Composer Reacts to Bolt Thrower - ...For Victory (REACTION & ANALYSIS)

[@fabiolignelli7372]

Bolt Thrower is part of the old skool death metal elite. The band's entire discography is excellent.

[@pane36]

True that, man. Their worst stuff is still listenable, and at their best they're downright incredible.

[@bluntforc3studios198]

Indeed man indeed🤘🏾🤘🏾🤘🏾

[@Drgunzo616]

As fire fills the sky. We once believed in life. Now time to die. For Victory...

[@frazer8]

Bolt Thrower are like the AC/DC of death metal, they have their own relatively simple style that they make work so well. Theres others who try to sound like them but it just ends up feeling like a cheap copy. On a side note, lyrically they tend to be largely war themed, although they are definitely anti war.

[@thegrimner]

It was kind of a british death metal thing, being both fascinated and opposed to a subject matter. Carcass spent the early parts of their career doing very graphic songs about decomposing flesh and were actually militant vegetarians

[@mooninites3]

I've always used the same comparison, calling them the AC/DC of Death Metal. If nothing's wrong, don't fix it.

[@MaaZeus]

Hell even Memoriam, the band Karl started after Bolt Thrower disbanded, feels a bit like a cheap copy compared to the original. 😅

[@thegrimner]

@@MaaZeus Sadly, yes. but it's indeed a curious thing about certain bands whose formula is so simple on paper and yet no one, sometimes not even some of the people originally involved, are quite able to replicate it

[@frazer8]

@@MaaZeus i really like memoriam, but yes i totally agree 😂 i liked their last album the most because it felt like they were trying something a little different

[@taagen18]

In the grim darkness of the 41st millenia, there is only Bolt Thrower.

[@garmisra7841]

FOR THE EMPEROR!

[@СемёнСемёнов-ы1ь]

WAAAAAARGGH!!1

[@hieioni3354]

41st millennium*

[@annodomini1991]

Bolt Thrower is great.

[@cbn6635]

Bolt Thrower shows the power of repetition (when done right) better than most, and are masters of the midtempo crunch/groove. I always get inner pictures of heavy machinery (a Sherman tank for example) moving slowly, but steadily through the countryside, when listening to Bolt Thrower..

[@CIRCLEOFTONE]

CENOTAAAAPH!!! Bolt Thrower transcends grindcore/metal. Vibe is immaculate.

[@thegrimner]

Bolt Thrower might be my favourite death metal band for the ways it serves as a counterpoint to some of the excesses of some of the US bands. No frills, nothing fancy, just perfect music to nod along while grimacing. An effect that, I am glad to notice, was entirely achived in this video. One simply does not listen to Bolt Thrower without nodding along while grimacing. What sets them apart in the wider context is, once again, a Punk background. Bolt Thrower, alongside Carcass and Napalm Death, were the granddaddies of grindcore and were actively involved in the Punk scene during the 80s. Out of the 3, only Napalm Death kept on doing grindcore, with Carcass exploring more and more rock grooves and melodies into their sound (which was hugely influential in what we now call melodeath) and Bolt Thrower becoming something akin to the Motorhead of death metal, with simple and catchy compositions that nonetheless don't compromise the aggression. After the first two albums, they almost completely abandon speed in favour of galloping midtempos, and it all works because they know how to interject with a hook. There's also an underlying sadness, an almost doomy morose tone that belies any notion that they are actually glorifying the subject matter. The lyrics are actually quite inspired by WWI and its particular futility. The darkened light, I always understood to be the smoke undercutting the daylight in the trenches, for example. As for the rest, I don't know if you ever watched the British sitcom Black Adder, specifically its final season, Black Adder goes Fourth, which remains to this day as one of the most pungent and evocative pieces of comedy that I have ever came across and one of the most shining examples of how it can shine light on a very dark subject matter, not by trivializing it but by lampooning the absurdity of it all. The whole series is about this very jaded and cynical captain in the british army trying to get away from the trenches while trying to quench the dimiwitted and optimistic bloddlust of his superiors directing the war from their cozy offices behind the lines. It's truly wonderful stuff and I mention it because there is one particular oment of unintentional, involuntary heroism in that series, one that I do find translated in the lyrics, not so much in the words, but in the punctuation. Yes, the little ellipsises strategically placed just before every "for victory", completely deflating its triumph. It's not a war cry, but a mantra said without any sort of enthusiasm. William Wallace cries "FREEDOM!!!" in all caps and just as many exclamation marks that one can muster, not "...freedom", like this jaded soldier here climbing over to a hail of machine gun fire trying to find comfort in some words drilled into him in bootcamp, but not even managing to say it with a full stop. No, it's hesitant ellipsises for this poor guy. Ellipsises do a hell of a lot of heavy lifting.

