady lineup throughout much of their career no doubt contributed to this stability, and though they were rarely bestowed wild praise for their efforts, with most of their competitors or contemporaries either adopting other styles or long retired, Bolt Thrower has gradually established itself as one of the best death metal bands ever to emerge from England.
Guitarist Gavin Ward and drummer Andy Whale formed Bolt Thrower in heavy metal's original birthing ground, the industrial city of Birmingham, England, in 1986. Taking their name from a character in one of their favorite role-playing games, Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the duo soon drafted vocalist Alan West, guitarist Barry Thompson, and bassist Jo Bench (one of the first female musicians to take part in an extreme metal group of any sort). True to form given their name, Bolt Thrower would dedicate their whole career to analyzing and dissecting all aspects of human warfare -- its history, its weapons, etc. -- and they quickly took to the road in order to perfect a brutalizing musical onslaught worthy of backing up such morbid subject matter. Despite their material's general inaccessibility, legendary BBC Radio1 DJ John Peel became an early supporter, hosting the group for various early sessions (subsequently released in 1991 with the expected Peel Sessions title) and helping to bolster their profile on their way to securing a deal with the Vinyl Solutions label. Around this time, West was replaced by the band's van driver, one Karl Willetts, who soon proved himself a more than capable successor and served as the final necessary cog in the Bolt Thrower war machine. Released in 1988 with little success, their poorly produced and somewhat tentative debut album, In Battle There Is No Law, lacked the focused ferocity yet to come, but already delved deeply into their lyrical obsessions with anything warlike.
The following year, Bolt Thrower became one of the first acts to sign with on-the-rise extreme metal powerhouse Earache Records (also the home of grindcore experts Napalm Death) and 1989's Realm of Chaos fittingly saw them partnering with Games Workshop, the company responsible for the Warhammer game which had inspired their name. Boasting lyrics directly inspired by the game and featuring custom artwork provided by GWS, Realm of Chaos was a far more confident effort, and despite experiencing continued problems on the production end of things, it was clear that the band was slowly finding its identity. Bolt Thrower then joined the now-infamous Grindcrusher tour, also featuring Napalm Death, Carcass, and Morbid Angel, across the U.K., before starting work on what would become their most definitive album, 1991's Warmaster. This time, producer Colin Richardson helped the band achieve the taught, precision-filled intensity they'd been looking for all along, and the resulting LP has since come to represent Bolt Thrower's signature sound: Willetts' deeply guttural growl combined with Ward and Thompson's nearly impenetrable wall of dense guitar riffs, set to the requisite double kick drums; but interestingly, these didn't always resort to all-out speed, but rather maintained a measured, pounding pace, which was somehow even more powerful for it. Their sonic paradigm now in place, Bolt Thrower kept themselves extremely busy for the next few years, touring incessantly across the U.K. and Europe with the likes of Unleashed and Cemetary, while recording strong follow-ups like 1992's The IVth Crusade and 1994's For Victory, each of which achieved only slightly inferior results and maintained the group's gradual shift toward slower, doomier styles.
Bolt Thrower's longtime stability was coming to an end, however, as vocalist Willetts and drummer Whale threw in their lot around this time, wishing to get off the road and pursue a more normal lifestyle. For their part, the remaining bandmembers were becoming increasingly protective of their art, and, convinced they weren't getting the best promotional support, parted company with Earache and signed to Metal Blade. Meanwhile, replacement musicians came and went as the group prepared new material, and repeated delays over artwork kept postponing the release of their sixth official album. By the time 1998's Mercenary finally arrived, original singer Willetts had been persuaded to return long enough to record his parts and new drummer Alex Thomas was sitting on the hot-stool; but by then, most fans had given Bolt Thrower up for dead and moved onto new bands to idolize. Perhaps reflecting the turmoil within, the record was also hardly one of their most stellar outings, and it was neatly overshadowed by former label Earache's Who Dares Wins collection of the same year. Dutch vocalist Martin VanDrunen was brought in for touring purposes, but further lineup changes preceded the recording of 2001's semi-comeback Honour Valour Pride, by which time Bolt Thrower's core lineup of Thompson, Ward, and Bench was complemented by drummer Martin Kearns and ex-Benediction singer Dave Ingram. Ingram left soon after the record's release, prompting the return of original vocalist Karl Willets. Those Once Loyal, Bolt Thrower's eighth studio album, was relased on Metal Blade in November, 2005.
