BOLT THROWER — The IVth Crusade (review)

BOLT THROWER — The IVth Crusade album cover Album · 1992 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Time Signature
This time it's war...

Genre: death metal

"The IVth Crusade" is lightyears better than any of the band's previous releases, I think. The main reason is that the level of musicianship is miles higher than on "War Master". The drumming, which I think was incredibly sloppy on previous releases, is now tighter than a clenched fist, and the double bass drum work is the way it should be on this album.

"The IVth Crusade" is fairly mid-tempo for a death metal album, as the blast beats and grindcore elements are completely gone. The album is nonetheless brutal musically and lyrically - naturally, since Bolt Thrower's lyrical universe primarily deals with war. While not down-tempo like doom metal is, the music on this album is very heavy, and that is what contributes the brutality. Yet the guitar riffs have a certain sense melody to them, and this means that, unlike on the previous releases, the music on this album is also memorable. Some examples are the anthemic main riff of the title track, the opening and main riff of "Icon", the opening and verse riffs of "Where Next to Conquer", the doomy verse riff of "Celestial Sanctuary", and the equally doomy opening riff of "This Time It's War". The album also contains a lot of thrashy elements that remind me primarily of Slayer and early Sacred Reich without the same level of speed.

The only weakness to this album is outro track, which, with its spoken lyrics, becomes a bit annoying.

"The IVth Crusade" is a brilliant heavy death metal album, which should appeal to fans of death metal and perhaps also some fans of doom metal, because it is really heavy. Granted, Bolt Thrower operate with only a handful of riffs per song, which are repeated a lot, but since they are really good and effective riffs, this works very well - people who expect higly technical death metal might be disappointed, but if you like really heavy death metal, then this is an album you cannot afford not to have.
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