UMUR "Live War" is a live album release by UK death metal act Bolt Thrower. The album was released through Earache Records in December 2010 as part of Earache Records "Into the Pit" live album series. "Live War" features a live show recorded in 1992 in Manchester on the tour supporting "The IVth Crusade" (September 1992, Earache Records). While this is the first time "Live War" is released as an individual release, the full live album was actually already released in 1994 on the deluxe 2CD version of "...For Victory" (November 1994, Earache Records).

It´s obvious that Bolt Thrower were touring in support of "The IVth Crusade" because six out of the nine tracks featured on the 45:58 minutes long album are culled from that release. The remaining three tracks are culled from "War Master" (July 1991, Earache Records). So there´s not a single track from the band´s first two albums. The recording quality is pretty good for a 1992 live death metal show, and having seen Bolt Thrower myself on this exact tour, I can attest that this is exactly what they sounded like in 1992 (tight, heavy, and commanding). What the recording is missing is a bit more audience noise. Karl Willets does what he can and speaks to the audience announcing songs and so forth, but there´s not much noise heard from the audience, which is a real shame as it could have created a more authentic listening experience. The few times the audience is audible it creates a lot of great energy.

Upon conclusion "Live War" is a decent and sometimes great live album, but overall these versions don´t differ much from the studio versions, and with the lack of much audience participation the listening experience is a little less than one could have hoped for. Still a 3.5 star (70%) rating isn´t all wrong.

UMUR "Spearhead / Cenotaph" is a compilation album release by UK death metal act Bolt Thrower. The compilation was released through Earache Records in January 2018. It compiles the material from the January 1991 "Cenotaph" EP and the material from the February 1993 "Spearhead" EP. Eight tracks in all and a total playing time of 38:56 minutes. It´s a bit of a puzzle why Earache Records opted to release this compilation as the exact same material plus two additional tracks were already released by Earache Records on the September 1998 "Who Dares Wins" compilation album.

On this compilation the four tracks from the "Spearhead" EP open the release while the four tracks from the "Cenotaph" EP close the compilation, so the material is not presented in chronological order. But that´s the only difference from the "Who Dares Wins" compilation other than the fact that this compilation doesn´t feature the two additional tracks "World Eater '94" and "Overlord". So it´s safe to say that this compilation is pretty redundant and it would make so much better sense to purchase "Who Dares Wins". I´m afraid I have to call moneygrab on this release...

...but there is still material to be described. The first track from the "Spearhead" EP is an extended version of the EP title track, which in its original form was featured on "The IVth Crusade" (November 1992, Earache Records), but here it is two minutes longer than the original version. The two extra minutes don´t do much for the song though, and is basically just two heavy riff sections being played over and over as an outro. "Dying Creed" from "The IVth Crusade" is also included on the EP, but it appears here in exactly the same version as on the album, so it´s mostly featured here as filler, if you already own the album (great song or not). The remaining tracks ("Crown of Life" and "Lament") are outtakes from the "The IVth Crusade" recording sessions. There are really no surprises here if you´re familar with the material on "The IVth Crusade", so it´s basically just more of the same heavy, mid-paced death metal. I don´t think there´s a particular reason why exactly these two tracks weren´t included on the album, as they are of a similar quality and style as the remaining tracks on "The IVth Crusade". "Lament" stands out a bit as it´s a bit more epic in style, but other than that it could well have been included on the full-length album.

As mentioned above the four tracks from the "Cenotaph" EP close the compilation and they are "Cenotaph" which is the album version of the track from "War Master" (February 1991, Earache Records), "Destructive Infinity", "Prophet Of Hatred", and a live version of "Realm Of Chaos". "Destructive Infinity" is an outtake from the September 1990 "War Master" recording sessions (it appears as a bonus track on the CD version of the album), while "Prophet Of Hatred" is an outtake from the July 1989 "Realm of Chaos (Slaves to Darkness)" (October 1989, Earache Records) recording sessions (it appears as a bonus track on the CD version of the album). It has the same gritty sound production and composition style. The live version of "Realm Of Chaos" is a pretty lo-fi and not very well sounding live recording.

So there´s nothing wrong with the material featured on this compilation, but for the reasons described above I can´t recommend a purchase. It simply makes no sense to remove two tracks and reverve the tracklist order and then think that people won´t notice that you´ve already released this compilation once before...and even in a better version featuring more quantity. Judged only by the quality of the material this is a 3.5 star (70%) release, but again I strongly urge you to purchase "Who Dares Wins" and leave this one alone.

UMUR "Who Dares Wins" is a compilation album by UK death metal act Bolt Thrower. The compilation was released through Earache Records in September 1998. It´s a relatively controversial release as it was released by Earache Records without the consent of Bolt Thrower, who at that point had signed to Metal Blade Records and would soon release their sixth full-length studio album "Mercenary" (November 1998).

"Who Dares Wins" compiles the material from the January 1991 "Cenotaph" EP, the material from the February 1993 "Spearhead" EP, and the two bonus tracks from the Japanese version of "...For Victory" (November 1994, Earache Records). The two latter had also been released on the "Rareache" compilation album, which was an anniversary box set with various artists that Earache Records put out. "Who Dares Wins" features ten tracks and a total playing time of 49:40 minutes.