Wikipedia:
Bolt Thrower are a British death metal band from Coventry, England. They formed in 1986 and released their first album with Vinyl Solution in 1988. The band then shifted to a new record label, Earache Records, soon becoming one of the best selling bands on that label. Their current label is Metal Blade Records. The band has had a succession of members and have toured Europe, the United States, and Australia.
The band takes its name from a weapon in the popular tabletop strategy game Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The lyrics and artwork of their second, third and seventh albums were based on Warhammer Fantasy Battle and its futuristic companion Warhammer 40,000, with much of the art actually being provided by the game's publisher, Games Workshop. The general theme of their lyrics is war and its consequences.
History
Early history: 1986–1988
Bolt Thrower were formed in September 1986 as a thrash/punk band, influenced largely by bands such as Slayer, Crass and Discharge. The band was founded by bassist Gavin Ward and guitarist Barry Thomson in a Coventry pub toilet during a hardcore punk gig. Shortly thereafter Andrew Whale and Alan West joined on drums and vocals respectively. In April 1987 the In Battle There Is No Law demo was recorded with this line-up.
Their second recording was the Concession of Pain demo, which they made in September 1987. Gavin had switched to guitars and they recruited Alex Tweedy to play the bass. However, Alex did not show up for the recording, and so Gavin played both guitar and bass for the demo. Two weeks after the recording session, Gavin's girlfriend Jo Bench replaced Tweedy.
With this line-up they recorded their first Peel session on January 3, 1988, with John Peel, the alternative disk jockey of BBC Radio One. He had received their second demo and became enthusiastic about the band. They recorded four tracks for it, resulting in a deal with Vinyl Solution to release one album. Just before the recording of their first full-length album, they replaced their singer with their driver Karl Willetts. Their debut LP, In Battle There Is No Law is only a half hour in length and has a primitive and raw sound often categorized as grindcore.
1989–1994
They were not satisfied with the deal with Vinyl Solution as it was a pure hardcore label at that time. The label did little promotion for Bolt Thrower and their blend of death metal and hardcore punk, so after one album Bolt Thrower decided to leave Vinyl Solution and were signed by Earache Records. Earache Records had also signed many other death metal bands including Carcass and Napalm Death. The production of this album was poor, though it was an improvement on previous attempts. The artwork was done by Games Workshop as a gaming supplement they produced had a similar name to the album Bolt Thrower was about to release. After Games Workshop heard the recording of the songs for Bolt Thrower's second Peel session, which was recorded on November 6, 1988, they offered to do the expensive artwork for Bolt Thrower's album, an offer the band quickly accepted. The record was released in 1989 with the title of Realm of Chaos and with the subtitle Slaves to Darkness. Most of the lyrics to the songs were also influenced by the game, but not merely because of the deal with Games Workshop. Karl, Andy and Gavin were very much into the games Games Workshop produced and they wrote a couple of songs about these games. Some obvious examples are "Plague Bearer" and "World Eater". Most lyrics can however be projected on war, the general theme Bolt Thrower uses. After the recording of Realm of Chaos they went on the Grindcrusher Tour with label mates Napalm Death, Carcass and Morbid Angel. On the Cenotaph EP one song ("Realm of Chaos") appears that is recorded during this tour. This EP also features the two CD-bonus tracks from War Master and Realm of Chaos plus the song "Cenotaph".
Continuing, they recorded their third and final Peel session on July 22, 1990. On this three songs from the upcoming album were performed in raw versions as well as "Lost Souls Domain" off Realm Of Chaos. Next step in the history of Bolt Thrower was the album titled War Master. It was recorded, as the previous album, in the Slaughterhouse studios, which burnt down two weeks after the recordings were completed. Again Games Workshop offered to do their artwork; however as it was considered too expensive, Bolt Thrower declined the offer. The former head-designer of Games Workshop would do the artwork, resulting in quite similar artwork as that of Realm of Chaos. For the U.S. tour they did to promote the War Master album, they used an old U.S. school bus as tour bus, loaded with many computer games. All three Peel sessions were then released on one CD named The Peel Sessions 1988–90 in 1991.
Their next step was the album The IVth Crusade. The title has a double meaning, as it was their fourth studio album (not counting the Peel sessions), but the album title also refers to the Fourth Crusade and the capturing of Constantinople. The cover artwork is a painting from Eugène Delacroix, showing "The Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople".
