"While I think that Bolt Thrower's first couple of records were not very good in terms of musicianship (the ideas were interesting), the band eventually improved as musicians and settled on a heavy, groovy, melodic and yet brutal, and unmistakably original, type of death metal, and the band certainly deserves their status as the ultimate war metal band.
"... For Victory" is a very typical 1990s Bolt Thrower album, thankfully, containing heavy and melodic death metal tracks, whose emphasis is on powerful riffage. As is typical of Bolt Thrower, each song contains a few riffs which are repeated a lot and which, within the boundary of the individual song, are both in extension of, and contrast to, one another; this is something Bolt Thrower are very good at and they exploit this ability very well on this album. While there are some heavy and catchy riffs on this album, the groove is largely absent - but in hindsight, that is not a problem since it comes to full fruition later on "Those Once Loyal". Well, writing the groove off completely is perhaps incorrect, since a track like "Tank Mk.I" (great title!) is actually quite groovy.
"... For Victory" is a very robust death metal album and epitomises Bolt Thower's brand of war metal. I would recommend it to fans of death metal who do not mind death metal that emphasises heaviness.
(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"
"This album has everything! It's got brutality. It's got melody. It's got groove. And you can actually hear the bass in the mix!
"Those Once Loyal" is, for my money, the best Bolt Thrower album ever. The production is crisp and the musical performance is tight. There is a certain groove to this album that inspires headbangin or, at least, headbobbing. This is especially evident in "The Killchain" which is my favorite Bolt Thrower track of all times, but also in "Granite Wall", the aptly titled "Anti-Tank (Dear Armour)", and "When Cannons Fade". There are also plenty of melodic guitar riffs on this album as well as good old fashioned death metal riff, which have always been part of Bolt Thrower's style. The album is perfectly balanced in terms of brutality, groove and melody.
I would recommend this album to... well... everybody!
(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"
"There are those who claim that Bolt Thrower have not changed over the years. That is incorrect. Bolt Thrower have steadily improved as musicians and adjusted their style accordingly. There is a universe of difference between their first releases and their most recent ones. Their early efforts are, and I normally become very unpopular when I say this, not very good.
"War Master" is a decent and respectable effort with a lot of good ideas. There are a lot of break-downs and build-ups that work really well on this album, and a lot of nasty (in the good way) riffing. The Bolt Thrower signature heaviness is also there, and the production is not bad either. So, in terms of musicality, there is a lot of good stuff here.
However, in terms of musicianship, this albums leaves a lot to be desired. Especially the drumming could, well, should have been better. It is very sloppy and just as untight as on "Realm of Chaos". That is a problem in a genre like death metal, in which the drums are just as prominent as the guitars, while basically carrying the song in question rhythmically. That being said, Bolt Trower have cut back on the blast beats on this album, which works well in terms of variation (I've always thought that blast beats were more effective and more brutal if they don't crop up all the time).
So, there are a lot of good stuff on this album, and it is also an important album in the history of death metal; I think most fans of death metal would like it, but don't expect it to be as crisp and perfectly executed as most present-day death metal releases are. A respectable album, but it is only on "The IVth Crusade" that Bolt Thrower really start handing out goodies to the metal people.
(review was originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"
"A lot of good ideas on this one, but they drown in mediocre performance (and substandard drumming). Nonetheless, this album is an important contribution to early death metal, but also indicates that this was a time when brutality was emphasized and musical skill was not (let us face it, this album would not have been released in 2009, when the expectations towards musical skill are so much higher). The title track is quite good though."
"Fairly mid-tempo for a death metal album, "The IVth Crusade" is nonetheless brutal musically and lyrically - naturally, since Bolt Thrower's lyrical universe primarily deals with war. Yet the riffs in al their brutality has a certain melody to them. What's interesting is that, while this album surely is a death metal album, it contains a lot of thrashy elements that remind me primarily of Slayer and early Sacred Reich."
