Bolt Thrower (band)
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Bolt Thrower are a death metal and grindcore band from the Birmingham area in the United Kingdom. They formed in 1986 and released their first album with Vinyl Solution in 1988. They 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's name is a reference to the popular tabletop strategy game Warhammer. A bolt thrower is an ancient weapon that throws spears or similar projectiles. It is also known as a ballista and was an early precursor of the cannon. The lyrics and artwork of one of their albums was based this game as well. The general theme of their lyrics however, is war and its consequences.
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History
Early history: 1986-1988
Bolt Thrower was formed in September 1986 as a hardcore and thrash metal band, influenced largely by thrash bands such as Slayer and hardcore punk bands like Crass and Discharge. The band was founded by bassist Gavin Ward and guitarist Barry Thompson while 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 next recording was the Concession of Pain demo, which they made in September of 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, Jo Bench replaced Alex.
With this line-up they did 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 enthusiatic 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.
1989-1994
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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 band worked a little on their style and changed to playing faster, more aggressive and powerful songs, so becaming more of a grindcore, death metal band. The production of this piece was not great, though it was an improvement on previous attempts. The artwork was done by Games Workshop (they produce games such as Warhammer) as one of the games 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 6 November 1988, they offered to do the expensive artwork for Bolt Thrower's album. The band accepted this offer. 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 labelmates 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 22 July, 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. The songs on this album are quite similar stylewise to those on 'Realm Of Chaos' but more ingenious. They put in some more skills in playing and did not lose their extreme grind edge at the same time, making it all sound far more sophisticated. And this time the production was done skillfully. 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 them to do the artwork; however as it was 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 on Realm Of Chaos. For the US tour they did to promote the War Master album, they used an old US school bus as tour bus, loaded with many computer games. All three Peel Sessions were then released on one CD in 1991.
Their next step was The IVth Crusade, so-called because it was their fourth album (not counting the Peel sessions). They took out most of the grindcore influences, downtuned their guitars even more and wrote slower songs which were heavier and more bombastic. It tends more to 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 US 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.
Classic line-up (from 1988 to 1994):
- Karl Willetts : Vocals
- Gavin Ward : Guitar
- Barry Thompson : Guitar
- Jo Bench : Bass guitar
- Andy Whale : Drums
Their next album is called ...For Victory and 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. They to made a partial return to their grindcore roots, whilst not forgetting their doom influences, though the vocals tended to sound a bit different: less growling, but more hardcore punk styled; they had more screaming, especially on "When Glory Beckons" and "Armageddon Bound". After the album release Karl Willetts was replaced by Martin van Drunen and Martin Kearns, who took over the drum kit.
1995 to now
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In 1995 and 1995 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 again. 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 US ...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 is out since 8 September 1998 in Europe and is released on 10 November 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 have recruited Dave Ingram permanently after he left Benediction.
Released in November 1998, is an album on Earache featuring various older recordings, including the songs from the Spearhead EP and Cenotaph EP. It is titled Who Dares Wins. The band themselves do not agree on this album, as it is a cheap cash-in from Earache and they warn not to buy it. 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.
After a short European tour in 2001 (only 5 dates), they started to work on a new album. Honour - Valour - Pride is released in late 2001 on Metal Blade and shows a progression of 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. Alex Thomas departed since he lacked interest in the musical direction of Bolt Thrower.
In 2004 the band has been working on new material for a yet untitled album. It was planned to be recorded it in May, with the release set to the end of 2004 by Metal Blade. Meanwhile a European tour and a US tour has been prepared. Unfortunately, right before the recording of the new album, Dave Ingram decided to leave, largely due to health issues. This has put off the new record and tours for a while and priority was set to finding a new singer. On 18 November 2004, the band had announced the return of Karl Willetts as their singer. A new album is recorded soon and scheduled to be released in November 2005.
Members
Current lineup
- Barry (Baz) Thomson - Rhythm/Lead guitar (1986 -)
- Gavin Ward - Rhythm guitar (Bass on demos) (1986 -)
- Jo-Anne (Jo) Bench - Bass guitar (1987 -)
- Martin (Kiddie) Kearns - Drums (1994 - 1997, 2000 - )
- Karl Willetts - Vocals (1987 - 1994, 2004 -)
Former Members
- Alex Tweedy - Bass guitar (1987)
- Alan West - Vocals (1986 - 1987)
- Dave Ingram - Vocals (Benediction) (1997, 1998 - 2004)
- Martin van Drunen - Vocals (Pestilence, Submission, Death by Dawn, Asphyx, Comecon) (1995 - 1997)
- Alex Thomas - Drums (1997 - 1999)
- Andrew (Andy) Whale - Drums (1986 - 1994)
Discography
Demos
Regular releases
- The Peel Session (EP) (Strange Fruit, 1988)
- In Battle There Is No Law (Vinyl Solution, 1988)
- Realm Of Chaos - Slaves To Darkness (Earache, 1989)
- The Peel Sessions 1988-90 (Strange Fruit, 1991)
- War Master (Earache, 1991)
- Cenotaph (EP) (Earache, 1991)
- The IVth Crusade (Earache, 1992)
- Spearhead (EP) (Earache, 1992)
- ...For Victory (Earache, 1994)
- Who Dares Wins (Earache, 1998)
- Mercenary (Metal Blade, 1998)
- Honour-Valour-Pride (Metal Blade, 2001)
External links
- Official Bolt Thrower website (http://www.boltthrower.com)
- Download an MP3 of "Pride" (http://www.metalblade.com/bands/bolt_thrower/pride.mp3)
- Bolt Thrower Forum (http://metrixmetal.home.pl/bt/forum/index.php)