Review by Sam on April 8, 2026.

Does anyone remember the American Nihilist Underground Society, perhaps better known as witty acronym/web address anus.com? It still exists, and I hadn’t visited in years, but those old reviews that were there twenty years ago are still there. They had probably been up on the website ten years prior to my accidental stumbling upon it in the mid-2000s. I have fond memories of this discovery as a young neophyte and devotee to what I had firmly decided was “true” heavy metal. It was shock and awe, and I had never heard metal described in such cerebral and clinical terminology. Upon my initial perusal of these articles, I remember thinking that I could be out of my depth with this pursuit of underground and esoteric music. To describe the writing featured therein as highly technical would be a vast understatement.

After spending a few years of using nothing but anus.com as my online frame of reference concerning this esotericism, I was turned on to Metal-Archives by a friend who was concerned for my well-being as a metalhead, and the rest, as they say, is history. This friend saved me from descending any further into the uber-pretentious and serpentine depths of the nihilists. Nothing against nihilism. I myself have dabbled, and say what you will about it as an ethos…

Mercenary is an album that I have not spent nearly enough time with, and while it pales in comparison to its predecessor, the formidable ...For Victory, it is a solid and logical successor. Its opener, 'Zeroed', violently grabs a hold of the listener from the start, with the despondent dual guitar harmonies over 32nd note double bass devastation that the band had become well known for at this point in their illustrious career. The music of Bolt Thrower is the aural and death metal equivalent to 20th century warfare. But dude, the riff that begins at 3:39 is a signature Bolt Thrower-ism and a highlight of the record and of their entire catalog. It’s that good. To read the words of the nihilists, you would think that this and their legendary swan song, Those Once Loyal, were half-baked, phoned-in efforts that would have the same effect on your life as having a paid friend. I won’t pretend to be anywhere near as sophisticated as those vaunted authors, but this is Bolt Thrower we’re talking about here. Have a little reverence, damn you.

I have the brutal cavemen Undergang to thank for my rekindled interest in Bolt Thrower’s sixth full-length. The Danes offer a cover of Powder Burns on their two-song EP entitled Den Dobbelte Grav that turns an already exemplary death metal song into an utter bloodbath. If ever there was a match made in heaven (or hell), it’s Undergang covering Bolt Thrower. The British barbarians are to me the true war metal band. Yes, yes, I know Blasphemy would like a word, but BT has only ever had one lyrical topic, war, and their mournful mastery of conveying the dismay and dismal grimness of human warfare through riffage has always set them apart, has been oft-imitated, and never replicated. Perhaps no song on this record better represents this ideal than the epic title track. This is where Bolt Thrower do what the metal gods put them here to do: write doom-enshrouded death metal songs that crush like an M4 Sherman tank. No band but this can create such sonic desolation that is simultaneously triumphant in nature and in the sensations it creates within the mind of the beholder.

At this point, six albums and twelve years in (which is highly productive for any band, regardless of genre), Bolt Thrower had discovered and embraced what worked for them as working artists, songwriters, and bandmates. I am of the opinion regarding these undisputed legends that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Mercenary brings nothing new to the table, and yes, it could be described as formulaic, even safe, but it is not without its own distinct flavour, and I, for one, will lap it up. Bolt Thrower are not my paid friends, safe in any situation, only telling me what I want to hear. Far from it. They are godhead, and I would happily pay them thousands for one reunion gig. I am not alone in this sentiment.

Rating: 8.9 out of 10