Bolt Thrower - The IV Crusade (1992)

The IVth Crusade is the fourth studio album by the legendary British death metal band Bolt Thrower, released in 1992 via Earache Records.

Key Features

• Sound: On this album, the band significantly slowed down their tempo compared to their previous work, War Master, leaning into a heavier style influenced by Death-Doom and bands like Candlemass and Pentagram.
• Theme and Artwork: The title refers to the Fourth Crusade and the capture of Constantinople. The cover features the 1840 painting by Eugène Delacroix titled "The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople".
• Legacy: It is considered one of the band’s most powerful and consistent works. In 2025, Loudwire named it the best death metal album of 1992.

 

 

 

 

 Tracklist:

1.     The IVth Crusade     04:59
2.     Icon     04:10
3.     Embers     05:18
4.     Where Next to Conquer     03:50
5.     As the World Burns     05:25
6.     This Time It's War     05:50
7.     Ritual     04:30
8.     Spearhead     06:47
9.     Celestial Sanctuary     04:37
10.     Dying Creed     04:17
11.     Through the Ages (Outro)     03:45
 
53:28 

 

Line up: 

• Gavin Ward : Guitars
• Karl Willetts : Vocals
• Barry Thomson : Guitars
• Jo Bench : Bass
• Andy Whale : Drums.

 

 

 

 Label: Earache Records. MOSH 70CD

 All tracks recorded and produced at Sawmills Studio, August 1992 by Colin Richardson and Bolt Thrower.
Mixed at: Fon Studios, Sheffield-September 1992.

Front Cover "Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople"Painted By Delacroix In1840.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Repugnator & Lóstregos & Necro Ritual & Hexecutor ⸸ DINAAMO Barroselas 06.09.2025

 

 

 

 

 

Bolt Thrower - Warmaster (1991) [Reissue] (2017)

 

 War Master is the third album by British death metal band Bolt Thrower. It was recorded at Slaughterhouse studios in September 1990 and produced by Bolt Thrower and Colin Richardson. It was released on Earache Records: Mosh 29 in 1991.

Whereas Realm of Chaos was dominated by grindcore based blasts and riffs, this album abandons most of the grindcore influences for a sound that is more strictly death metal. Moreover, there is more melody in the music and the guitar solos, although some chaotic solos remain. This is also the final Bolt Thrower album to feature the blast beat style of drumming (which can be heard on four songs – "Unleashed (Upon Mankind)", "What Dwells Within", "War Master", and "Afterlife"), before it was abandoned and subsequently never used thereafter in the Bolt Thrower discography.

"Cenotaph" is a thematic continuation of the song "World Eater" from the previous record. The closing riff from "World Eater" is the same as the opening riff from "Cenotaph" and also used in "Embers" from The IVth Crusade, "Powder Burns" from Mercenary and "The Killchain" from Those Once Loyal.

The album was extensively sampled on Dutch breakcore producer Bong-Ra's album Full Metal Racket, with allusions also including song titles such as "Bloody Cenotaph" and "Jo Bench".

 

 

 

 -Tracklist:

Side A
1. Intro... Unleashed (upon Mankind)     06:13
2. What Dwells Within     04:18
3. The Shreds of Sanity     03:27
4. Profane Creation     05:32

Side B
5. Final Revelation     03:56
6. Cenotaph     04:04
7. War Master     04:17
8. Rebirth of Humanity     04:01
9. Afterlife     06:01

41:49

 

-Line up:

 • Gavin Ward : Guitars
 • Jo Bench : Bass
 • Andrew Whale : Drums
 • Barry Thompson : Guitars
 • Karl Willetts : Vocals.

 

 

 

 Label: Earache Records. MOSH029FDRUS.

 Recorded at Slaughterhouse Studios, Great Driffield, East Yorkshire, England by Bolt Thrower, September 1990.
Produced by Bolt Thrower & Colin Richardson.
All songs written by Bolt Thrower.

 Gatefold sleeve with cartboard innersleeve

Full Dynamic Range.