Say what you will about death metal and its worldwide legion of bands and fans, but England's Bolt Thrower continue to fly in the face of every trend and stylistic microcosm. Long heralded for such pinnacle works as 1989's Realms of Chaos, 1991's Warmaster and 1994's ...For Victory, Bolt Thrower, however, have never wavered in their simple yet sophisticated, ultra-heavy yet oddly melodic approach. The band's newest platter and their most accomplished work in eight years, Honour Valour Pride, speaks just as much about Bolt Thrower's commitment death metal as it does about any military theme in their lyrics. Like many of their companions, Bolt Thrower are no strangers to inner turmoil, record label problems and other ills that often sideline bands, but the quintet are as rock-solid as ever, and still belt out flowing granite riffs with similar report of their classic repertoire. Tracks such as the incomparable "Inside the Wire," "Contact-Wait Out" and the deadly "K-Machine" mark Bolt Thrower as heavily armored riff-n-pummel tank bent on destruction. We caught up with riffmaster general Gavin "Gaz" Ward to find out just what makes Bolt Thrower tick after so many years, and why he's brimming with excitement over Honour Valour Pride. If you've not heard Bolt Thrower in 2002, then now's the time to update your collection and move those fly-by-night albums out of the spotlight.

How did the writing process differ from Mercenary? There’s a renewed sense of riffing on Honour Valour Pride

It's probably similar to Mercenary. Obviously, we had more time to record it. We recorded Mercenary in a month, so this was four and half months. We had a lot of time to get things right. The usual way of writing albums is that we write 10 songs and go back to the start and write them again. Then we'll write them again. Go again, and then finally start writing new ones. Eventually, we'll write about 18 or 19 songs and throw away nine. The best ones out of those will go on the album.

You write a lot of material. You also throw away a lot of material.

Yeah, we wrote for probably a year and half. It's just one of them things where you try to hold the quality as best you can.

Is that the same style of writing and process you’ve used since day one?

In Battle... was the only one where we went in with everything we had, which were the first two demos and a bonus track, "Blind to Defeat." So we had nothing extra. Probably later on during The IVth Crusade and ...For Victory we were writing a lot more. We'd usually have eight to 10 hours of riffs; back-to-back. Then we'd hunt through it for certain stuff, partly some of it is written in that. Some melodies and solos are done in there too.

What I find great about the new record is that the riffs are particularly alive. Just listening to "Inside the Wire" and "K-Machine" proves that.

I'm glad to hear you say that, 'cause for us it's album number seven. Some of it was the time it took to get it right, and I don't mean in production but in playing. We took a long time. The first rhythms took a month and half and the drums took 12 days. We worked harder on the vocals than Dave has done in the past.

Concerning the vocals, it's hard to hear him as a Benediction vocalist. Did you work hard on adjusting him to the Bolt Thrower style?

Well, thank you very much. We like the boys and the band, but we didn't want Benediction's singer. We wanted Dave Ingram but not Benediction-style vocals, so we did work hard on it. With Dave, he wrote a lot of the lyrics, but we went through with him for about three or four days talking about the lyrics; feeling and shit like that. We went back and listened to the demos and what we liked about the material, what we didn't like. Dave had been in the band for a long time and we would have liked him to record on Mercenary, but he had just recorded Grind Bastards. I personally don't like it and if that had been the first thing we'd heard from him, I doubt he would have joined the band. Also, we'd seen him live so many times, we knew he was good and a lot more powerful, which doesn't come across on a recording.

Overall, there’s a new feel for old themes with the artwork and vibe.

Yeah, it's a progression with total regression. [laughs] As far as we go forward, we go back the same amount, so we're always close to where we are. We're really looking to get the production better, songwriting similar, but at the end of the day you're just trying to write good songs. You don't always do it, but that's the goal.

I first picked up on Bolt Thrower at Warmaster. I saw Realm of Chaos in the shops, but at that time it was a bit pricey. It was like $25 for an import. Anyway, you and Barry have a distinct style of writing. Simple yet sophisticated is what I liken Warmaster to.

