Bathory - Complete Studio Albums Review

In the early eighties it seems that metal musicians were keen to dip their toes into uncharted waters, and metal fans were clearly keen to listen. We'd already seen the New Wave of British Heavy Metal take on world domination and thrash metal was kicking off to become pretty big by the end of the decade, while death metal itself was just around the corner with the likes of Death, Onslaught, et al. Somewhere in the dark depths of Sweden (actually, Stockholm) a lover of punk and metal decided to try his hand at putting together his own rough and ready form of metal: an ingenious mix of punk and the likes of Motorhead, wrapped up with the darker ambience of Black Sabbath alongside the theatrical sensibilities (to an extent) of Kiss. Adopting a stage name that would be with with him for the rest of his life, 'Quorthon' created Bathory and recorded a handful of tracks that got him noticed in the fledgling Swedish metal scene, landing the band an appearance on the Scandinavian Metal Attack compilation with 'Sacrifice' and 'The Return of Darkness and Evil'. Immediately attracting attention of open-minded fans due to the innately evil sound of the material and its then innovative approach to metal, Bathory received the opportunity to record their first full length album.

Bathory (1984) Utilising a dirty and rough-around-the-edges sound and recorded for a few hundred pounds, the debut album would inadvertently define an entire genre. 'Black Metal' had already been a term coined before, most notably across the cover of the Venom album of the same name, but the nasty sound of the eponymous first album would become the blueprint for similarly minded bands (Scandinavian and otherwise) years later when the scene really kicked off in the nineties as thrash became less fashionable - the animalistic vocal style was something pretty fresh, and the guitar sound uncannily raw. What was once a harsh listen doesn't sound so unapproachable nowadays as bands have become faster and more extreme right up to ridiculous horizons. There is a consistent quality to the songs - a simplistic structure exuding an air of the occult (something Quorthon would later distance himself from). Guitars are tinny, drums grate on the ears a little, but the production accidentally became successful in its representation of something altogether more nasty than anything thrash really had to offer at the time. Highlights include 'Raise the Dead', 'Armageddon' and 'In Conspiracy With Satan'. The basic but sinister album cover artwork became an emblem for the band from this point onwards.

The Return (1985) The guitars became noticeably heavier with the second album, though drum pace - while slightly faster overall - was still a bit shaky. Lyrics were sadistic and the album truly took the occult feel of the first album to darker territory, earning the band wider recognition. I use the term 'band' quite loosely, because it was never clear album to album actually who else Quorthon had working with him. Guitars, vocals and songwriting was always his area exclusively, and the impression is that bassists/drummers came and went along the years (only a couple of times being listed in album credits) until it seemed he was doing pretty much everything himself. One person that was synonymous with the band right from the first album was Quorthon's father, who also adopted a nickname - Boss. He was involved in production duties on most of the albums, and helped the main man refine his vision. Highlights from The Return include the groove-laden 'Born For Burning' and the nasty-as-hell 'Reap of Evil', which features a section that to this day sends a chill through my blood. Back in 1985 the LP was one of the most evil sounding things on the planet.

Under the Sign of the Black Mark (1986) At this point Quorthon was creating an altogether more professional sound and beginning to use synthesisers to enhance the effect, again something as a record that fits quite nicely in the evolution of black metal as a genre. The fast tracks were getting really fast, but the man was also discovering something that would take on more of a presence later on - the slower, more epic material. Vocals were positively inhuman and this stuff was still exceptionally focussed on Satanic atmosphere and extremity of sound. Highlights include the face-ripping 'Equimanthorn', and the horror-movie-like 'Call From The Grave'. It's worth noting here that most of the albums would conclude with a short piece that symbolised the band crawling back into the caves until the next time around - it became iconic for Bathory generally and reassurance that we would have more to come, until (ironically, as it was used again) the final album of course.

