Bolt Thrower's "War" is a forty-five minute live album that Earache sent out with promotional copies of the "...For Victory" album, in a two-disc set. It was recorded in Manchester in 1992, during the tour for "The IVth Crusade". This is my favorite era of Bolt Thrower's work- while I enjoy their later albums, none have come close to regaining the perfection that was "The IVth Crusade".

This is a great live performance from this band- they roll forth, tanklike, crushing everything with amazing precision. The track choices are equally great- they play all the best songs from "The IVth Crusade", with "Warmaster" and "Unleashed (Upon Mankind)" thrown in to represent their hallowed past. I'd have liked to hear "World Eater", but you can't have everything I suppose.

This cd was obviously edited, since some of the tracks end in silence rather than moving on through to the next song. While I generally hate this in live albums, here they've done such a good job choosing the songs to be included that I can't complain.

The only real problem here is the crowd. Seldom have I heard such a pathetic bunch of unresponsive cowards on a live album. An example- Karl, after a ripping version of "The IVth Crusade": "Yeah!"
Crowd: "..."
Karl: "Yeahh!"
Crowd: "..."
Karl: "YEAAARRGH!"
Crowd (in a weak, pathetic little reply): "yay."

This little exchange is repeated at least three times on the album, once even preceded by "OK out there?" from Karl. I can only deduce that the audience had all shown up to see some other band... New Kids on the Block, maybe? Shameful.

This cd is very hard to find (I got it through sheer luck from a used CD store back in 1994). You can probably get it through tape trades, however.

Standout tracks: "Spearhead", "Warmaster", "As The World Burns"

© 2001 vorfeed