We're always simple, and to be honest we've always like simple shit. Sometimes techno stuff, which you can appreciate the musicianship, washes over you in half an hour. I just want to hear a riff for a few fucking minutes; not a thousand time changes. In the early days, I used to write about half the music with Baz. As time went on, around The IVth Crusade, Baz totally wrote everything. He's very focused in direction and what he's looking for. Obviously, we'll still write but not the riffs. We'll help adjust it; tweaking and placing it. It's still the same process and it's coming from the same source, so the source is quite pure.

I don't think I've read an interview with Bolt Thrower where you've spelled out your influences and the urge to create simple yet effective riffs.

The way we wanted it originally - it was played on cheap instruments early on - was to customize our instruments. Anyone can play Bolt Thrower music, and anyone who's playing a guitar for year, year and a half can play this stuff easy. No problems whatsoever. It was important to maintain that and not get overly complex, 'cause obviously we've tried stuff like that and it's gone right on the floor.

Songs like "Inside the Wire," "Valour," "K-Machine" are some of the best you've written in a long time. Those songs have a cool vibe to them and they're very easy to remember. Especially "Inside the Wire."

Thanks a lot. We're obviously happy with "Inside the Wire," and overall I think there's a lot of variation within a single speed. There's a lot of styles in there, but it's still very much Bolt Thrower. I suppose it has to be.

On that subject, the three tracks: "Honour," "Valour" and "Pride" are varied in and of themselves. I was wondering if there was a theme happening on those cuts.

Jo came up with the idea. Originally, when we came up with Honour Valour Pride they were in the lyrics on ...For Victory. We liked it and it was a tie back to the past, and we knew if that one was written, we'd have it as a title at some point. We like to lock stuff in for the future. We basically split it into three songs and made them quite different from each other, but all three are a good reference to Bolt Thrower.

You had songs connecting to songs on the early albums as well. “World Eater,” “Cenotaph,” “Embers” and “Powder Burns.

Yeah, but we missed one album. And we missed this one again, so we'll follow on the next one. It was one of them things and it's really nice live, 'cause we can just lock 'em into each other. Sometimes we play two of 'em, sometimes we play three or four, all together. No gaps. We don't do it regularly, but it's nice every now and again.

Even Jo gets some airtime on the new album. In death metal, bassists are rarely ever heard. I was bugging Simen from Dimmu Borgir about that last year.

To be honest, on Honour Valour Pride it's one of the few albums in a long time where you can actually hear the bass.

The production values on your two newest albums differ greatly. Where did you get Andy Faulkner?

We actually produced them both. Of course we have producers with us, but we class them as advisors. Please advise us, but don't expect us to listen. [laughs] With a producer, all you have to have is a good pair of ears. You can be a fucking twat and blind, but as long as you have good ears... We knew Andy had a good pair, 'cause of all his work on demos and smaller bands. He had a good tune. Most of the production was done by Bolt Thrower along with Andy. We were happy with it, but we always swap studios album after album, 'cause budgets go up.

How did that differ from you were working with Colin Richardson? Obviously, he’s involved in some of your most visible work.

He was an advisor as well. He didn't get full say. With Colin, I thought he was good on the guitar sound, but I didn't like him on his kick sound. We checked him out on The IVth Crusade, where we were wondering what he'd mix it like if we weren't there. 'Cause obviously we're there for every second of every mix on every recording. Nothing slips by us. We decided on The IVth Crusade that we'd let him have a go at one of the songs. The band would leave him for a day and see what he'd do on his own. When we came back, we were crying with laughter. Baz was like, "What's that pile of shit?" Obviously, it started from there, but he freaked out on that. He calmed down, but it wasn't good.

You’ve commented before on how The IVth Crusade was flat..

I'll say compressed, highly compressed. Everyone was going for that sound back then, where you try to redline everything and then put it hot onto CD. Obviously, it didn't fucking work.

How did that differ then from putting music onto vinyl? I've seen and heard vinyl versions of In Battle... and Realms of Chaos and they so warm, which is strange for bombastic death metal.

Yeah, what we usually did was to split it: go straight to digital on CD and then with vinyl we'd master onto half-inch and then re-master the half-inch onto vinyl. On ...For Victory, the vinyl is killer. It's warmer and fatter - the way it was meant to be. We lost a little bit on CD, but gained more on vinyl. Although, nowadays vinyl sales are so minimum compared to CD, but we still brought this one out on vinyl, 'cause we still like them.

