Bolt Thrower

“Those Once Loyal” (Metal Blade)

Compare to: Entombed, Jungle Rot, Napalm Death

After 20 years in the death metal business, one would imagine the five-piece UK war machine known as Bolt Thrower would’ve finally run out of steam. But on “Those Once Loyal,” the band has managed to re-establish a beachhead on death metal’s front lines with an all-out assault on listeners.

Dropping mid-paced, down-tuned riffs with all the subtlety of an advancing tank platoon, time has only served to make Bolt Thrower’s music more devastating. Although younger bands in the genre attempt to confound listeners with flurries of spastic technicality, Bolt Thrower keeps its attack simple and streamlined, mercilessly shelling anyone foolish enough to get caught in its sights with a combination of sheer heaviness and groove.

Tracks like “Last Stand of Humanity,” and “The Killchain” rarely veer from Bolt Thrower’s standard-issue formula of chugging power chords and distorted bass, but it is this single-mindedness that separates the band from the other death metal troops.

To many latter-day headbangers, Bolt Thrower’s lack of blastbeats and decidedly old school take on death metal will probably come off as outdated. The underlying reality, however, is that Bolt Thrower’s straightforward attack is a breath of gun-smoke filled air in a genre in which bands have come to rely far too heavily on speed and pointless guitar mathematics to impress the listener. This, combined with the band’s now more relevant-than-ever, war-themed lyrics, make for an engaging, memorable death metal salvo.

– Joshua Haun