i am on a bolt thrower kick as of late. after i got the band's third full length on ebay and the re-press of their second album "realm of chaos" via some bonus points from nuclear blast, i was searching their discography for more stuff i might be interested in. as i cannot relate to bolt thrower's obvious war affinity, "war master" and especially "realm of chaos" appealed to me because of their lyrical and graphical connection to the warhammer tabletop game. very nerdy but i love nerd stuff. "the IVth crusade" had something different to offer.
as the album title clearly indicates the lyrical theme is loosely based on the fourth crusade from 1202 until 1204. a very interesting historic topic. this made me want the record. luckily earache just put up pre-orders for a new re-press on silver vinyl. the price and shipping from the u.k. were very moderate and so i didn't ask twice and ordered a copy. musically this is absolutely bulldozing mid-tempo death metal. the band incorporated an even doomier sound which i like very much.
now it is obvious to me from where a lot of european metalcore bands from the early 00's took their influences. bands like heaven shall burn, born from pain or cataract have some strong bolt thrower references in their sound. the presentation by earache is very nice. not because of innovative or high quality packaging but because of doing the re-press in the same fashion as the first press from 1992. the great cover shows "the entry of the crusaders in constantinople" by eugène delacroix. silver vinyl for the 25th anniversary and out of 500 copies. earache records. 1992/2017.
