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Rating: This site was missing Bolt Thrower, so I wanted to review the latest album by the English deathsters "THOSE ONCE LOYAL," the only one I own....
A grim beginning kicks off the CD with "At First Light" supported by powerful drumming and the fantastic growl of Willets, then Jo Bench's bass enters the scene and with the powerful drumming takes us to the end, sirens of an alarm open us to Entrenched, one of the best tracks of the album, the whole song is heart-pounding featuring mainly Kearns's drums and Bench's bass, then starts the album's best song "The Killchain," which can compete with a song like "Shreds of Sanity" or "Warmaster" also by Bolt Thrower, in Killchain headbanging is inevitable... the song is partly mid-tempo and partly ultra-fast, but just Killchain alone is worth buying the record...
The next track "Granite Wall" starts with a nice riff joined by the drums to kick off another fantastic piece, then there's the title track "Those Once Loyal" which starts almost immediately with Willetts's cavernous growl that supports almost the entire song, then comes "Anti-Tank (Dead Armour)" which immediately kicks off with drumming and bass engaging in a brief struggle, then the warlike drumming carries the entire song, creating a battle-like atmosphere with the riffs. "Last Stand of Humanity" is the fastest track of the album, whereas in "Salvo" the aim is to really create a battle atmosphere, fully achieved in "When Cannons Fade," the last song begins with a struggle between guitars and drums where the drums prevail, leading us towards the end of the hard battle....
This album is recommended to all death metal lovers, I bought this album blindly and I have never regretted it!!!
line-up:
KARL WILLETTS - vocals
BAZ THOMSON - guitar
GAVIN WARD - guitar
JO BENCH - Bass
MARTIN KEARNS - Drums
tracklist:
1-AT FIRST LIGHT
2-ENTRENCHED
3-THE KILLCHAIN
4-GRANITE WALL
5-THOSE ONCE LOYAL
6-ANTI-TANK (DEAD ARMOUR)
7-LAST STAND OF HUMANITY
8-SALVO
9-WHEN CANNONS FADE
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 At First Light (04:38)
Deep within entrenchments
The orders are revealed
A final push impending
Encoded messages have been received
At first light
Fires of the enemy dead will burn bright
If in mourning they choose we die
Zero hour at first light
The waiting time is over
No final night before
Once more into action
Embrace the storm. Oncoming for all
Standing
At the edge
Allegiances
Now pledged... forever
Orders - unquestionable
All rank and file expendable
The frozen dawn emerges
Let the battle now commence
None surrendered through last night
Zero hour approaching
At first light
Fires of the enemy dead will burn bright
If in mourning they choose we die
Zero hour approaching
02 Entrenched (03:41)
Devastated, through broken promises and lies
The scars lie deep now, burning from inside
Cut through broken promises and lies
Intense resentment now will thrive
Instinctively - as you feel the anger rise
As the pressure builds hatred fills the mind
Overpowering - gripped within the jaws of defeat
Under attack - no organized retreat
Trapped within the jaws of defeat
Won but lost - the misery complete
When least expected - with the element of surprise
Silent and swiftly - another taken life
Violated - breached are all defensive lines
The enemy has victory in sight
Within the moment
When all seems lost
In retaliation
Eradicate the past
In defeat triumphant
In the face of massed adversity
In a world of compromise
...Some don't.
03 The Killchain (04:41)
Ensnared
Digitally mapped
Virtual scan reveals
Art of war
Technology adapts
Location confirmed unconcealed
Target code
Assigned
Destructively
Inclined
World zone kill
In violent context set
Hostile status defined
Global network
Eliminates the threat
Enemy evaluation made
Zero rating
Applied
The life chances
Decline
Enemy evaluation rated
Cynically
Resigned
Annihilate
Mankind
(Annihilate)
Projectile loose
Velocity impact
Designated target explodes
Icons confirmed
Casualties are stacked
Weapon control
Order - lock and load
Ensnared
Database of death
No chance of escape
Caught within the mainframe killchain
04 Granite Wall (04:03)
Those that fell today shall be
In solemn sculpture cast
Always held in reverence
In memory of the past
Named in tribute forevermore
The colours carved on the granite wall
Folded flags awarded
In the line of duty fallen
Draped upon the coffin lid
The banner never taken
The regimental crest
That still flies high
No colours lost, the epitaph
Attempt to take them and you shall die
Named in tribute forevermore
The colours carved on the granite wall
Carved upon the granite wall
Mankind on the brink of extinction
Few now left alive - the human race denied
Mourning
The tragic loss
Life cut short
This broken column
Immortal
Names shall be
Carved in stone
Upon the granite wall
05 Those Once Loyal (04:14)
Valiant in the midst of conflict
In memoriam honours distinctive
At half-mast the colours are raised
The tragic waste of life once gave
Immortalised plaque of remembrance
With reverence their names are listed
Glorified and in honour held
In commemorance of those that fell
To those once loyal now wreathed in crimson
Solemn reminder of silent sacrifice
To the once loyal forever wrapped in glory
In white crossed acres - lines of sorrow laid
To those once loyal now wreathed in crimson
Solemn reminder of silent sacrifice
To the once loyal forever wrapped in glory
In white crossed acres - lines of sorrow laid
Brave are the deeds
Of fallen victorious
Never forgotten
Lonely are the glorious
06 Anti-Tank (Dead Armour) (04:15)
Scattered on foreign fields
Lie the burnt out hulls of our dead armour
Old landscape wreckage
And this earth now scorched
Selfless acts of bravery
In the face of overwhelming force
Hold position - position held
Retained new glory sought
Shattered defenses now alone
Cover the tactical withdrawal
Outgunned, outnumbered
Though never outclassed
Spent the ammunition of faith
Weaponry exhausted
Now reduced in numbers
Numbers reduced
To the Last
Face to face with cold dead eyes
The final register of death
Crushed are the adversaries
The kill rate ratio rising
One hundred to one
Honours withheld in travesty
Presented falsely to another
With courage unspoken
All heroes die
07 Last Stand of Humanity (03:10)
There is no time for despair
Entering the void
Of your worst nightmares
As the spirit leaves
The body will decay
Watching as your life blood
Slowly slips away
In a second all turns black
Mind is numbed
With pain and torment
Alone the only witness
As you bleed
Departure of your soul
Will finally concede
Abandoned
In the last attack
Death no glory
Last stand of humanity
Descending
No way back
Death at the point of victory
Last stand of humanity
Attaining
Pride at last
With new found hope
There still could be victory
09 When Cannons Fade (05:27)
Into the eighth offensive
Frontline reformed
Artillery that never ceased
In overtures of war
...When cannons fade
Now the guns are silenced
End of hell storm
The final argument of kings
All earth transformed
...When cannons fade
As the silence grows
Steadily replacing
The resonance of thunder
Deep in the soul
Conscience still remains
Horror - amongst the flames
Ashes keep on falling
I close my eyes
And even now
The distant memory remains
Of the last laments
To be played
(When cannons fade)
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