Lonely Are the Glorious (Those Once Loyal - Bolt Thrower)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Those Once Loyal - Bolt Thrower
Date:	01/04/08 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Return to form, with varied song styles.

Disadvantages: Look past the surface and it's still essentially the same.

'Those Once Loyal' is a peculiar title for Bolt Thrower's comeback album of sorts, seeing the return of (apparently disloyal) vocalist Karl Willetts and a marked improvement in the band's sound that hasn't sounded this good for a decade. The same ingredients are all there: guttural roared vocals, medium-speed guitars and lyrics devoted entirely to war (interestingly in this case, the First World War), but it's executed with greater style and energy than anything since the band's early days, even if it still falls short of their finest releases.

Bolt Thrower have earned themselves a reputation for consistency to the point of endless repetition, but this album breaks away somewhat by featuring different styles, at least thanks to the efforts of guitarists Barry Thompson and Gavin Ward. 'At First Light' opens with a surprising melodic death metal style, 'Entrenched' takes a more thrash metal approach, 'The Killchain' is more concerned with groove, and the title song is even reminiscent of the epic down-tuned riffs of Amon Amarth.

Bolt Thrower demonstrate once again that they don't know the meaning of the word compromise (I'm guessing, very literally) as the clear production once again brings out the full extent of some of the heaviest guitars in death metal, leaving fans hopeful that subsequent albums will be consistently interesting, rather than consistently the same.

1. At First Light
2. Entrenched
3. The Killchain
4. Granite Wall
5. Those Once Loyal
6. Anti-Tank (Dead Armour)
7. Last Stand of Humanity
8. Salvo
9. When Cannons Fade

Summary: Bolt Thrower's eighth album (2005).