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Karl Willetts | |
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 Willetts with Memoriam at Roadburn Festival 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 21 September 1966 England |
| Genres | Death metal |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1988–present |
Karl Willetts (born 21 September 1966) is an English death metal vocalist, best known as the lead singer of Bolt Thrower and Memoriam.
Willetts joined the British death metal band Bolt Thrower in 1988. Before that, he drove the backline of the band. He stayed with Bolt Thrower until 1994, after the recording of ...For Victory . He left the band mainly because he wanted to go back to university and finish his degree.
Willetts rejoined as a session vocalist for the recording of Mercenary and left shortly thereafter because of financial reasons and lack of commitment. In the meantime, he got a job as a salesman of insurances besides other jobs. He resides in Solihull. Rumours persisted he had returned in 2001, but he did not. However, in November 2004, he actually did re-join Bolt Thrower after the departure of Dave Ingram. Willetts now has a degree in Cultural Studies from the Birmingham University. Willetts stayed in Bolt Thrower until the band broke up in 2016, following the death of drummer Martin Kearns the year before.
Willetts also did some guest vocals with UK punk band Doom on their Peel Sessions album [1] and UK death metal band Benediction on two accounts; one on "Jumping at Shadows" which appears on The Grand Leveller and Dark is the Season; [1] the other on "At the Wrong Side of the Grave", which is a cover of The Accüsed and appears on the Transcend the Rubicon album. [1]
Willetts was a vegetarian for a long while, but started eating meat prior to 2006. [2]
Siege is an American hardcore punk band from Weymouth, Massachusetts. Formed in 1981, they were active in the Boston hardcore scene from 1984 to 1985, and reunited briefly in 1991. Guitarist Kurt Habelt and drummer Rob Williams reformed the band in 2016.
Bolt Thrower were an English death metal band from Coventry. They formed in 1986 and released their first album with Vinyl Solution in 1988. The band then shifted to a new record label, Earache Records, soon becoming one of the best selling bands on that label. Their last label was Metal Blade Records. The band had a succession of members, and had toured Europe, the United States, and Australia. Over the course of their 30-year career, Bolt Thrower released eight studio albums, three EPs, one live album, three compilation albums and two demos. On 14 September 2016 the band announced that they were breaking up, following the death of drummer Martin Kearns exactly a year earlier.
Carcass are an English extreme metal band from Liverpool, formed in 1985. The band have gone through several line-up changes, leaving guitarist Bill Steer and bassist-vocalist Jeff Walker as the only constant members. They broke up in 1996, but reformed in 2007 without one of its original members, drummer Ken Owen, due to health reasons. To date, the band have released seven studio albums, two compilation albums, four EPs, two demo albums, one video album, and six music videos.
Extreme Noise Terror are a British extreme metal band formed in Ipswich, England in 1985 and one of the earliest and most influential crust bands. Noted for one of the earliest uses of dual vocalists in hardcore, and for recording a number of sessions for BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, the band started as crust punks and helped characterise the early, archetypal grindcore sound with highly political lyrics, fast guitars and tempos, and often very short songs.
Martin Kearns was an English drummer, specializing in death metal, known for his association with Bolt Thrower since 1994. He joined the band at age 17 after playing in several local bands in Coventry, playing anything from metal to reggae, having been playing pub gigs since the age of 14.
David Richard Bjerregaard Ingram is a death metal vocalist from Birmingham, England. He began his career replacing Mark "Barney" Greenway in UK death metal band Benediction when Greenway decided to focus solely on Napalm Death. Ingram stayed with Benediction until March 1998, when he joined Bolt Thrower, officially replacing Martin van Drunen after having handled vocals temporarily for the band during a show on 4 July 1997 in Zwickau Germany.
Martin van Drunen is a Dutch death metal vocalist who started out in the band Pestilence. In this band, he also performed the bass duties live. He recorded two albums with them, Malleus Maleficarum and Consuming Impulse. After his departure from Pestilence, van Drunen joined Asphyx as the singer and bass player in 1990 and recorded five albums in total. He performed the vocals on Comecon's second album Converging Conspiracies in 1993 and then formed his own band called Submission. In 1995, he was asked to replace Karl Willetts in the UK death metal band Bolt Thrower. He did two tours with them, but never recorded an album.
In Battle There Is No Law! is the debut album by British death metal band Bolt Thrower. It was recorded at Loco studios by Andrew Fryer, and mixed at Clockwork by Alan Scott. It was released on Vinyl Solution as Sol 11 in 1988 and re-released on Vinyl Solution as Sol 11 in 1992, with a different album sleeve. The album was again re-released in 2005 with the old album sleeve restored. The sound of the album dominantly featured characteristics of grindcore, with lyrics socio-politically charged as the members had roots in hardcore punk, and created a sound that was heavily influenced by their roots.
