Shocking Omissions: Bolt Thrower's Classic Swan Song, 'Those Once Loyal'
The metal band called Those Once Loyal "the ultimate Bolt Thrower album" — and the basslines of Jo Bench created the foundation upon which the band's thunderous, crusted-over sound was built.
This essay is one in a series celebrating deserving artists or albums not included on NPR Music's list of 150 Greatest Albums By Women.
The first moments of Bolt Thrower's classic swan song, 2005's , surface almost silently. The notes slip into earshot as if through a fog, their orchestral tension an ominous harbinger of the battle ahead. As the opening track, "At First Light," catches fire, its epochal main riff explodes with a mortar's fury, and the listener is launched headfirst into the final album from one of the greatest death metal bands
