Bolt Thrower and Games Workshop

Many old school Warhammer 40k players are at least cursorily familiar with the band Bolt Thrower and their album Realm of Chaos.  The cover of the album is the very same as that of the original Rogue Trader: Warhammer 40,000, the first edition rule book and the songs are straight from 40k lore:

1. "Intro" 1:17
2. "Eternal War" 2:08
3. "Through the Eye of Terror" 4:22
4. "Dark Millennium" 2:59
5. "All that Remains" 4:39
6. "Lost Souls Domain" 4:13
7. "Plague Bearer" 2:54
8. "World Eater" 4:55
9. "Drowned in Torment" 3:04
10. "Realm of Chaos" 2:50
11. "Prophet of Hatred" (CD bonus track) 3:52
12. "Outro" 

The actual song lyrics are a bit more vague as to content, but from those song titles (and of course the album title) there is little doubt what they were reading when they wrote the album:

 

 

As I had mentioned in my previous post, Bolt Thrower's "World Eater" was (and remains) one of my earliest extreme metal favorites.  The summer of 1991 I went to the CD store (Musicland, Sam Goody, or one of those extinct behemoths) to pick up a Bolt Thrower album with hard earned cash from hauling wood at a campground.  Remember, this is pre-internet so I had no idea what the album was even called.  To my delight, they did have a Bolt Thrower album, but it was the recently released Warmaster:

 

 

This album, with only slightly more subdued Warhammer themes, proved equally good.  A short time later I got my hands on Realms of Chaos.  These albums are now considered classics of the genre and I remain a Bolt Thrower fan.

 

To my surprise in 2004 a new version of Bolt Thrower's Realm of Chaos appeared in circulation:

 

This album cover vaguely recalls the original.  Heck, its even done by the same artist.  However, those are decidedly not Crimson Fists space marines.  And look at the album title.  Its sort of like the original, but the album's subtitle, "Slaves to Darkness," has been scrubbed.  Note that "Slaves to Darkness" is also the subtitle to the first Realms of Chaos book put out by Games Workshop. 

As it turns out, when Bolt Thrower's record label went to renew the lease on the album art, which of course is owned by Games Workshop, they were refused.  Its an interesting story and not surprising considering Games Workshop's aggressive protection of their copyright.  You can read all about on Earache's blog.

Fortunately, I am still a proud owner of the original pressing of the CD.