War Master is the third album by British death metal band Bolt Thrower. It was recorded at Slaughterhouse studios in September 1990 and produced by Bolt Thrower and Colin Richardson. It was released on Earache Records: Mosh 29 in 1991.
The Peel Sessions 1988–90 is a Bolt Thrower album consisting of three Peel Sessions. It is released on Strange Fruit: DEI 8118-2 in 1991 and recorded live in the studio. It is produced by Dale Griffin.
The IVth Crusade is the fourth studio album by British death metal band Bolt Thrower. It was recorded at Sawmill Studios in August 1992 and produced by Bolt Thrower and Colin Richardson. The album was engineered by John Cornfield and mixed at Fon studios. It was also engineered by Alan Fisch and Steve Harris. It was released through Earache Records as Mosh 70 in 1992. The album title comes from the Fourth Crusade and the capturing of Constantinople. The cover artwork is a painting from Eugène Delacroix, showing "The Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople".
...For Victory is the fifth album by British death metal band Bolt Thrower. It was recorded at Sawmill studios in 1994, produced by Colin Richardson and Bolt Thrower. A limited edition contains a live CD titled Live War.
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.
Who Dares Wins is a compilation of various rare Bolt Thrower tracks from EPs and other sources: Tracks 1–4 are from the Cenotaph EP, tracks 5–8 are from the Spearhead EP and the tracks 9 and 10 are from the same session as "...For Victory", previously released on "Rareache" and the Japanese version of ...For Victory. It is released on Earache Records, Mosh 208 on 14 September 1998. The cover art is also taken from the Spearhead EP.
Haunting the Chapel is an extended play (EP) released by American thrash metal band Slayer in 1984 through Metal Blade and Enigma Records. Slayer's debut album Show No Mercy became Metal Blade's highest-selling, leading to producer Brian Slagel wanting to release an EP. Recorded in Hollywood, the recording process proved difficult when recording drums in a studio without carpet, although it resulted in drummer Dave Lombardo meeting Gene Hoglan who was to become an influence in his drumming style and speed. It was during the recording of this session that Lombardo first had the double bass added to his kit. Hoglan, working for Slayer at the time, sat at the kit and played a double bass for the first time. Lombardo was impressed and although Hoglan never gave him lessons, he did give him tips regarding the use of the double kick drum.
Lee Dorrian is an English singer, best known as a former member of grindcore band Napalm Death and later frontman of doom metal band Cathedral.
Those Once Loyal is the eighth and final album by the British death metal band Bolt Thrower. It was released on 11 November 2005 in Germany, 14 November 2005 in the rest of Europe and 15 November 2005 in the United States by Metal Blade Records. It was recorded and mixed at Sable Rose Studios in Coventry, England. It is produced by the band and Andy Faulkner. With Bolt Thrower deciding against releasing a follow-up to Those Once Loyal, it was Bolt Thrower's final studio album before breaking up a year after drummer Martin Kearns' death in September 2015.
Peel Sessions are live music sessions recorded for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show.
Memoriam is a death metal band from Birmingham, England. The band was formed in 2016 by former Bolt Thrower vocalist Karl Willetts, alongside Scott Fairfax on guitar, Frank Healy on bass and Andy Whale on drums. In 2020, Andy Whale left the band and was replaced by Spike T. Smith. In an interview, Willetts stated that the band was originally formed as a tribute to the late Bolt Thrower drummer Martin Kearns. To date, the band has released five studio albums, two of which reached the charts in Germany, For the Fallen at number 16 and The Silent Vigil at number 32. The bands latest album, Rise to Power, was released on 3rd February 2023. The band has played many of the worlds most notable metal festivals including: Obscene Extreme, Eindhoven Metal Meeting (2016), Fall of Summer Festival (2016), Party.San, Wacken Open Air (2017), In Flammen, Roadburn (2017), Grasspop Festival (2017), Summer Breeze (2017), Meh Suff! (2017), Leperfest (2017), Copenhell (2017), Turock (2017), Lords of the Land (2017), Rock Hard Festival (2018), Inferno Festival (2018), Vagos Metal Fest (2018), Hellfest, Bloodstock Open Air, Midgardsblot (2019), Damnation Festival (2021), UK Deathfest (2022) & Dark Easter Metal Meeting (2022). The band were previously signed to Nuclear Blast, but are currently signed to Reaper Entertainment, formed by previous label employee Florian Milz.
The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn is the fifth studio album by Swedish death metal band Bloodbath, released on 26 October 2018 via Peaceville. It is the only album to feature guitarist Joakim Karlsson.
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