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Mercenary is the sixth album by the British death metal band Bolt Thrower. It was recorded at Chapel Studios, Lincoln, England, December 1997 to January 1998. The album was produced by Bolt Thrower and Ewan Davis. It was released on Metal Blade Records in 1998.
| Mercenary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
_cover.jpg) | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 10 November 1998 | |||
| Recorded | December 1997 – January 1998 | |||
| Studio | Chapel Studios, Lincoln, England | |||
| Genre | Death metal | |||
| Length | 46:40 | |||
| Label | Metal Blade | |||
| Producer | Ewan Davis, Bolt Thrower | |||
| Bolt Thrower chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Chronicles of Chaos | 7/10[2] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 5/10[3] |
| Kerrang! | [4] |
| Metal.de | 8/10[5] |
| Metal Rules | 5/5[6] |
| Rock Hard | 10/10[7] |
The cover painting is titled "Contact – Wait Out", which is also the first track on the next album, Honour – Valour – Pride.
"Powder Burns" is a continuation of the song "Embers" from The IVth Crusade, and leads into "The Killchain" on Those Once Loyal.
This is the only album to feature Alex Thomas on drums.
Track listing
edit- All songs written by Bolt Thrower
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Zeroed" | 5:46 |
| 2. | "Laid to Waste" | 4:40 |
| 3. | "Return from Chaos" | 5:04 |
| 4. | "Mercenary" | 5:54 |
| 5. | "To the Last ..." | 5:24 |
| 6. | "Powder Burns" | 4:46 |
| 7. | "Behind Enemy Lines" | 5:18 |
| 8. | "No Guts, No Glory" | 4:07 |
| 9. | "Sixth Chapter" | 5:40 |
| 10. | "Infiltrator ¹" | 4:47 |
| Total length: | 46:40 | |
- ¹ Bonus track on digipak and Japanese version. The digipak edition contains 25 tracks of which tracks 10 to 24 are short tracks of silence.
Personnel
edit- Bolt Thrower
- Karl Willetts – vocals
- Gavin Ward – rhythm guitar
- Barry Thomson – rhythm and lead guitar
- Jo Bench – bass
- Alex Thomas – drums
- Production & miscellaneous credits
- Arranged by Bolt Thrower
- Produced by Ewan Davies & Bolt Thrower
- Recorded & engineered by Ewan Davies, except "Powder Burns" (recorded & engineered by James Anderson)
- Peter Archer – Front cover: sketch for "Contact – Wait Out"
- Jan Meininghaus – Eye motif
- Paul McHale – Chaos skull
Charts
edit| Chart (1998) | Peak
position |
|---|---|
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[8] | 87 |
References
edit- ^ Anderson, Jason. Mercenary review allmusic.com. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
- ^ Bromley, Adrian (1 October 1998). "CoC : Bolt Thrower - Mercenary : Review"". Chronicles of Chaos. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
- ^ Dome, Malcolm (5 September 1998). "Albums". Kerrang!. No. 715. EMAP. p. 44.
- ^ Anon. (17 September 1998). "Bolt Thrower - Mercenary Review • metal.de". metal.de. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ Robinson, Nathan (January 1999). "Bolt Thrower - Mercenary". Metal Rules. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
- ^ Albrecht, Frank (26 August 1998). "Mercenary". www.rockhard.de (Vol. 136) (in German). Retrieved 6 July 2023. (subscription required)
- ^ "Bolt Thrower - Mercenary". offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 3 June 2024.