The Greatest Idiot Riff : Bolt Thrower’s “World Eater”

by Nicholas Vahdias on March 23, 2020

Master’s Paul Speckmann is known for taking an idea and squeezing everything he can from it through repetition and then utilizing the most direct route to return to that idea. Though this mentality would fail many bands because the riffs didn’t have the necessary urgency and creativity to work. Bolt Thrower on the other hand took this approach and pushed it to the logical extreme as each individual riff became the central focus while narrative development was relegated to an afterthought despite somehow still being present. What made Bolt Thrower so intriguing was that they possessed powerful riffs that were caveman like and more often than not completely idiotic yet the band managed to soar where others failed miserably.

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Last Sacrament – Enantiodromia (2013)

by Jerry Hauppa on January 13, 2018

Florida’s Last Sacrament are one of the rare contemporary bands that successfully captures the essence of old school death metal while developing a voice of their own in the process. While initial full length Enantiodromia has a few juvenile kinks to work out — the members are shockingly young — the record as a whole is a striking, confident foray through classic metal.

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Choose Your Own Black Dahlia Murder Adventure

by Staff on November 27, 2017

The Black Dahlia Murder think that they’re the new Bolt Thrower. Nowhere in space and grind does that make any sense. It’s time for a new short story. You guys will vote on what happens next. A new chapter will go up every day until the weekend.

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Impermanent Self

by Lance Viggiano on November 12, 2017

Life as a test is absurd. It depends upon there being something to judge after death, namely a self or a soul. But what we are is a heap: consciousness, form, perceptions, mental formulations, sensations. There is a sixth, in Eastern thought considered to be the soul or self – awareness (subject, first person perspective, watcher). The first five are given the adjective empty to denote their lack of intrinsic properties as they stand in conjunctive relationships. The sixth, citta in Pali or nous in Greek, deserves the adjective empty as well.

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Lucky Charms Metal

by Daniel Maarat on March 14, 2017

Death Metal Underground has received criticism for our review of limp-wristed, warmed-over Swedish heavy metal act In Flames. Our staff called them the Swedish version of Christian glam rock band Stryper. However despite being hard rock, Stryper were actually heavier, more sincere in purpose, and more aggressive than the Comic Sans In Flames. Stryper and the speed metal influenced glam rock of Skid Row were at least far more musical than Fredrik Nordstrom produced melodeaf such as post-Alf Svensson At the Gates, Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquility, In Flames, and Soilwork. Stryper and Skid Row were at least well-versed in 60s and 70s riff rock while directly influenced by Metallica and Slayer:

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Bolt Thrower, Carcass, and Morbid Angel Vinyl Represses

by Daniel Maarat on January 21, 2017

Earache Records is repressing the vinyl LPs of Bolt Thrower, Carcass, and Morbid Angel from the original tapes due to popular demand and inflated Ebay and Discogs prices. I reviewed the “Full Dynamic Range” remaster of Altars of Madness last year which sounded great. All are available for pre-order from Earache’s webstore and digital versions of most are on Earache’s Bandcamp page.

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Bolt Thrower Break Up

by Daniel Maarat on September 14, 2016

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Bolt Thrower have finally officially broken up after going on hiatus following the death of their long-term drummer Martin “Kiddie” Kearns. Vocalist Karl Willets forming Memorian with original, still-living drummer Andy Whale heralded this. Bolt Thrower  had not released an album in over a decade and their studio output had been a pale shadow of their 1980s grindcore peak. The band released a statement on their website:

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