[@pantsedjuniorhayseed4816]

hot take; Swansong is a top 5 goat carcass album

[@thegrimner]

@@pantsedjuniorhayseed4816 10/10 would cowbell again.

[@CriticalReactions]

Couldn't have put it any better "One simply does not listen to Bolt Thrower without nodding along while grimacing." Thanks for the extra info about the lyrical themes too. Good catch on the ellipses too. That's a huge part of the theme that I completely overlooked.

[@thegrimner]

@@CriticalReactions yeah, it's kind of easy to miss without the context, to be fair. ANd we did talk about how a few subsections of metal in the 90s took some very sharp right turns, politically. German thrash, alongside this wave of british death/grind are a different stock entirely, which would make them glorifying war and nationalism fairly unlikely. They *are* fascinated by it, though, and that's kind of a thing they share with Carcass, like I commented elsewhere. Early Carcass have incredibly descriptive songs and album covers about decomposition , and they're in fact staunch vegetarians trying to tell you they feel meat is gross. The point may be kind of missed without this context, though.

[@asafoetidajones8181]

BT was a bunch of punk rock leftists who played grindcore which quickly morphed into a distinctive and idiosyncratic if formulaic death metal sound. Their subject, and the emotional tone they intend to evoke, is the fulm spectrum of the phenomenon of war from their perspective - the corruption and malice of the State which makes war for profit, the chaos of combat itself, the gloom and solemnity of death and loss after time has passed, and the nobility of brotherhood and sacrifice even amid the ultimate futility of war. It's anti-war but not in a simplistic or dismissive way. The human experience of being a soldier or victim of war isn't glossed over.

[@Kanglar]

Been listening to this album a lot recently, love bolt thrower and thier style. I find myself humming thier catchy guitar riffs hours after listening.

[@horrifyinggelatinousblob]

Bolt Thrower is one of those bands that have few "WOW" moments but nearly all of their albums are just solid fast chuggy or groovy riffs that hit that spot. Perfect music for the Gym or doing labour.

[@alexhunt990]

Yeah i like it for gym, and trance sometimes

[@bluntforc3studios198]

Or playing doom

[@fouter81]

One of my all-time favourite metal songs! So simple, so heavy, so groovy, so catchy, so perfect!

[@COTOHAXX]

Bolt thrower are legends. We will remember them!

[@noahtaylor4971]

Bolt Thrower are absolute riff masters.

[@bluesrock88]

Flawless discography for one of the best heavy metal bands of all time.

[@ambassadortourettes753]

AWESOME!!!! I eat Bolt Thrower cereal in the morning 👌 I literally might love Bolt Thrower more than my mom.... You can literally take all the Bolt Thrower songs ever written and put them together as one single song that would absolutely be just as satisfying 😂They rather literally play in the same key every song and we love them for it 🙏🏻

[@CriticalReactions]

There's something about simple metal that you can mindlessly jam to and know exactly what you're in store for no matter what album or track you put on. It's like musical comfort food.

[@progrockplaylists]

youre the only one that can talk about the key amidst intense growling. true legend

[@johnyboy1977]

BT are simply the most dynamic and interesting death metal band ever. I'm an oldschooler that bought every single Earache album in its Platinum years, including marginal stuff few have heard about, and it always comes up to Bolt Thrower and Morbid Angel. Still undecided about BT and MA, but alongside Death both bands will be a step above everything we know 50 years from now. I'm almost happy that the band split-up due to the way it did: with honour, valour, and pride.

[@WacekPlacek669]

English is not my first language so I may get it wrong, but for me this second part is rather ironic that pro military. Along with music this suspended "...For Victory" gives me vibe of hopelesness and melancholy. Just like they wanted to say without being literal: "They've send us here to fight and die for something they will call victory in the end, and all we get in return is some maudlin speech that we are heroes that will not be forgotten"

[@CriticalReactions]

Excellently described.

