Mercenary (album)

Mercenary
Studio album by Bolt Thrower
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
...For Victory (1994) Mercenary (1998) Who Dares Wins (1998)

Professional ratings

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]

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.

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

• 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

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

Chart performance for Mercenary

Chart (1998)	Peak position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [8]	87

References

1. Anderson, Jason. Mercenary review allmusic.com. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
2. Bromley, Adrian (1 October 1998). "CoC : Bolt Thrower - Mercenary : Review"". Chronicles of Chaos . Retrieved 6 July 2023.
3. 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.
4. Dome, Malcolm (5 September 1998). "Albums". Kerrang! . No. 715. EMAP. p. 44.
5. Anon. (17 September 1998). "Bolt Thrower - Mercenary Review • metal.de". metal.de . Retrieved 6 July 2023.
6. Robinson, Nathan (January 1999). "Bolt Thrower - Mercenary". Metal Rules . Retrieved 4 June 2024.
7. Albrecht, Frank (26 August 1998). "Mercenary". www.rockhard.de (Vol. 136) (in German). Retrieved 6 July 2023.(subscription required)
8. "Bolt Thrower - Mercenary". offiziellecharts.de . Retrieved 3 June 2024.