Originally released in 2005, Those Once Loyal is Bolt Thrower’s final studio album — a flawless, disciplined, emotionally heavy farewell from one of death metal’s most respected bands.
The 2024 Earache Full Dynamic Range reissue restores the album with expanded headroom, improved clarity, and a more natural, uncompressed low‑end. Pressed on black vinyl at GZ Media, this edition preserves the original artwork and layout while delivering the cleanest, most powerful version of the album available on wax.
 
The FDR treatment is especially impactful here: the mid‑tempo tank‑tread riffs, the mournful melodies, and Karl Willetts’ stoic vocal delivery all hit with more weight and space than the original CD master ever allowed.
 
Why This Record Is in the Crimson Vinyl Collection
 
This one hits me right in the chest. Those Once Loyal is Bolt Thrower’s swan song — a band at absolute peak discipline, bowing out with dignity instead of decline. There’s a sense of honour and finality in these songs that you just don’t get anywhere else in death metal.
 
Why it belongs in the Crimson Vinyl catalogue:
The FDR master transforms the album, giving it the breathing room it always deserved
Black vinyl keeps it true to the band’s no‑nonsense aesthetic
It’s the final Bolt Thrower album, and collectors treat it like sacred ground
These FDR editions vanish fast — they’re essential stock for any serious metal shop
 
This is one of the most emotionally resonant, impeccably crafted death‑metal albums ever made — and this pressing finally does it justice.
 
TRACK LISTING
 
Side A
At First Light
Entrenched
The Killchain
Granite Wall
Those Once Loyal
 
Side B
Anti‑Tank (Dead Armour)
Last Stand of Humanity
Salvo
When Cannons Fade
A Symbol of Eight (Bonus Track)