[@joaopinheiro6231]

That is my interpretation as well, specially considering the first part of the lyrics are a somber wink at the atrocities of war and the cover of the album seems inspired in scenes from the vietnam war. But I undestand, when listening to this the first time, subtelty is not something you would expect from the lyrics.

[@bluntforc3studios198]

My fav band since I was 13 now 44. I was going to the concert in Australia but the drummer died the night before, never got to see them but I can always listen and still enjoy

[@randomstuffzofdoom]

Now this is some childhood music right here! In a vacuum this is pretty agressive and such, but back when it was new and was compared to entombed, dismember etc, we used to call this "the slow band" ^^

[@certificated123]

Instant goosebumps, HAIL BOLT THROWER.

[@juliasominska9906]

It's about duty, from which once you face it, you cannot turn back. And when it's all done and you're still shocked you cling to the hope that this had some meaning, even though you should know that conflict is eternal and victories or defeats will be endless and as such, meaningless. And that rememberance is the only thing we can offer to those who have fallen.

[@biorythmicshifter]

One of the few bands I listen to that can literally write the same album over and over and it still sound f’n amazing…

[@asafoetidajones8181]

Personally I'm also willing to listen to the same social distortion album with different covers and song titles

[@GregsWhiskyGuide]

Good to see you discover the "Masters of Groove" in Death Metal (I'll say along with Obituary, but not always). Next time try "Anti-Tank" (Dead Armour), its super groovy too, Cheers !

[@Gustavo-ew7om]

Wish I had seen them live

[@RÅNÇIÐ]

Bolt Thrower is the best kind of meat & potatoes Death Metal

[@CriticalReactions]

That's a perfect description for them!

[@_bats_]

For this one, I think you need to be critical but also cynical. Bolt Thrower have always espoused far-left political views and are (or were) very much anti-war. The lyrics in this song (and much of their music) are very much a cynical take - you got the aggression and sort of nationalistic pride right, but then having the sad, sombre poem of remembrance at the end casts everything in a different light, a very cynical one. It's a pro-war song ending with a lament for the dead who fought for victory, but in the end, they're dead, their lives snuffed out forever. That's the takeaway - it doesn't matter how righteous you find your cause if in the end all you're left with is death, destruction, loss, and sorrow. "We will remember them" is a bitter pill to swallow.

[@bukeksiansu2112]

The two most my favorite death metal: Death and Bolt Thrower

[@bigz1641]

Cheers to who suggested and cheers for the reaction!

[@_vez]

pretty late but bolt thrower were the masters of simplicity. their songs may be simple but they arent boring.

[@Zac9]

Face the consequence alone with valour, honor, pride.

[@JuleThe]

Great video! I love Bolt Thrower🥲

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

Bolt Thrower were one of the OG death metal bands. I went through their discog back when I was first discovering the genre. Unfortunately, not much sticks out in my memory beyond the fact that of all the OG DM bands they were one of the simplest and one of the few that completely stuck to their guns and never changed much. After a while they're one of those bands where if you've heard one song you've heard all of them. Not a personal favorite, but I can enjoy tracks like this in isolation, and they could write some really solid, groovy riffs.

[@bertil3887]

i'm hughely interested in ww1 and see every movie about the war that i find when i hear the faster drum parts i think of an old british tank and the parts in between is like when the soldiers move on their own after the tank has cleared the way for the soldiers dont know if that was their idea but the album is about ww1 so its not impossible i think the song is about people who wakes up in the morning and getting ready to go into battle but are always prepared of that they might die today, during ww1 both sides used to make a huge bombardment on the enemy positions but due to the bad accuracy of the time they barely did any damage on the enemy positions so that might be what they mean with "battle smoke remains", the smoke of the artillery bombardment was still present at the morning, the song frequently refers to the pain and the anxiety that the man behind the letter feels before go into battle i dont think the last part is actually any pro-war, rather the sad reality many soldiers who retreated got shot for treason during ww1, so their only option was to die for glory or die for treason, even people who got shellchock (of what we call PTSD) were executed for being a coward and not follow the order of attack

[@thegrimner]

Yeah, didn't even watch the reaction yet, but I can very safely say that Bolt Thrower are very anti war both in their lyrics and in their lives.