I always welcome a Bolt Thrower recording to my stereo, 'cause I equate the band's sound with my early experience with death metal. The old death metal sound: half death, half punk.

You're pretty close. A lot of stuff now sounds a bit false; no soul. I don't hear that in black metal either, with the productions are shitty and so are the bands. To be honest, I prefer girls with make-up, if you get what I mean. I remember Cradle Of Filth supported us years ago when they were 17 and their dad was road manager. It's fucking funny, like.

With regard to age, was there a point when you felt like ending Bolt Thrower? Carl’s in and out and you had a lot of drummers.

Oh, never. As long as people still want to come and see us, and that's separate from record sales, separate from everything. When they don't come, we won't come either. As far as that, we're getting older so every tour gets harder and harder. It's one of them things, people think that 'cause we go through a lot of line-ups is that we're assholes. Half of it is that the path is set and no one strays from that. We already know what we want and what we want to do, so when new members come in, we expect them to impress the hell out of us and be totally fucking loyal. Really, in our band loyalty is a high priority - you gotta live for our band it's gotta be fucking real. We're not posers and we don't want people coming out for cash. You gotta just want to be there, and that's the same as the fans.

How do you think your fans have changed over the years if you haven’t?

Back in time when we were doing the demos and In Battle:..., there was no scene. It was just bands. There was no audience. There was Napalm, Carcass, us, but no crowd. No shit. Bands would go out and people eventually dribbled in. It picked up. England is a trend scene, though. What is new is American nu-metal in England. But for us, we stopped touring England seven years ago, and we've put on a press block. Yeah, fucking 'ell. Metal Hammer here we called Rubber Mallet. There's no metal in it. And Kerrang! is called Kerrap! The only magazine we do interviews in is Terrorizer, and that's sort of going that way too unfortunately. The sales probably aren't there with the more underground stuff. Everyone in England slated as we thought they would.

Yeah, Barney gave it a 6 in Kerrang!

In Terrorizer it was 6, which wasn't very good, but they said what you thought they'd say. I could've written those reviews for them years ago. We saw it coming a long way off. It comes down to the simplest stuff: that's the shit we're into and that's the shit we play. If I was into something else, I'd be playing in another fucking band. You have to be really into what you're doing. As far as Barney is concerned, the kid's a cunt. No shit. I wouldn't say that, and I don't mean to slag Napalm, 'cause I think they're a chicken shit band. Enemy of the Music Business? My god, they are the music business. [laughs] As a personal point, I wouldn't review another band. I see that as low - bands reviewing bands. Does it really get any worse? We just have no respect for Napalm. They're a poser band.

Quite honestly, it’s Bolt Thrower and Napalm are the only bands from the old U.K. scene. Strange, isn’t it?

Well, yeah, as far as we're concerned they're gone. I think they pull a few people in England, but in Europe they're gone. I heard the last small club tour was a flopper. We've only played with Napalm on the Grindcrusher tour, so...

Do you have day jobs that restrict you from touring heavily? It’s been a good, long time since you’ve been to North America.

No, not at all. Obviously, we manage the band. We do our own merchandise and we book the tours. We don't look for gigs. If we go and try to sell ourselves, the first thing they'll say is, "Bolt Thrower? Never heard of them." It's the crap you get. People offer us gigs, but we have restrictions on how we tour. We keep the door prices low and the merchandise prices low. We don't like people taking cuts, and a lot of venues don't like low door prices, 'cause they can't earn a lot of money. There are a lot of restrictions when booking us, so a lot of venues probably won't book us. We were offered a U.S. tour on Mercenary, but nothing really materialized. We want to play there though. It's been six years and that was a real shitter. I felt sorry for Benediction on that tour. We took them out on the worse piece of shit tour and then took their singer. [laughs]

How does Honour Valour Pride fit into the Bolt Thrower aesthetic? You’re still on the war theme, but is there something more to it?

They're good fucking words. It was a line from a song on ...For Victory. Pride is the most important. We knew early on Bolt Thrower would never be a big band, 'cause we'd never have commercial vocals. We'd never play the game. We'd never bow. People don't like that, 'cause they think you're awkward or weirdos. We just want to be fucking left alone.

How has that perspective affected you as a musician? Have you ever expected more?

