BOLT THROWER — Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness (review)

BOLT THROWER — Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness album cover Album · 1989 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Vim Fuego
This is one of the heaviest albums ever recorded. The guitars are tuned down to bass frequencies. In the recording of this album, the bass was tuned down so far at one point the strings would not vibrate. Even Karl Willett's vocals have been electronically lowered by a harmonizer. The result is an album of subterranean, subsonic depth.

Despite the enormous sound Bolt Thrower produce, their riffs always remain clear, and the drums snappy. There is double kick bass abuse throughout the album, one of Bolt Thrower's trademarks. The songs are catchy, and have an almost sing–a–long quality, unusual for the grindcore genre. “World Eater” and the title track standing out as classic tracks from the album, and it is not unusual to find yourself growling along, Willett–style, hours after hearing these songs.

The subject matter is the Bolt Thrower staple– war, well embellished by amazing artwork from the Games Workshop. This was Bolt Thrower's last grindcore release before they strayed toward the death metal stylings of their subsequent albums. This album is a landmark for extreme music. At a time when Carcass, Napalm Death, Righteous Pigs, Terrorizer, and Extreme Noise Terror were noisily trying to break the speed of sound, only Bolt Thrower and Godflesh were truly exploring the sonic possibilities of creating massive walls of sound, rather than being noisy.

There should be a picture of this album under the definition of "heavy" in the dictionary.
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