BOLT THROWER — In Battle There Is No Law (review)

BOLT THROWER — In Battle There Is No Law album cover Album · 1988 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"In Battle There is No Law" is the debut full-length studio album by UK death metal act Bolt Thrower. The album was released through Vinyl Solution in June 1988. Before releasing the album Bolt Thrower had released a string of demos and a Peel Sessions EP.

Stylistically "In Battle There is No Law" is a combination of thrash/death metal and old school raw hardcore/grindcore. The vocals are harsh and semi-growling and the sound production is pretty raw and unpolished (according to the biography on the band´s website, the album was mixed and released without the band's knowledge or consent). The musicianship are generally not very impressive and especially the drums stand out as being sloppy and untight. Bolt Thrower had only existed since 1986 and this incarnation of the band with Karl Willetts on vocals had only existed for a couple of months (Willetts replaced Alan West in April 1988) before they recorded "In Battle There is No Law", so that might explain why the performances are a little untight.

The tracks are generally not that memorable and don´t stand out from each other. The opening title track is probably the most memorable song on the album, but it´s still not a particularly strong track. The trademark Bolt Thrower war themed lyrics are introduced on this album which song titles like "In Battle There is No Law", "Attack in the Aftermath", and "Psychological Warfare" are a testimony to.

"In Battle There is No Law" is overall not the most impressive debut album from Bolt Thrower but when that is said it´s not a bad quality recording, and if you can imagine a more raw and more hardcore/grindcore (and at times even a simplistic thrash metal) influenced version of "Realm of Chaos (Slaves to Darkness)" (October 1989, Earache Records) you´re halfway there. Immature musicianship and songwriting and a low budget sound production that the band didn´t even approve before the album was released pull in a negative direction though. A 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong although I know there are hardcore fans of this album, who enjoy it much more than I do.
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