Bolt – True Colours

For 16 years these Finnish hardcore guys have been at the forefront of the national scene. Bolt is now releasing their new album, which is titled True Colours and shows the band true to their own self, sound and scene. That’s what the liner notes say, so what does that sound like on a CD?

Hard and uncompromising, that’s for sure. The name of the band kind of indicates something about the power and impact behind their sound. Though their aim seems to be less straight at the target, they have a steady groove to their sound which is somewhere between the violent antics of All Out War and groove of Biohazard. Oh well, there is a bit of 100 Demons in there as well and a very obvious New York vibe.

So yeah, these guys have been one of the best NYHC producing bands from Finland for more than a decade and songs like ‘Return To Solitude’ shows that the songwriting has become pretty impressive at times. Pounding rhythms push the songs forward over some heavy grooves and muscle flexing bass lines on songs that sound more metal in the titles than hardcore like ‘Bury The Past’ and ‘Dying Season’, where the band lets go some melodic guitarplay soaring over at times.

But no worries, we’re back to tough guy hardcore and fists raised in the air on ‘True Colours’, which is the song that really captures the whole album. The lyrics are open and have something to offer for every listener, they feel empowering and are well written. For example ‘The Watchman’, however the vocals start to bore a bit and a bit more variation would have been welcome from a band that has been around for that long.

Though the album hits like a brick thrown by an experienced hooligan and overburdens your eardrums with heavy melodies, it gets a bit old and the last songs kinda fade to the background easily. Exception is ‘We Never Left’, that demonstrates some powerful gang shouts that slowly disappear in the distance while guitars sore over. All in all a good record, but nothing earth shattering.

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