BOLT THROWER — Those Once Loyal (review)

BOLT THROWER — Those Once Loyal album cover Album · 2005 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
voila_la_scorie
Bolt Thrower have a few albums listed in the MMA top 20 death metal albums, and as they showed up in my searches on YouTube I thought I should try them out. But how does one pick out the best album for one’s own preferences when there are eight albums from which to choose? YouTube has the answer with most if not all albums available in full for listening preview. Still, a preview is not the same as sinking into a purchased record.

Reading the Wikipedia article on the band, Bolt Thrower planned to cease recording after this album because they felt that they had finally made the best Bolt Thrower album. There was talk of recording another album after a hiatus but the band ceased in an untimely manner when their drummer passed away. I was trying to decide which album to get, “Those Once Loyal” or “Mercenary”, and ended up deciding on the former.

As far as death metal albums go, my experience is only just at the newbie level, but I feel that much of the music here is closer to thrash metal. It’s not as technical or brutal as death metal can be and it’s not as melodic as it can be either. Though double kick drumming is freely employed, the snare beats are not that fast and I don’t recall noticing any blast beats. Except for the deep, bear-like vocals, I feel the music sounds more like some of the late eighties thrash metal I used to listen to. At times there are some killer, slow n heavy riffs as in “The Killchain” and “Last Stand of Humanity”, which make these songs stand out for me. But most of the album reminds me a lot of early Slayer, or at least it make me feel like listening to “Haunting the Chapel”for some reason.

While this may be Bolt Thrower’s magnum opus, I feel it’s just a very good album that can be played all the way through with two tracks worthy of adding to a playlist. The album is consistent and heavy, though lacking much variation. Maybe it’s a good introductory album to the band? I like it but at the same time I want to hear more adventurousness. A decent piece of work for straightforward heavy thrash with death undertones.
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