Bolt Thrower: In Battle There Is No Law! [BACK ON BLACK]

Why you'll love it

Back On Black presses the debut on 180g vinyl in a gatefold jacket. It's the ferocious first chapter of one of British death metal's most respected bands, with the title track and "Psychological Warfare."

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket

About the album

Every long campaign starts with an opening skirmish, and for one of British death metal's great bands, this is it. Bolt Thrower came out of the crust punk scene, and you can hear it: In Battle There Is No Law! is fast, grimy and blunt, with more than a little grindcore in its blood, with socially charged lyrics that carry punk's conscience straight into the new extreme metal of the late 1980s.

Andrew Fryer recorded it at Loco studios and Alan Scott mixed it at Clockwork, and the original Vinyl Solution LP arrived in June 1988. Karl Willetts barks over the twin guitars of Gavin Ward and Barry Thomson, with Jo Bench on bass and Andrew Whale pummelling the kit. The title track charges in at full tilt, "Concession of Pain" and "Attack in the Aftermath" keep the pressure on, and "Psychological Warfare" and "Nuclear Annihilation" close side two in a cloud of distortion. Paul McHale's original front cover was restored for later reissues after a spell under a different sleeve.

German metalcore band Heaven Shall Burn named their debut EP after this album as a tribute, which in metal circles is roughly the equivalent of naming your first child after a favourite uncle.

Also at Kops: more Bolt Thrower on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Back On Black (cat# BOBV306LP), a reissue of the 1988 album.