Bolt Thrower Album: “...For Victory”

Bolt Thrower are pretty much second tier death metal... they've been around forever yet they never get the recognition of say... Carcass. Still, England's history channel fanatics can play some solid death metal and For Victory is straight up brutal. Like whoa. First time I heard Remembrance I was pinned down to the wall. By the time it was over I had whiplash. That song has the heaviest riff EVER penned, and sets the tone for a solid 37 minutes of metal.

Bolt Thrower's style in a nutshell.... heavy as brick riffs over monotonous drums, with fierce growls and the occasional doom break. Indeed, BT's drummer [lacks talent] , and doesn't do much in the way of pacing. Sometimes the tedium of hearing the same song over and over grows old, but standouts like Forever Fallen and slower paced ...For Victory make up for it.

If you like to bang yer head, and do it well, get this CD. It's heavier than hades and has the perfect tempo for nonstop thrashing. I dunno if I'd place it in the death metal classic field, but you could do farrrrrr worse.... recommended for fans of DM in general.

Bolt Thrower have never let down in my opinion. I'd say this disc is 2cd only to Warmaster. I think it's kind of a blend of Warmaster brutality and The IVth Crusade melody. I can't really say much more about it, listen to it and judge for yourself.

...For Victory is Bolt Thrower's best album so far (as of 2005)and that is saying a lot. After following up their masterpiece Warmaster with the lower-key The IVth Crusade, Bolt Thrower unleashes their full song-writing potential and musicianship with an album so powerful you won't be able to stop listening to it. If you are looking for an unmelodic technical mess, super-fast speed metal, or keyboard-heavy pop-death metal, stay away from this. Bolt Thrower doesn't sound like anyone else out there. If you like brutal, merciless, original death metal to headbang to, Bolt Thrower is it. Get ...For Victory and Warmaster, crank up the volume of your stereo, and prepare to be annihilated by the war machine that is Bolt Thrower!

better than 'mercenary'-----good for many repeated listens, year after year

Bolt Thrower, despite their name which had evoked so much mockery (i.e., "Nut Chucker"), did manage over four albums to evolve into a superior band in the underground/independant metal scene. For the uninitated, their music can be classified simply as death metal, but this album makes a strong appeal to the early '90's subgenre known as "grindcore" (the name says it all). Death metal bands in the early '90's tended to focus a lot on developing a distinct sound to set them apart, since, admittingly, the genre of metal places many limitations on itself as to what is acceptable and unacceptable songwriting-wise. Bolt Thrower accomplished not just a distinctive sound, but a vastly effective one with this album, which affords it an exceptional rating. The songs themselves are of high mark as far death metal goes; true, many of the songs will sound similar to some listeners--demarcation among songs of this style of music is made by lyrics (although sung in a near non-dynamic gutteral growl), tempo, and accents within guitar and drum parts. Nevertheless, their success was to create a very true-to-spirit atomsphere of aggression, war, and, um, aggression. It's a classic album that stands on it own among a metal scene swamped, both then and now, by wannabe imitators.

I damaged my first copy of this CD a couple years ago, and hadn't listened to it again until recently, when I finally broke down and got a new copy. It's just as enthralling now as it was when I first heard it. Play this CD loudly on your stereo, and it feels like a fleet of tanks juggernauting into combat at 50 MPH. What could be more fun?