Blood Fire Death (1988) The fourth album is significant, both in terms of the band's career, and for metal generally in my opinion. Taking the black metal elements of the first three albums, utilising injections of the more epic side that Quorthon had discovered with 'Enter the Eternal Fire' on Under the Sign..., and combining them with a slightly (I do mean slightly) more accessible thrash metal assault, Blood Fire Death Quorthon's vocals still mean but more natural this time around. The brutal triple attack that follows laid down some of the finest material in speed metal before or since, 'Holocaust' in particular boasting one of the most aggressive and hate-filled riffs ever. Slowing down again for the history lesson 'For All Those Who Died' (about witch-burnings), riffing is again quite monumental. The final fast track of the album leads into the most epic track of Bathory's career at that point - the title track. The label at the time (Under One Flag) recognised a special record here and released Blood Fire Death as a gatefold LP, the interior heralding a photograph of the band for the first time, standing in the Swedish forests brandishing swords, the infamously tall Quorthon towering above his colleagues. Highlights include 'Golden Walls of Heaven', 'A Fine Day to Die', and 'Holocaust', along with pretty much everything else (except the odd lyrical turn of 'Pace Til Death') on this wonderful platter.

Hammerheart (1990) Just as Quorthon had defined a genre with the first few albums, he did so again with the fifth and sixth releases. It wasn't apparent at the time, but what comprised Hammerheart would form the beginnings of what would become known as viking metal (although there are traces further back than this, notably in the likes of Manowar's chest-beating traditional heavy metal). Again, boasting stunning cover imagery from a classic painting that Quorthon had seen in the Manchester City art gallery, the vinyl record (now on the Noise label as sales had been going up) was also a majestic gatefold - this time with no band photograph (the main man later reported that this was not something he was in favour of anyway, more so an idea pushed forward by the record label at the time). For the first time the music was slowed down throughout, and pretty heavy - the epic feel of the last album's title track was taken through its logical evolution here, and any Satanic lyrics were replaced by a celebration of what once was Viking culture before the invasion of other religions turned most of the western world into what we know today. Vocal style again shifted further toward a more natural edge, at one point Quorthon singing completely clean for 'Song to Hall up High' (whilst still slightly rough around the edges, there was clearly great potential for the man as a vocalist that would only infrequently manifest itself later on unfortunately). The album represents one of the pinnacles of the band's career; highlights include 'Home of Once Brave' and 'Shores in Flames', though this is generally a great listen throughout.

Twilight of the Gods (1991) Taking the viking metal idea onwards to what he thought would be the conclusion of the band, this album is similarly heavy for the most part, the guitars less raw, and vocals much more clean throughout. There is also more acoustic work and Quorthon demonstrated quite a gift for this technique on the opening title track alongside 'Blood And Iron', with long passages of near classical material. Album track lengths had reached their zenith too, with the title track hitting a whopping fourteen minutes, though variable enough to remain interesting. Quorthon's new vocal style proved to be somewhat schizophrenic, deep and stirring on some tracks, elsewhere it wavers into tonal mess - quite odd and a factor that would plague much of what came afterwards. There are some brilliant melodies and riffs on the album, resulting in something of a (very) flawed masterpiece. Putting a cease on the band there was no traditional outro here, but fan interest would eventually bring Quorthon back into the studio a few years later. Highlights in include the title track and 'Blood and Iron'.

Requiem (1994) Deliberately stripping things down to 'basics' Requiem is nothing like the preceding two albums - aggressive, fast, lyrically very nasty indeed, this is an idiosyncratic combination of black, death and thrash metal. Plus, back to nasty vocals that are generally effective. Running not much more than half an hour, this was a disappointing album at the time, not least because the packaging was lacklustre (no lyrics or anything), but has since grown on me to become an enjoyable listen. Highlights include the grinding closer 'Apocalypse', the killer beat-driven 'Suffocate' and the heavy as f**k 'War Machine'.

