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Sunday Old School: British Death Metal And Grindcore Legends Bolt Thrower

posted Jan 17, 2010 at 1:29 PM by Diamond Oz.  (11 Comments)

Bolt Thrower is seemingly one of the more forgotten bands when it comes to looking at the history of the British death metal and grindcore scene. They were formed in the city of Coventry in September 1986 and went on to release their debut album, "In Battle There Is No Law," in 1988 through Vinyl Solution Records. Unsatisfied with their record deal, the band moved over to Earache Records, which housed many of their contemporaries such as Napalm Death and Cathedral. Bolt Thrower struck up a deal with British model store Games Workshop and the chain store's main artist, with the band giving away a free record with the store's magazine, White Dwarf. In return, Games Workshop did the band's artwork for free for their next album, "Realm Of Chaos."

Since then, Bolt Thrower has continued to perform live and record new albums, although some speculate that the band may never record another album again, given how satisfied they were with their latest album, "Those Once Loyal." The band stated that they always planned to stop releasing albums once they felt they had recorded the "perfect Bolt Thrower album," a feeling they seemed to have secured with "Those Once Loyal." Bolt Thrower remains a big influence on modern death metal and deathcore, with German deathcore act Heaven Shall Burn naming their debut EP "In Battle There Is No Law" after the band's first album.

Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade

Bolt Thrower - Cenotaph

Bolt Thrower - When Cannons Fade

Bolt Thrower - Behind Enemy Lines

Diamond Oz's avatar

Ollie Hynes has been a writer for Metal Underground.com for four years and has been a metal fan for ten years, going so far as to travel abroad for metal shows.

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11 Comments on "Sunday Old School: Bolt Thrower"

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Nihilist's avatar

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1. Nihilist writes:

Death Metal atlast.

# Jan 17, 2010 @ 4:22 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader
2. TODDHATESUSALL writes:

This stuff is so easy to play, on the guitar any way, and drony , i can even do the solo's,too bad they don't get the support the deserve up in canada, so they could come for a show , Still dough, if icould marry B T collectively i would

# Jan 18, 2010 @ 5:22 AM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader
3. Tom Himself writes:

A very insightful read. Lord knows why I haven't read this column before.

# Jan 18, 2010 @ 5:23 AM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader
4. TODDHATESUSALL writes:

oh yeah, i seem to recal them refering to themselves as WAR METAL .EH?

# Jan 18, 2010 @ 5:24 AM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
weasel321's avatar

Member

5. weasel321 writes:

TODDHATESUSALL - Your take on the guitar parts being easy to play; I agree as a guitar player myself but, sometimes it's the very simple riffs that sound the best. There are times when you don't need to clutter the fretboard. U2's Edge said it correctly, notes are expensive and prefers to play as little as possible*. Worked good for him.

*reference Wikipedia

# Jan 18, 2010 @ 3:46 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Natsquatch's avatar

Member

6. Natsquatch writes:

Hells yes. I was jamming the Honour Valour Pride just last night.

# Jan 18, 2010 @ 7:02 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Natsquatch's avatar

Member

7. Natsquatch writes:

*the Honour Valour Pride album

# Jan 18, 2010 @ 7:04 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader
8. TODDHATESUSALL writes:

As with the misfits and nirvana the beauty lies in the simplicity and rawness, i need a BT tattoo , the multi directional arrows with the eye in the middle ,wish i could see them and some merch would be nice

# Jan 19, 2010 @ 7:38 AM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Hammerheart's avatar

Member

9. Hammerheart writes:

Awesome stuff. I've really got to order a BT album or two. Or all of them.

# Jan 19, 2010 @ 12:31 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
BoltThrower's avatar

Supporter

10. BoltThrower writes:

The beauty lies in the simplicity.

# Jan 20, 2010 @ 1:52 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader
11. incontrastofsin writes:

Actually, it was Heaven Shall Burn that named their first EP - In Battle There Is No Law, not All Shall Perish. HSB even covered The IV Crusade on their debut full-length. :)

# Jan 24, 2010 @ 1:21 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address

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