Bolt Thrower, God Dethroned, Bloodstream @ Rio’s, Bradford

The right band, the right venue, the right company, all the ingredients for one of the best nights I’ve had in a long while.

mwj, bolt thrower, Wrexham, c.1989

 

mwj, bolt thrower, Bradford, 2006

The band are Bolt Thrower, undying Brummie Death Metallers, first encountered via seismic Peel sessions, then at an all-dayer in Liverpool’s Planet X that I went on the old x5 bus to.  In those halcyon days they totted up as probably one of the bands I’d seen the most times, especially due to regular appearances at Wrexham Memorial Hall while I was in college there, that venue now buried under a tesco’s car park like some disturbed native burial ground.  So while trends moved on the band continued plugging away though mainly in Europe, where they could still entertain thousands as opposed to eking a crowd out here.  In passing in the late 90’s I read an article on Bentley Rhythm Ace that referred to Bolt Thrower’s singer Karl being round their flat and declaring himself giving up the music biz and shaving all his hair off.  The band still continued in some sorts but as of last year he’s been born again in the metal mould, got back beyond mullet stage, and they now line up their first UK tour for over a decade.More