[@megaduck7965]

Man I haven’t listened to For victory in forever that’s gonna have to change tomorrow

[@Itsmespiv4192]

Bolt Thrower are incredible, but i think you should do a reaction of a band called Coroner, that might be interesting.

[@brandonwoldridge1417]

I really got a kick out of you mean-mugging and nodding along to the infamous Bolt Thrower riffage...it's pummeling and groovy at the same time. Would love to see more death metal picks on the channel!

[@mega_asasin]

Bolt thrower just hits different

[@AngryShellback]

Thank you for showing interest in Bolt Thrower... 🤘🏻💀🤘🏻

[@descantinginsalubrious]

@3:00 you can't stand still...you CAN'T!!

[@jason_108]

Great breakdown for a classic hard hitting legendary band. I think you'd appreciate Flattening of Emotions by Death

[@sagebooker]

I like very much the guitar part

[@СемёнСемёнов-ы1ь]

Excellent track to react. But sadly, there's not so much going on in terms of music theory. Bolt Thrower are like steel rail: straight, plain, simple, yet very tough, heavy and refined in fact.

[@patrickvangelder8088]

Love to see a reaction to Ceremony /Solitary world. Underground death metal.

[@pantsedjuniorhayseed4816]

how about some REPULSION from Detroit? pls review Mizmors album Yodh! the world needs this right now, we need healing.

[@emrysthefirst7778]

one of the best bands period.

[@tradovicka]

the RIFF gods

[@thenecrosanct4906]

I don't see a reaction to Bolt Thrower that much so I was immediately interested. Solid Death Metal band if ever there was one. Personally I gravitate more towards their older work. 'Realm of Chaos (Slaves To Darkness)' and 'Warmaster' are my favorites. They've never released a bad album, but I do feel they lost something when they permanently slowed down their music.

[@justinvermilyea7640]

Spot on analysis Brian thank you 🤘 hails 🤘

[@TheeDangle]

Bolt Thrower is an ALL TIME CLASSIC I go by the one rule in metal| SOLOS ARE GREAT BUT RIFFS ARE FOREVER

[@saifernandez8622]

cool video but i disagree with your "pro war" approach. Bolt Thrower are anarchists and punks, they are anti war, anti nationalism and anti government. Their Lyrics in this song are more nihilistic and cynical, highlighting the absurd and meaninglessness of death but also brushing some beauty to the scene of horror with an epic sense of aesthetics.

[@hrblsh]

Bolt Thrower is great! Not the same as the other Death Grind from the era, but their own style. I’d love to see someone react to some Autopsy.

[@rykehuss3435]

Death grind? Bolt Thrower has always been pure death metal

[@_bats_]

@@rykehuss3435 No...they definitely started out much more grind oriented.

[@rykehuss3435]

@@_bats_ Yes started out, but by the third album BT was pretty classical death metal

[@_bats_]

@@rykehuss3435 so they haven't always been pure death metal, then?

[@silafuyang8675]

Bolt Thrower is an absolute classic. Every composition destroys.

[@justinvermilyea7640]

Check out ivth crusade Brian you'll probably get the story telling more from that particular bolt thrower album 🤘

[@drawstraw4483]

That was a powerful song back then. And that was the production value of that genre back then. It was songs like that that brought more attention to really cleaning up the sound which actually, depending on who you ask, kinda screwed everything up.. that's why lots of people are going back to it, and some never left🤪🤘

[@MMasterDE]

Btw, their music is often set in like a Warhammer 40k universe, with some covers actually being that.

[@CriticalReactions]

That's got me interested.

[@toms5oh]

BOLT THROWER RULES!

[@MMasterDE]

Great pick! :)

[@lindseymckirdy1830]

Their entire back catalogue is superlative. Their last work Those Once Loyal is one of the finest albums of any music genre

[@TM-dj7wi]

Binyon's poem is referencing WW1.

[@peterbergman2131]

They are good on record but their live shows were great. Shame they retired. We don't have many bands of their standard left.

[@justinvermilyea7640]

You'll like it too bolt thrower ruuuuules 🤘

[@NONE_SO_VILE]

As a Ukrainian in Canada I hope my comrades fighting have this energy!!!

[@christopherwoods6]

Entombed meets Obituary without the chainsaw tone.

