Bolt Thrower on Artistic Hiatus "Indefinitely"

[The Ancient One]

We've spent the last year trying to write songs for a new album, planning to go into the studio this summer, unfortunately, after a lot of thought, we have had to make the difficult decision to postpone the recording indefinitely. We know everybody says that their new album is better than their last, but with us we really believed that. From day one we made it clear that we'd stop recording when we felt we'd written the ultimate Bolt Thrower album, we just never knew when that would be, we kind of took for granted that each release would get better and better. But we have realised now that our last release, "Those Once Loyal" turned out to be that album, and basically the new stuff we have written just doesn't match up to it. We have a lot of pride in our back catalogue, and we refuse to turn into one of the many bands (like the ones we grew up listening to) who end up releasing crap, and we're also not prepared to compromise by instead releasing an album of cover versions or a 'best of' album. Sorry to disappoint those of you looking forward to hearing new BT songs, but we always said that we would never release anything we weren't happy with or that, in our view, didn't at least match up to our previous work.

For those of you living in Holland, Germany and Belgium, you will get the chance to see Bolt Thrower live soon, as there are a few select shows lined up. The confirmed shows are:

7th August - Atak, Enschede (NL) - This is our second home, and we've played at Atak on every tour for the last 18 years. Sadly the club will be closing down this month and they will be moving to a new building in the Autumn. So we were chuffed when they contacted us and offered to re-open for one night, so we can say farewell to this cult club and be the last band to ever play there. We decided that the tickets will be free and we will be informing you soon on the line-up and how to get tickets.

8th August - Party.San Festival, Bad Berka (D) - As headliner we will play a longer set than usual, so expect to hear a lot of songs we haven't played for a while. http://www.party-san.de/openair/

9th August - Hof ter Lo, Antwerp (B) - For this show we will be joined by the best and upcoming bands from the Benelux. The confirmed support bands are: God Dethroned, Born from Pain, The Setup and Anaphylactic Shock. Tickets are 11 Euros, and you can find more info here: http://www.heartbreaktunes.com/en/concert_detail.php?id=831

We'll post more info when we have it.

Hope to see you at the gigs.

Cheers,
Bolt Thrower

BoltThrower.com

That's kind of a bummer, but in the end it's the respectable thing to do. They ran out of ideas.  It happens.  I salute them for having the courage to admit it and not take the Deicide/Therion/Entombed/Obituary/Suffocation/Cryptopsy etc... path to mediocrity.
I encourage everyone to listen to Realm of Chaos, the IVth Crusade, and ...For Victory in remembrance and at least appreciate the fact that they had a solid discography througout their career, which is quite a feat for any band in this decaying society. Sure, they weren't the most original and they made three albums too many, but they always made respectable music.

[kontinual]

BoltThrower.com

That's kind of a bummer, but in the end it's the respectable thing to do. They ran out of ideas.  It happens.  I salute them for having the courage to admit it and not take the Deicide/Therion/Entombed/Obituary/Suffocation/Cryptopsy etc... path to mediocrity.

I hinted at this in another thread, but you really don't think they followed the same "path to mediocrity?"

DEICIDE fell apart, ENTOMBED turned back to rock music, THERION and CRYPTOPSY followed their "artistic" ambitions, and OBITUARY and SUFFOCATION managed to come back and make inferior self-reflective works -- BOLT THROWER has done the same for ten years, arguably even longer.  Consequently, I'm not sure they should be understood any differently.  It is telling that the titles you mention don't go past 1994...

[helix]

I thought the latest one was a fresh approach actually. It surprised me. Why not one more tour of the states before closing up shop, goddammit?

[neoclassical]

While we're already throwing random opinions into the pot... I thought BT's material was much like later Graveland. Consistent quality. Up to Honour-Valour-Pride, at least. The latest was the first really boring one IMO.

But maybe that's just a very personal matter, depending on how long you've been listening to BT, and how much. Thus, you'll become bored with it even if the quality is right (except for their last one--should have quit before that one).