Review by luajaz for Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade (1992)

Bolt Thrower has something very interesting going on with it's songwriting and themes. They have a very characteristic minimal composition style: just a couple of simple, mid-paced riffs arranged in a logical way with enough beat variations to back it all up. Throw some badass growls over it and you have Bolt Thrower. Now, that is not to say that they are overly simplistic or boring! This is very heavy hitting death metal that in some way says something important about the genre itself. It's like boiling down the style to it's bare fundamentals and applying them with precision, and because of this the whole thing is a masterclass in efficient songwriting. But above this, I'm very interested in how this couples very, very well with their themes and aesthetics. Bolt Thrower doesn't care much about occultist fascinations or hyper-violent, gore-ridden fantasy. It's theme is the very real and brutal violence of war, an unquestionable and immutable truth. Coupled with their mid-paced, martial sound and minimalist precision, the outcome has a monolithic, eternal quality to it. That is something I can very much admire and look up to, because it is in fact very artistic, aside being awesome heavy metal.

Well, why the mid rating then? Unfortunately I do have some problems with this, which I guess is their most revered release. While there are some very good songs here, particularly Where Next to Conquer, As The World Burns and Spearhead, I do find the album too long and somewhat samey, making me lose interest a bit towards the end. Also, I don't like this production at all. The strings sound very bassy and glued, which I do like, but there's a critical lack of high end in the mix, and the drums sound muffled and don't have enough impact. That's all very unfortunate, because I actually want to like this album, the songs I enjoy are badass and awesome, and the cover art and title are incredible. Such a cool looking album, but unfortunately a let down to me. I'll be searching for a Bolt Thrower album that I can get behind and praise, because the band is pretty interesting.