BOLT THROWER Singer Checks In From Recording Studio

BOLT THROWER singer Karl Willetts has posted the sixth installment of the group's studio report at their official web site. Check it out at BoltThrower.com. An excerpt from his report follows:

"My introduction to the new songs came in the form of some demos Baz recorded at home earlier in the year, I spent a good couple of months listening to these to get them into my head and understand the general flow, timings and structures of the songs. The songs weren’t totally completed, but I could already tell this was going to be some excellent stuff...

"To be honest, getting back into writing lyrics again proved a little harder than I had imagined, it had been a few years since my last song writing which had been for the 'Mercenary' album back in 1998. And it being our eighth studio album, we’d already used a lot of the good-sounding BOLT THROWER song titles, along with a plethora of new bands using titles similar to the ones that we use, so I spent a long time researching on my pc, to make sure that the prospective song titles where somewhat original.

"I also found that physically visiting places with military history very inspirational, I visited the Cenotaph in London and checked out Horse Guards parade where the trooping of the colour is performed, I also went to Belgium and saw a lot of war cemeteries and memorials around Flanders. In May I spent the night camping out at a place called Turnaware Point in Cornwall, which was an embarkation point for the US Infantry 5th Corps in the Normandy landings. Visiting these places helped me develop some of the main themes and subject topics to which a few of the lyrics on the new album are based.

"When the band finally entered the studio back in May the songs on the demos had changed a little (for the better!) and I started to formulate the lyrics to the songs by at first concentrating on the rhythms and timings. Gav provided me with a pile of useful notebooks containing ideas for song titles and subject matter. These provided a wealth of material from which the first sets of lyrics were draughted.

"While the rhythm tracks were being recorded I met with Gav on a regular basis to work through the lyrics and eventually after much debate and discussion with regard to song titles, the final rough draughts of the songs were complete and ready to record."

BOLT THROWER's eighth, as-yet-untitled album is tentatively due on October 31 via Metal Blade Records.

Earlier this year, BOLT THROWER announced the return of original vocalist Karl Willetts as a full-time member.

Willetts rejoined the group as the replacement for Dave Ingram, who left the band in August 2004 due to long-standing "health and personal problems."

BOLT THROWER's upcoming CD will be the follow up to 2001's "Honour, Valour, Pride", which was the only BOLT THROWER release to feature Ingram on vocals.