Nah, of course not. We deserve nothing. Bolt Thrower is still an underground band. The shit we say and do is real. The records get into the shops and if you decide to buy it, you do. If not, they stay there. It's simple. We don't need to worry 'bout record sales for the band to go. We've been on a record label with killer sales, a killer, packed tour, but we've also been out with no record label, no new album and they're packed. We've got no real worries. The only people that can stop us is us and the people that come to our gigs.

What about reflecting on your time at Earache? That wasn’t a happy departure from what I remember.

Everyone knows their own label. We saw Earache as working against us. In the early days, Dig was really into it, but there were also priorities. His first signed international band was Morbid Angel, so they took priority. The band that started his label was Napalm, so they had priority. Carcass was his favorite band. You could name another five before Bolt Thrower came along. Are we in any category? I think in the end why he signed Bolt Thrower so we wouldn't be competition on another label. Pull everyone onto one label. It's a smart move if you want to call it that. Then later on they started releasing fucking shit and we argued that we didn't want the Earache logo on our albums. It was all techno/house shite. You can leave the Earache logos off that. Most bands moved, and I don't know any bands that stayed on except Morbid Angel. Everyone that moved on did better. With Earache, you'd get really good recording budgets but no promotion. I mean no promotion. I mean stupid stuff. On ...For Victory, they only posted in the towns we lived in on purpose. We see all these big posters, but they're only in your town and where the other guitarist lives. Chicken shit. It was all down to promotion with Earache. Near the end, they had no idea what we were doing. They'd think we were at home, but we'd be on tour. They don't know and we didn't bother contacting them. We'd be out promoting albums, touring, whatever. They didn't know what was going down. The left hand never knew what the right hand was doing.

How did you entertain the Metal Blade deal?

We were looking for a metal label. All that techno shit wasn't for us. Michael had been coming to the gigs for years and we'd known Michael from his time at Nuclear Blast. Eventually, he came down to one of the gigs and we were getting off Earache. The only thing we were looking for is promotion in Europe. We were talking about it and then he got offered the job at Metal Blade Europe, so other than doing promotion, he signed us. We'd known him a long time, and he knows his shit.

You've had two albums on Metal Blade now. Is it much different from your career on Earache?

From label to label? It's all promotion. Record labels are like buses. If you miss one, there's always another one five minutes later. We're happy to be on a lot better one than we were on. Metal Blade could be better, but every band says that. We're satisfied at this point. The term for us in Europe is old school.

Does the album art play into maintaining that old school feeling?

It was Jo. We were looking for Realm of Chaos II. That was Games Workshop, but when we did Warmaster, we ditched Games Workshop and hired two of their artists. The copyright on Realm of Chaos was extreme. Every move, they get paid. It gets put out in America, they get paid a 're-issue' fee for that. It gets released in Japan, they get paid for that. In the end, it cost us $18,000. You pay a 're-issue' fee every time the album is released in another country. We thought it's fucking stupid, 'cause we can't use the artwork either. It's totally copyrighted. Earache couldn't do anything about it, 'cause they were copyrighted tighter than us. Games Workshop are bastards. We were looking for that style, so we approached Jan, a German kid, on Mercenary to do a new chaos symbol. It was computerized and we really liked it, so we asked him to put a rough in for the cover. We didn't like it, but we approached him for Honour Valour Pride to do a new eye. We paid for that and threw it away, but then he did another and we liked it. We told him the concepts and he came through. I quite like it. It's his style, but it's Games Workshop-style as well. The first people say is, "Why is his hand bigger than his head?" Obviously, it has to be for him to be able to hold that massive weapon. It's more cartoon style. If you check out any new Games Workshop stuff, Jan's stuff blows 'em away. They aren't hitting that standard any more.

It just dawned on me. Why haven't you put out your own records? You'd have complete control over everything and you could even put posters in other towns.

Yeah, plenty of times. Same as buying our own studios. I'm quite tempted. It's one of them things is that it's a handful on top of what we're already doing. It's a natural progression. We don't like contracts. We did In Battle... without them. We recorded it and then they asked us to sign - they were green. My god. Even back then, a lot of punk was major label and they weren't too street level. In the end, we do what the fuck we want. We told Vinyl Solution to fuck off. Labels are like buses.

Interview by Chris Dick