Bolt
Behind Obstacles Lies Truth

May 2009
Released: 2009, Full House Records
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

Bolt is a 5-piece hardcore act coming from the capital city of Finland, Helsinki – with a metallic overtone in their sound, and have finally got their 2nd full-length album out, titled BEHIND OBSTACLES LIES TRUTH. It´s been 6 years since these fellows´ debut release, DEEP WITHIN, was churned out to this world, so it could be said that the silence has been broken as far as this 6 year long gap between two of their full-length albums are concerned anyway.



Just like so many other metallic hardcore acts on Full House Records, Bolt count on some basic elements in their riff-based hardcore assaults. The band uses a lot of chunky and muscular riffs in their songs, proving a good backbone for the band´s overall nicely flowing, testosterone-filled outbursts that hit its listener like a fair sized tornado, full of malicious rage and sheer power. If you strip down all the vocal parts from their stuff, they actually sound a lot like a mid-paced thrash band with some good melodies backing up their songs somewhat nicely.



However, even if they do sound good and all that, I don´t think they differ that drastically from other similar HC-acts on the label´s roster, having a good injection of metal in their sound. On the other hand, should they in the first place, because there certainly are some certain limits and rules within this particular genre in question that one should respect in order to fit into this certain type of ´box´ both musically (and ideologically, too).



BEHIND OBSTACLES LIES TRUTH is still a relatively good output from Bolt anyway, one of the founding fathers of the Helsinki hardcore scene as they are known for among the hardcore audience. It must be said that the Finnish hardcore sounds still strong nowadays, and Bolt is one of the clearest piece of proof for it.