Artist: Bolt Thrower
Label: Metal Blade
Release Date: 1/15/02
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Title: Honor Valour Pride Artist: Bolt Thrower Label: Metal Blade Release Date: 1/15/02 |
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Abyss's Review:
While Bolt Thrower has never been my favorite band in the world, I am relatively familiar with them. I'm no rookie, but damned if every time I hear the name of this band, or see one of their album covers, I don't immediately think of power metal. It's bordering on false advertising. I mean, you can clearly read the band's logo, it leaves nothing to the imagination. Just who do they think they are? Death metal acts are supposed to have illegible logos so you spend hours in the record store trying to figure out the name of the band-- meanwhile, the rest of the patrons see you squinting and assume you're a character actor working on your impression of Robert Deniro. This squinting eventually causes the consumer to go blind, therefore proving that the band is truly evil. Don't these guys understand the rules?
"I mean, you can clearly read the band's logo, it leaves nothing to the imagination. Just who do they think they are?" Anyhoo, for those of you who may not be familiar with this band, they play the old-school, groove oriented, mid-paced, accessible death metal that was all over the place in the early to mid 90s, but is a little harder to come by now that music has grown more and more extreme. And while Bolt Thrower have their own little niche in the genre, for comparison's sake they have the same style that was forged with old Entombed, Obituary and Dismember. These bands used to be all over the place, but fell to back of public attention after the explosion of At the Gates and the Gothenburg scene. That's not to say that these types of bands are extinct by any stretch of the imagination, they're just not as big as they once were. Six Feet Under are probably the most popular band in this sub-sect of death, but they're a little trendier than the disc we have here.
Bolt Thrower's best asset is their groove, but unlike a lot of "groovy" bands, they don't have the slightest urban influence in their cadence, and the groove emanates from only the guitar riffs, which are rather simple, but catchy. The album doesn't rely on outrageous time signatures, but rather lays down a groove and either doubles or halves the tempo to keep the song rolling along.
"One word review: Good." At best this is a good, solid album that is nothing spectacular, and at worst it's just a little boring. Right now I'm digging it, but it might be for nostalgia, because I find the sound bringing me back to a simpler time in my life, when death metal was a simpler beast. One word review: Good.
Death's Review:
Oddly enough, this is my virgin Bolt Thrower experience. Although I've been aware of the band for some time, I've always stayed away. Didn't think it was my thing. Guess what? I love it. Honour Valour Pride is simple, dirty Obituary style, groove-oriented death. And at times, it makes me want to break things. This is a good sign.
"At times, it makes me want to break things. This is a good sign." I've heard Bolt Thrower described as grind, but that's surely not what I'm hearing here. Sure, there is a bit of Napalm Death style humor and rawness (and both of these U.K. acts had 'Peel Session' releases, I think), but surely no speed and clearly a much more simple, early 90's death metal approach. I'm not sure how this compares to prior Bolt Thrower efforts, but I'd imagine it this apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. There is something that feels like a band staying true to its sound that permeates this album, and if the band has taken any significant kind of stylistic left-turn with this record I'd be surprised. Surely, this style of simplistic raw death is not a sub- genre bands are changing their style to these days, is it?
Bottom line is this is a good metal album but does absolutely nothing to forge new ground. Of course, that is beside the point, as Bolt Thrower is clearly not concerned with such endeavors. In many ways, bands like this should be celebrated as anti-trendy, even within the commercially contrarian world of extreme metal. I think that if you like meat and potatoes old school groove-death (i.e., little speed and "technicality"-- Morbid Angel this is not), then you'll want to check out Bolt Thrower. Don't expect to hear anything you haven't heard before, just expect to have some fun.
"Don't expect to hear anything you haven't heard before, just expect to have some fun."
Hel's Review:
Favorite track: "7th Offensive"Slow. Crunchy. Groovy. Relentless. These are the four main types of riffs that comprise the prime essence of Bolt Thrower. Sure, there's plenty more than that, but at the end of the day, that's what it boils down to. It all comes back to the riffs. At times, they are relentless. At other times, they are just so damn catchy. At the same time, this album is undeniably death metal, yet totally thrash. You'll be slamming about your room from beginning to end.
While this band has been around for ages (well, since 1988 as far as I can tell from their label's lame website), I personally hadn't run into them until now. So here I am, without any history and no resource for one easily at hand. I throw myself upon whatever mercy the metal community may have, and beg your collective forgiveness. This band is better than the lame one page "you'll like this album" blurb and glossy photo treatment provided with the record. Metal Blade did send the entire booklet, and god bless 'em for that, but not that's what I would find most useful right now. Is "Jo" a woman? I would swear so by the picture, but I can't prove it.
"Is "Jo" a woman? I would swear so by the picture, but I can't prove it." Anyway, that has little (well, nothing) to do with the quality of the record. I'm just annoyed. I feel rather like I'm going into battle unarmed, which is ridiculous, since I often don't look at the information provided at all and, most often, when I do look for something, it's the one thing they did provide with this disc-- the lyrics. So it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, and I need to just let it go at this point.
Honor-Valour-Pride is nothing less than a solid, relentless vehicle of war. The artwork and lyrics work hard to set a militaristic stage, and it works. When all is said and done, you want to throw on a helmet and fatigues and go running up a large hill carrying a heavy pack and a rifle. Not that I've ever done it, but that's what television has done my perception. Actually, I'd prefer a dark smoky club and these warriors onstage pounding out these riffs. That's as close to war as I'll be getting anyway. Imagery and heavy riffs aside, I can't prove it, I'm betting Bolt Thrower fans will approve. Novices like me should make the effort to check this record out also, Bolt Thrower is a band you ought to know.
"This is nothing less than a solid, relentless vehicle of war."
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