[@justinvermilyea7640]

Bolt thrower always has fantastic artwork ivth crusade Brian I'm telling ya man lol 🤘

[@justinvermilyea7640]

Love the joker shirt

[@muzorewi]

Definitely in my top 5 metal albums.

[@neck_acrobatics]

I'm quite sure the song is in support of UK soldiers fighting in the Falklands War - the band is British, the album art depicts British infantrymen walking through Falklands, and this is the title track. That's not a very controversial opinion on the Isles as far as I'm aware. As for the music, Bolt Thrower has that perfect mix of groove, heaviness and prominent bass that many metalheads love, myself included.

[@pantsedjuniorhayseed4816]

knowing bolt thrower, this seems unlikely

[@neck_acrobatics]

@@pantsedjuniorhayseed4816 can you expand on that?

[@thegrimner]

@@neck_acrobatics The lead singer at least is notoriously outspoken politically and even shocked some conservative fringes of the metal world by wearing Antifa shirts. All of the band was involved in the anarchist punk scene during the 80s. I'd say that being nationalistic and/or supportive of the actions of the Thatcher government, especially a war, would be quite contrary to their political beliefs, both past and current.

[@pantsedjuniorhayseed4816]

@@neck_acrobatics what they said

[@justinvermilyea7640]

Thank you Brian hail boot thrower 🤘

[@justinvermilyea7640]

Seriously man huge bolt thrower fan check out ivth crusade I think you will enjoy it more love your channel man hails 🤘

[@mattdbf]

I usually hate groove in metal but Bolt Thrower imo are the only ones who do it well.

[@brianmorris364]

tank metal. if you listen closely you can hear the bones of their enemies crackling beneath their treads as they crush everything in their path

[@justinvermilyea7640]

Now that's funny Brian bolt thrower is war metal 🤘

[@shaunwilson6289]

WarHammer

[@agreenr6915]

I can't help but think maybe the message might be a little cynical, going from the horrors of war to the virtues of a soldier. It almost asks the question what's it all for to which the answer is of course "For Victory"

[@stoner36s]

Been a fan since 1990, they are like AC/DC, Motorhead and Slayer, you know who it is immediately and they haven't put out a bad album. Jo Bench on the bass, the OG Queen of Death Metal. For the record all of the albums and song titles and lyrics are about Warhammer the rpg.

[@charlespeter5610]

The reason why they picked the lyrics of that poem is due to their far left beliefs and that it is a poem about WWI. Yes, we will remember them as they were before they died, but that isn't reality. The reality is that our fallen soldiers died in industrialized slaughter. They died by machine gun fire, they died to explosions, they suffocated, they died to disease. They died like dogs. Just by going through the comments you can tell that other people "feel" the intent behind the riffs. The constant 16th notes are supposed to represent the machine gun fire of trench warfare, the explosions, etc. It is absolutely an antiwar song, as they are an antiwar band, just in a far more aggressive, realistic tone.

[@joaopinheiro6231]

Man, listen to more metal, and please get your references straight. The cover of the album is a clear wink to the vietnam war (the same kind of scenery and color scheme appears in both Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket), and the friggin song starts by describing atrocities/war crimes, and how someone is torn between consequences and honor/valour/pride, and how this becomes so meaningless death is actually seen as a blessing (the "victory", the redemption of all sins, the ultimate goal). Its not about battlefield victory, its about all deaths in battlefield are by themselves a victory because the soldier was able to escape the living hell. Half of the iterpretation of the lyrics is actually the music itself. If you consider it aggressive, you're not feeling the nuances with the singing because you're not ready yet. Bolt Thrower is one of the few bands you'll notice different layers when you listen to the same song over and over again. There are always details, being the drumming/bass, the guitar or the vocalist. There is always more to explore. From your first take at lyric interpretation, its obvious you're not familiarized with the aggression and the angst of metal lyrics.

[@Gustavo-ew7om]

This is how you play Death metal with a female just don't think about it

[@ILoveSoda4Eva]

G

[@BeefDog666]

wrong album

[@ransilva6605]

Todos os discos são foda uma alua de death metal. Esse disco lembro quando saiu e pirei mais ainda e o disco que escutei e escuto parecendo que saiu ontem!!!! Bolt será eterno !!!!👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👊👊👊👊👊👊