They downtuned their guitars even more and wrote slower songs which were heavier and more bombastic. It leans more towards doom metal influenced by bands like Candlemass, in combination with their own massive death metal sound. The album was followed by the tour World Crusade with the Polish death metal act Vader and the Swedish death metal band Grave in Europe. The band toured the U.S. again as well as Australia. During this time a single was released called Spearhead containing a very heavy, extended remix of the CD track "Spearhead" plus two new tracks and "Dying Creed" off the album.
Their next album is called ...For Victory and was released in 1994. It was the final album with Karl Willetts and Andrew Whale. Both left the band because of changing life directions. The latest American tour did not go well, they returned home prematurely and by this time the band was quite fed-up with touring. A limited edition of the album exists containing a bonus live CD, called War (sometimes called Live War). After the album release Karl Willetts was replaced by former Pestilence singer Martin van Drunen, and Martin Kearns, who took over the drum kit.
1995–present
In 1995 and 1996 the band did two European tours. Then in 1997, Martin van Drunen decided to leave the band again as he had never felt he really became a part of Bolt Thrower, and also because he got a disease that made his hair fall out due to which he felt insecure on stage. For at least one show in Germany long time friend Dave Ingram stood in. Martin Kearns decided to leave. The position at the drum kit is now taken by Alex Thomas. Karl Willetts temporarily rejoined the band to do the vocal duties on the next album. The band switched record labels from Earache to Metal Blade Records, because since the U.S. ...For Victory tour they had seen a lack of success with Earache. Earache had also wanted to get rid of them and Bolt Thrower wanted to leave Earache as soon as possible, so they parted company.
The album titled Mercenary was released on September 8, 1998 in Europe and on November 10, 1998 in the USA, and features 9 tracks. It is over all a bit slower than its predecessors. However, it is definitely very heavy and sounds very much Bolt Thrower. And Karl returned to perform his previous style of singing; the hardcore punk influences have disappeared again. After the album recording, Karl left the band again and the band recruited Dave Ingram permanently after he left Benediction.
In November 1998, Earache Records released Who Dares Wins, an album featuring various older recordings, including the songs from the Spearhead EP and Cenotaph EP. The band themselves do not agree with the release of this album and warn not to buy it as they consider it a cheap cash-in from Earache. Originally, it was titled No Guts - No Glory but the title was changed because one song on Mercenary has the same title and Metal Blade objected. Following the release of the album a European tour was done, called Into the Killing Zone with Dave Ingram on vocals. Alex Thomas departed since he lacked interest in the musical direction of Bolt Thrower.
After a short European tour in 2001 (which only 5 dates), they started to work on a new album. Honour - Valour - Pride was released in late 2001 on Metal Blade and shows a progression from the direction taken on Mercenary. It contains 9 tracks; the digipak has one bonus track. Martin Kearns is now back with the band after he settled his things in his life.
In 2004 the band began working on new material for their latest album. They intended to record it in the May 2004, with the release set to the end of the year by Metal Blade. Meanwhile a European tour and a U.S. tour were prepared. Unfortunately, right before the recording could begin, Dave Ingram decided to leave, due to health and personal issues. This put off the new record and tours, and priority was set to finding a new singer. On November 18, 2004, the band announced the return of Karl Willetts. Recording of the album, titled Those Once Loyal, started in May 2005; it was released on November 11 in Germany, November 14 in the rest of Europe and November 15 in the United States, 2005. It has been met with widespread critical acclaim from magazines such as Rock Sound, Rock Hard and Metal Hammer. A European tour followed in January and February 2006. A second leg followed in April, with dates in Scandinavia, UK, Spain and more. A U.S. tour was planned to take place later in the year, however lack of financial support from the label forced the band to cancel these plans. The band are now considering leaving Metal Blade, although they are currently continuing to work on an (as yet untitled) new album.
Meanwhile, Earache has coincided the release of Those Once Loyal with a re-release of the Realm of Chaos featuring new artwork. The band encourage people not to buy it as (like Who Dares Wins) it was released without their consultation let alone consent. Furthermore, it has been alleged that the band has not received royalties from Earache for a number of years.
Bolt Thrower recently announced that as they were totally satisfied with the Those Once Loyal album, they will be indefinitely postponing the recording of another LP, as their goal was always to stop after releasing "the perfect Bolt Thrower album". However, Karl Willetts has mentioned work on a ninth album.
Since releasing Those Once Loyal Earache has released a remastered version of the 1989 album Realm of Chaos featuring alternate artwork of John Sibbick, the artist responsible for the original artwork of both Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader cover design and Realm of Chaos - Slaves to Darkness 1989 album.
