I miss John Peel a lot. He was a total legend and I feel so fortunate to have been part of the Peel Sessions history. There are not many people who you can say changed your life, but for me John Peel is definitely one of them. A few days before he died I had a dream about him, I thought 'damn, I should send him some stuff and say thanks for everything'. Unfortunately I never got to do that and I still haven't forgiven myself. Never has anyone before or since him done so much for new music. RIP John.
- Jo Bench / Bolt Thrower interview, Metal Chaos
BOLT THROWER recorded their third and final Peel session on this day in 1990 at BBC Maida Vale 3.
Four songs were recorded, three of them previewing the next LP, War Master, which would be released in a few months (early 1991). The last song was from Realm of Chaos, released at the end of the previous year (October 1989).
Songs played: "Destructive Infinity", "Warmaster", "After Life", "Lost Souls' Domain".
Lineup: Karl Willets (Vocals), Jo Bench (Bass), Andy Whale (Drums), Gav Ward (Guitar), Baz Thomson (Guitar).
Dale Griffin (Producer, Mike Engles (Engineer), Fred Kay (Engineer)
The session aired on Tuesday 4 September 1990.
There were several other death / grind bands recording sessions that year amid some of the shoegaze and independent music from bands like THE BREEDERS, CRANES, RIDE (#3 on the Festive 50 that year) and SWERVEDRIVER; including CARCASS, NAPALM DEATH, FILTHKICK, DEVIATED INSTINCT, and EXTREME NOISE TERROR.
The sessions have been released several times over the years: Strange Fruit (the label formed by John Peel with record exec Clive Selwood) released the first session as a 12" in 1988, then a CD of all three sessions in 1991. Earache released a 3cd collection of label-related sessions, including BOLT THROWER's three, in 2009.