The four tracks from the "Cenotaph" EP open the compilation and are "Cenotaph" which is the album version of the track from "War Master" (February 1991, Earache Records), "Destructive Infinity", "Prophet Of Hatred", and a live version of "Realm Of Chaos". "Destructive Infinity" is an outtake from the September 1990 "War Master" recording sessions (it appears as a bonus track on the CD version of the album), while "Prophet Of Hatred" is an outtake from the July 1989 "Realm of Chaos (Slaves to Darkness)" (October 1989, Earache Records) recording sessions (it appears as a bonus track on the CD version of the album). It has the same gritty sound production and composition style. The live version of "Realm Of Chaos" is a pretty lo-fi and not very well sounding live recording.

The four tracks from the "Spearhead" EP follow. The first track from the EP is an extended version of the EP title track, which in its original form was featured on "The IVth Crusade" (November 1992, Earache Records), but here it is two minutes longer than the original version. The two extra minutes don´t do much for the song though, and is basically just two heavy riff sections being played over and over as an outro. "Dying Creed" from "The IVth Crusade" is also included on the EP, but it appears here in exactly the same version as on the album, so it´s mostly featured here as filler, if you already own the album (great song or not). The remaining tracks ("Crown of Life" and "Lament") are outtakes from the "The IVth Crusade" recording sessions. There are really no surprises here if you´re familar with the material on "The IVth Crusade", so it´s basically just more of the same heavy, mid-paced death metal. I don´t think there´s a particular reason why exactly these two tracks weren´t included on the album, as they are of a similar quality and style as the remaining tracks on "The IVth Crusade". "Lament" stands out a bit as it´s a bit more epic in style, but other than that it could well have been included on the full-length album.

The two last tracks are the two bonus tracks from the Japanese version of "...For Victory". The first is a re-recording of "World Eater" (titled "World Eater '94"), which in its original form appeared on "Realm of Chaos (Slaves to Darkness)". The re-recording is a heavy, brutal, and updated version of the track, and it´s a killer re-recording. "Overlord" is more or less what you´d expect an outtake/single B-side from the "...For Victory" sessions would sound like. It´s a good quality Bolt Thrower track, but nothing out of the ordinary. Although this compilation was alledgedly released without the consent of the band, it´s still a good quality compilation loaded with rarity (and predominantly killer) material, which fans of the early albums should be able to enjoy greatly. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Spearhead" is a four-track EP release by UK death metal act Bolt Thrower. The EP was released through Earache Records in February 1993. It bridges the gap between the band´s fourth- and fifth full-length studio albums "The IVth Crusade" (1992) and "...For Victory" (1994). All material from the EP was re-released on the September 1998 "Who Dares Wins" compilation album (Earache Records).

The EP features an extended version of the title track, which in its original form was featured on "The IVth Crusade", but here it is two minutes longer than the original version. The two extra minutes don´t do much for the song though, and is basically just two heavy riff sections being played over and over as an outro. "Dying Creed" from "The IVth Crusade" is also included on the EP, but it appears here in exactly the same version as on the album, so it´s mostly featured here as filler, if you already own the album (great song or not). The remaining tracks ("Crown of Life" and "Lament") are outtakes from the "The IVth Crusade" recording sessions, and of course the primary reason to purchase this EP back in the day. There are really no surprises here if you´re familar with the material on "The IVth Crusade", so it´s basically just more of the same heavy, mid-paced death metal. I don´t think there´s a particular reason why exactly these two tracks weren´t included on the album, as they are of a similar quality and style as the remaining tracks on "The IVth Crusade". "Lament" stands out a bit as it´s a bit more epic in style, but other than that it could well have been included on the full-length album.

So upon conclusion "Spearhead" is half interesting unreleased material and half material you already know if you own "The IVth Crusade", so you have to make up your mind if 10 minutes of new material is enough for you to invest in this. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Cenotaph" is a four-track EP release by UK death metal act Bolt Thrower. The EP was released through Earache Records in January 1991 and it bridges the gap between the band´s second- and third full-length studio albums "Realm of Chaos (Slaves to Darkness)" (October 1989, Earache Records) and "War Master" (February 1991, Earache Records). It also effectively works as a promotional product for the latter mentioned album, and features the album track "Cenotaph" as the title track. All material from the EP was re-released on the September 1998 "Who Dares Wins" compilation album (Earache Records).

The three remaining tracks are "Destructive Infinity", "Prophet Of Hatred", and a live version of "Realm Of Chaos". The former is an outtake from the September 1990 "War Master" recording sessions (it appears as a bonus track on the CD version of the album), while "Prophet Of Hatred" is an outtake from the July 1989 "Realm Of Chaos" recording sessions (it appears as a bonus track on the CD version of the album). It has the same gritty sound production and composition style. The live version of "Realm Of Chaos" is a pretty lo-fi and not very well sounding live recording.

"Cenotaph" appears here in exactly the same version which is also featured on "War Master", so the big draw here is definitely "Destructive Infinity" and "Prophet Of Hatred" (at least to those who only own the original vinyl versions of "Realm of Chaos (Slaves to Darkness)" and "War Master". "Destructive Infinity" is quality wise on par with the material which ended up on "War Master" and the same can more or less be said about "Prophet Of Hatred". None of them would probably have been standout tracks on their respective albums though. They are just good quality Bolt Thrower tracks...nothing more nothing less. The inclusion of the live version of "Realm Of Chaos" is completely unnecessary though. The recording quality is simply not of a professional quality and you should expect more from a band like Bolt Thrower.

Upon conclusion "Cenotaph" is a nice little EP, but it had more value back when it was originally released, than it has today where all tracks are available elsewhere. Still it´s a good quality release (except the live track) and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.