''Those Once Loyal'' is the eighth and final 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 Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

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 released on 11 November 2005 in Germany, 14 November 2005 in the rest of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and 15 November 2005 in the United States by

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 distrib ...

. It was recorded and mixed at Sable Rose Studio

in

Coventry, England Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed by ...

. It is produced by the band and Andy Faulkner. With Bolt Thrower deciding against releasing a follow-up to ''Those Once Loyal'', it was Bolt Thrower's final studio album before breaking up a year after drummer

Martin Kearns Martin Kearns (7 March 1977 – 14 September 2015) was an English drummer, specializing in death metal, known for his association with Bolt Thrower since 1994. He joined the band at age 17 after playing in several local bands in Coventry, playi ...

' death in September 2015. Like all of Bolt Thrower's albums, ''Those Once Loyal'' deals with war, specifically

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The cover shows a World War 1 QF 18 pounder field gun and its crew in action and is based on an original WW1 photograph. :File:QF18pdrRHA.jpg, QF 18 pounder in 1916. The picture is also found on the back side of the

Guards Memorial The Guards Memorial, also known as the Guards Division War Memorial, is an outdoor war memorial located on the west side of Horse Guards Road, opposite Horse Guards Parade in London, United Kingdom. It commemorates the war dead from the Guards ...

St James's Park St James's Park is a park in the City of Westminster, central London. It is at the southernmost tip of the St James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St James the Less. It is the most easterly of a near-continuous c ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Reception

Ian Finley praised the album in ''Terrorizer'' as "immune to the corrupting influence of all musical trends" while offering "the epitome of what a metal album should be: hard, fast and uncompromising".

Track listing

All songs written by Bolt Thrower

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 * Gavin Ward – guitars *

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 ...

– guitars *

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 *

– drums ;Production * Arranged by Bolt Thrower * Produced by Bolt Thrower & Andy Faulkner

References

{{Authority control Bolt Thrower albums 2005 albums Metal Blade Records albums