a crude mixture of punk, grindcore and the mud-and-blood-encrusted little sisters of riffs that would later become the signature sound of the greatest band on earth... or something like that. It's kinda hard to find words that do this album justice - not that one would struggle finding words of praise, it's just that too much praise would be wasted on an album that simply doesn't cut it, imho. It's cool, but in an "Extreme Noise Terror" or "Sore Throat" kind of way. You listen to it a few times, decide that you're too old for that kind of stuff, and move on.

This is the first press edition (from 1988). The sleeve is pretty worn, but the vinyl is in fine condition. Unfortunately the lyric sheet and the Vinyl Solution mail order sheet are lost.

Now this is what you call a classic. Realm of Chaos / Slaves to Darkness is a monster of an album, let loose to crush and annihilate everything in its path. Songs like "All That Remains" and "World Eater" leave you speechless. This truly is a masterpiece of early grindcore-influenced death metal.

My version has seen better days. The spine is rugged and slightly broken, but even though the vinyl has been much played, still looks and sounds fine. Of course it's a first edition, none of that terrible excuse of a cover that Earache came up with to squeeze some more money out of an old deal with a band they had been too wimpy and lame to support properly.

A picture disc edition that obviously did not enjoy the loving hand of a die-hard fan in its manufacturing process... the front looks like choosing the picture detail was left to chance or the label company's cat. And the blotchy and pixelated production of the front cover (the back is ever so slightly better) doesn't really improve things either. That must be why nobody claims credit for making this unofficial disc.

This is the album that forever sealed my fate as a BT fan. When I first heard it, I knew that this was the music I'd been waiting for all my previous life. The sick gutturality, the incredible sound and the utterly crushing riffs along with the relentless, yet creative drumming of Whale even made that slightly Manowaresque cover art appetizing to adolescent me. I must have listened to this album over a thousand times, and it still has not lost its power to captivate and enthral. A masterpiece, albeit not a timeless one. Some of the blastbeat passages may seem a bit outdated from a neutral perspective.

My copy is ever so slightly bent because a great old friend of mine once decided that it should be carried around in a backpack along with a sixpack of beer... not one of his better ideas. But it still plays fine and the cover is in very acceptable shape.

Another inofficial picture disc, made by the same inexperienced hands as the Realm Of Chaos one, but with actually pretty acceptable results.

The Cenotaph E.P. This 12 inch has the title track on side one and the Warmaster bonus track "Destructive Infinity", ROC bonus track "Prophet of Hatred" and a live version of "ROC" on side two. The nice idea about it was that if you did not have a CD player back then or if you didn't want to buy the record on CD but you still wanted to have the bonus tracks, this was your chance to get them.

As befitting its age, my copy is somewhat worn (you can even tell from the picture).

Now if someone were looking for ways to make me an expensive birthday/christmas present: I do NOT own a proper original vinyl copy of The IVth Crusade. Sometimes I do have to cry myself to sleep over this, but whenever a copy surfaced on ebay, I have not yet been willing to fork out the 100+ euros necessary to buy it, and I'm certainly not going to pay serious money for a "spearhead grey" or "templar red/white" reissue by money-hungry Earachers. So I just got hold of this cheap but nicely done semi-official 2006 picture disc re-release by Belgian label Painkiller instead (limited to 1000 copies).

I still remember the day The IVth Crusade was first issued. I went into Hannover to get my copy and went home to listen to it straight away for a couple of times and I remember being slightly disappointed because it was so much different from the Warmaster... at least it seemed that way to me then. At first I missed all the blastbeat parts and chaos, but very quickly the album grew on me and I began to appreciate the heavyness that came through the massive riffing and the majestic mid-tempo tank gear-shifting... a truly incredible album. I'm still a bit sore I didn't get to see them present this album in Hannover in early 1993, the infamous night they declined to play a show... (see DIY section).

The Spearhead EP features a cool remix of the title track and (along with a "The Crown of Life, a pretty good song that somehow didn't make it on the album) one of my favourite BT songs ever: "Lament", with a very fittingly melancholic melody. Awesome.

My copy is well-loved...

...For Victory, perhaps my favourite BT album because of its great atmosphere and amazing vocal delivery. There's not a single song on this album that I do not feel like immediately abandoning everything else and headbanging and shouting along with the lyrics as soon as I hear it.

In 1994, I immediately bought the CD edition (unfortunately the normal type without the additional live disc) and only later was lucky enough to be able to purchase an original pressing directly from Earache when they had found a box of them stashed somewhere for years. Good condition, with lyrics sheet.

Mercenary - a very eligible effort after four years that seemed like an eternity to me then. Some killer songs, some cool artwork, my favourite band doing what they do best - take no prisoners.

Another picture of my Mercenary copy. This gatefold LP came with a full-size chaos eye poster and still looks pretty good.

This is an official picture disc release, limited to 500 copies. I proudly own number 471.

The same, released from its sleeve.

The album that could have been so much better, imho. Just listen to "K-machine" with the real K-machine on vocals: When Karl Willets returned to BT, he recorded a vocal track for that song which simply blows Dave Ingram's mediocre efforts on that album away. But even allowing for a sub-par vocalist, it must have been a bit of a dry stretch for the band. There's only a single really excellent song on the album ("Inside the Wire") and a couple of others that have stood the test of time, but some of it is just plain boring. Whoever had the idea to stretch "Honour" to over five minutes AND put it on the album (and at third position) should have their head examined. Preferably with that cannon you can hear at the end of "Pride".

Not the first press, but a nice heavy two-LP muddy olive green gatefold sleeve edition from 2011 that makes fans happy, limited to 1000 copies. Near mint condition.

Ah... finally. The war to end all wars, or at least the album to make every subsequent one unnecessary. At least that's how the band feel about it, and instead of cashing in on their cult following by releasing records that just won't cut it (not that they could, I'm inclined to say, but then there is H-V-P...), BT are content with having made that record that simply blew most everything else away. And no wonder - with Karl back on vocals and a permanent member again, it must have felt like the good old days again. I have yet to hear better songs than "Anti-Tank (Dead Armour)", "Entrenched" or the epic title track...

This is the 2011 amber-coloured re-issue limited to 1000 copies. Near mint.

The black vinyl edition. Still in shrink-wrap. Haha. I am a lucky bastard.

And finally the limited picture disc edition. Number 432 of 500, still sealed.