Death is June - Looking Back in Anger at Bolt Thrower's "Realm of Chaos"

This is a band where I have all their albums on my computer , and know there is a certain era I prefer , so when I dug into to How well has the band's 1992 album stood the test of time is what we are listening for here. I liked how dark the over all sound is. The guitars are not as refined as the production on some albums. It gives is a rawer murkier sound which works for what they are doing here., I am not sure what they are doin here, lends itself to the kind of song writing I find to be the band's best. Then "War Master" had more of the groove I was looking for. Later albums were more dialed in as far as production , but did not have the mean streak I wanted. Then went to my iTunes and figured out it was  "Realm of Chaos" I was looking for. It has "Plague Bearer" which is one of my favorite songs by these guys.


Some of the more speed centered moments of the opener I am not as into. "Through the Eyes of Terror" has that weighty chug that crushes at it's mid paced stomp I think when they do get caught up in the flurries of speed they are not playing to their strengths as much. The drumming is great and the guitar playing focuses on the songs rather than getting too technical. The growls used are farily easy to make out so when the chugs fall behind them like a wave or iron horses crashing down onto the battle field it feels very inspiring. Inspiring me to play D&D or lift weights. They are at times like Slayer on steroids. The riff to "Lost Souls Domain' is pretty savage. After osrting through half their albums to find this one, it is clear to me this is where they had their dark magic working best. 'World Eater is a good example as they are ferocious but still focused on the song. "Drowned in Torment" also works on a similar formula. There is almost a Deicide vibe, just not as mean spirited.

The groove to the title track is unstoppable. The double bass speeds things up on the last song "Porphet of Hatred". This kind of vibe reminds me a little of something from "IV Crusade" I think it just comes together better than the songs from that album. I can round this up to a 10 pretty easilly, so I think we will be seeing this album on our top 50 death metal albums of all time list.