FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On October 26, 1991, Bolt Thrower released the album, The Peel Sessions 1988–90 via Strange Fruit (DEI 8118-2). The album consisted of three Peel Sessions recorded live in the studio, and was produced by Dale Griffin.
These tracks were later re-released as part of the Earache Records compilation Grind Madness at the BBC - The Earache Peel Sessions, in 2009.
Pre-Peel Sessions:
Bolt Thrower were formed in September 1986 as a grindcore band, influenced largely by bands such as Slayer, Crass and Discharge. The band was founded by bassist Gavin Ward and guitarist Barry Thomson in a Coventry pub toilet during a hardcore punk gig. Shortly thereafter Andrew Whale and Alan West joined on drums and vocals respectively. In April 1987 the In Battle There Is No Law demo was recorded with this line-up.
Their second recording was the Concession of Pain demo, which they made in September 1987. Gavin had switched to guitars and they recruited Alex Tweedy to play the bass. However, Alex did not show up for the recording, and so Gavin played both guitar and bass for the demo. Two weeks after the recording session, Gavin's girlfriend Jo Bench replaced Tweedy.
The Peel Session Era:
With this line-up they recorded their first Peel session on January 3, 1988, with John Peel, the alternative disk jockey of BBC Radio One. He had received their second demo and became enthusiastic about the band. They recorded four tracks for it, resulting in a deal with Vinyl Solution to release one album. Just before the recording of their first full-length album, they replaced their singer with their driver Karl Willetts. Their debut LP, In Battle There Is No Law is only a half hour in length and has a primitive and raw sound often categorized as Grindcore.
They were not satisfied with the deal with Vinyl Solution as it was a pure hardcore label at that time. The label did little promotion for Bolt Thrower and their blend of Death Metal and Hardcore Punk, so after one album Bolt Thrower decided to leave Vinyl Solution and were signed by Earache Records. Earache Records had also signed many other Death Metal bands including Carcass and Napalm Death. The production of their second album Realm Of Chaos album was poor, though it was an improvement on previous attempts. The artwork was created by John Sibbick under contract for Games Workshop for the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook released in 1987. After Games Workshop heard the recording of the songs for Bolt Thrower's second Peel session, which was recorded on November 6, 1988, they offered to do the expensive artwork for Bolt Thrower's album, an offer the band quickly accepted. The record was released in 1989 with the title of Realm of Chaos and with the subtitle Slaves to Darkness. Most of the lyrics to the songs were also influenced by the game, but not merely because of the deal with Games Workshop. Karl, Andy and Gavin were very much into the games Games Workshop produced and they wrote a couple of songs about these games. Some obvious examples are Plague Bearer and World Eater. Most lyrics can however be projected on war, the general theme Bolt Thrower uses. After the recording of Realm of Chaos, they went on the Grindcrusher Tour with labelmates Napalm Death, Carcass and Morbid Angel. On the Cenotaph EP one song (Realm of Chaos) appears that is recorded during this tour. This EP also features the two CD-bonus tracks from War Master and Realm of Chaos plus the song Cenotaph.
Continuing, they recorded their third and final Peel session on July 22, 1990. On these three songs from the upcoming album were performed in raw versions as well as Lost Souls Domain off Realm Of Chaos. The next step in the history of Bolt Thrower was the album titled War Master. It was recorded, as the previous album, in the Slaughterhouse studios, which burnt down two weeks after the recordings were completed. Again, Games Workshop offered to do their artwork; however, as it was considered too expensive, Bolt Thrower declined the offer. The former head designer of Games Workshop would do the artwork, resulting in quite similar artwork as that of Realm of Chaos. During the U.S. tour they went on to promote the War Master album, they used an old U.S. school bus as a tour bus, loaded with many computer games. All three Peel sessions were then released on one CD named The Peel Sessions 1988–90 in 1991.
Rest In Peace Martin 'Kiddie' Kearns (March 7, 1977 - September 14, 2015)
Rest In Peace Terence Dale Griffin (October 24, 1948 - January 17, 2016) (Complications from Alzheimer’s disease)
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