Throughout the course of music history, few bands embody their chosen aesthetics as completely as Bolt Thrower, a group that plucked its name and aesthetic from the fantasy role playing game Warhammer.
Born in the industrial heartlands of Birmingham in 1986, this band was more than just a musical endeavor. For Bolt Thrower, music was warfare, warfare was art, and art was a reflection of the universe’s inherent chaos.
Bolt Thrower was the perfect soundtrack to this universe. From the moment they formed, the band were on a mission to create a sonic equivalent to the epic battles depicted in the game.
Their 1989 album Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness was their most explicit ode to the Warhammer world, with Jon Sibbick album cover and song titles borrowed directly from the source materials.
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However, over a decade after the album’s release, a copyright dispute with Games Workshop led to the original cover art being replaced. Despite this legal kerfuffle, the fury of the album remains unchanged – a fitting tribute to a game about relentless warfare in a universe where hope is but a flicker in the endless night.
I’m amused that GW came after them a decade later - in the early days they knew their products where lifted from other sources and thrown in a blender with a good dash of British black humour, then at some point they clearly decided they needed to protect their IP.
If I’m not mistaken, White Dwarf even gave away a Bolt Thrower flexidisk on their cover.
I was mistaken - it was WD 95 and it was Sabbat’s “Blood for the Blood God”.