''Mercenary'' is the sixth album by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

death metal band

Bolt Thrower Bolt Thrower were an English death metal band from Coventry. They formed in 1986 and released their first album with Vinyl Solution in 1988. The band then shifted to a new record label, Earache Records, soon becoming one of the best selling b ...

. It was recorded at Chapel Studios, Lincoln, England, December 1997 to January 1998. The album was produced by Bolt Thrower and Ewan Davis. It was released on

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distr ...

in 1998. The cover painting is titled "Contact – Wait Out", which is also the first track on the next album, ''

Honour – Valour – Pride ''Honour – Valour – Pride'' is the seventh album by the British death metal band Bolt Thrower. It was recorded and mixed at Sable Rose Studios in Coventry, England, June to September 2001. It was produced by the band and Andy Faulkner, an ...

''. "Powder Burns" is a continuation of the song "Embers" from The IVth Crusade, and leads into "The Killchain" on Those Once Loyal. This is the only album to feature Alex Thomas on drums.

Track listing

*All songs written by Bolt Thrower :¹ Bonus track on

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case ...

and Japanese version. The digipak edition contains 25 tracks of which tracks 10 to 24 are short tracks of silence.

Personnel

;Bolt Thrower *

Karl Willetts Karl Willetts (born 21 September 1966) is an English death metal vocalist, best known as the lead singer of Bolt Thrower and Memoriam. Biography Willetts joined the British death metal band Bolt Thrower in 1988. Before that, he drove the ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Gavin Ward – rhythm guitar *

Barry Thomson Barry "Baz" Thomson is an English people, English musician, best known for being the lead and rhythm guitarist for death metal band Bolt Thrower until their disbandment in 2016. He co-founded the band in 1986, and was also the main songwriter o ...

–

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

and

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

guitar *

Jo Bench Jo, jo, JO, or J.O. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Jo'' (film), a 1972 French comedy * ''Jo'' (TV series), a French TV series *"Jo", a song by Goldfrapp from ''Tales of Us'' *"Jo", a song by Mr. Oizo from ''Lambs Anger'' * Jo a fictio ...

–

Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Alex Thomas Alex Thomas (born 10 October 1978) is an English drummer from Lutterworth, Leicestershire, who performs with Squarepusher and Air. He also performed with John Cale (2013). Thomas joined Bolt Thrower on 21 August 1997. He played drums on ''Merce ...

– drums ;Production & Miscellaneous Credits *Arranged by Bolt Thrower *Produced by Ewan Davies & Bolt Thrower *Recorded & Engineered by Ewan Davies, except "Powder Burns" (recorded & engineered by James Anderson) *Peter Archer – Front cover: sketch for "Contact – Wait Out" *Jan Meininghaus – Eye motif *Paul McHale – Chaos skull

References

{{Authority control 1998 albums Bolt Thrower albums Metal Blade Records albums