Bolt Thrower - Who Dares Wins

Production:

Review: This compilation collects two EPs, made after Realm of Chaos and The IVth Crusade respectively, as well as two tracks from the Earache Records vaults later included on the Rareache compilation.

Two songs on the Spearhead EP appear nowhere else, but the earlier Cenotaph EP was two songs each from Realm of Chaos and War Master. The result is about as one might expect, with four tracks sounding like messier middle period Bolt Thrower, four that sound transitional between their two melodic grindcore albums, and then two with phenominally abrasive production that sound like their earliest material if played during the more proficient later days of the band. On "Overlord," you can hear the melodic heavy metal sound Bolt Thrower adopted a few years later as their standard, which since melodic heavy metal has been around since the 1970s and grindcore since the 1980s, was probably a regression under the guise of "progression."

Tracklist:

1. Cenotaph (4:04)
2. Destructive Infinity (4:13)
3. Prophet of Hatred (3:52)
4. Realm of Chaos (live) (2:45) Heavy metal, death metal, speed metal, doom metal, grindcore or thrash mp3 sample
5. Spearhead (extended remix) (8:42) Heavy metal, death metal, speed metal, doom metal, grindcore or thrash mp3 sample
6. Crown of Life (5:29)
7. Dying Creed (4:17)
8. Lament (5:36)
9. World Eater '94 (6:08)
10. Overlord (4:29) Heavy metal, death metal, speed metal, doom metal, grindcore or thrash mp3 sample

Length: 49:35

Bolt Thrower - Who Dares Wins: Grindcore 1999 Bolt Thrower

Copyright © 1999 Earache

For Bolt Thrower collectors, this compilation provides an insight into the past, but for casual listening it presents tracks out of context from times when the band were enwrapping more place and atmosphere into their songs, and so it is sorely missed.