Octagon (1995) Again angry and lyrically intense, Octagon is a mean, heavy thrash attack that unfortunately doesn't work for enough of the relatively short running time. Clearly Quorthon wanted rawness on Octagon but it sounds messy, and vocally it is a bumpy ride to say the least. Aside from a handful of tracks this was the first Bathory album that I could say that I didn't actually like very much at all. However, there are some highlights, and they include the violent 'Psychopath', the pounding 'War Supply', and 'Born to Die'. The album finishes interestingly with a decent cover of one of Quorthon's favourite bands (Kiss).

Blood on Ice (1996) Back in the eighties when Quorthon was still producing black metal classics he simultaneously began work on a more epic record in the vein of what would become Hammerheart and Twilight... At the time he felt it was an unsuitable follow up to the likes of Under the Sign and Blood Fire Death and so shelved it. Given the popularity of the aforementioned fifth and sixth records he went back and finished the viking metal album that also happened to be concept orientated - a Conan-esque story of a warrior's bloody adventure. A little cliched nowadays the album nevertheless has some brilliant music on it, including clean vocals, acoustic sections and accessible melodies alongside the choral-like backing tracks that Quorthon had developed a feel for back on the fourth album. Epic it is, although its final act consists of a couple of embarrassing tracks that bring down the overall impact of the record as a whole. Ignoring the last couple of tracks (which I usually do by omitting altogether) this is a good album. Highlights include 'The Sword', 'The Stallion', 'The Woodwoman' and 'The Lake', forming together an excellent centre section. Quorthon opted to include a lengthy history of the band in the liner notes and actually attracted unwanted attention as a result, many fans actually preferring the mystique that had exuded from Bathory since the early days.

Destroyer of Worlds (1999) The wait for the next Bathory album at the time seemed like absolutely forever - nowadays three years seems nothing when we're used to picking up Metallica albums every five years or so. In the meantime a couple of releases were announced but never materialised (for example, Nemesis, which was most likely just retitled for this release rather than dropped altogether). The wait, unfortunately, was not worth it. Destroyer... is in my opinion the nadir of the band's career, being a wayward hodgepodge of reasonable ideas and those that bomb completely. Vocal delivery is again very mixed here, risible almost throughout. For every decent track, there is one that stinks, as much as I hate to say it. Highlights there are though, and these include 'Ode', 'Lake of Fire', the heavy and raw 'Bleeding', plus the title track itself is not bad. Lyrically the album is more concerned with social and politic topics. Destroyer... would have been a terrible conclusion for the band, however, things were about to pick up in an unprecedented manner.

Nordland (2002) Unexpected was a return to viking metal, and not only that (after a few misfires preceding it) was the fact that it was a brilliant return to viking metal! Opening intro and title track are plodding and didn't initially show massive hope, but following that is a surprisingly rousing combination of the melodic, the acoustic, and the heavy, supported by the main man's clean vocal style throughout most of the tracks and all wrapped up in classic viking atmosphere. A fast piece ('Broken Sword') keeps things interesting too. Nordland is up there with the best Bathory albums, and an enticing listen to this day. Highlights include the stunning 'Foreverdark Woods', where Quorthon did his unique amalgamation of heavy guitars and beautiful acoustics alongside some fantastic singing, 'Mother Earth Father Thunder', the amazing 'Great Hall Awaits a Fallen Brother, which features an almost black metal guitar sound surprisingly, and the stirring outro 'Heimfard'. Aside from the odd dysfunctional component ('Dragon's Breath'), Nordland is an essential disc.

Nordland II (2003) Months later the sequel brought us another viking album, slightly differing in feel given Quorthon's propensity this time around for a rougher vocal approach. Initially feeling let down somewhat, the majority of the album has grown on me over the years, though it lacks the overall power of its predecessor. A handful of tracks don't work at all, but those that do are strong and enjoyable. Highlights include the folk-metal excursion 'Sea Wolf', the lovely ode to Scandinavian shores 'Vinland', while 'The Land' and 'Death and Resurrection of a Northern Son' are nice listens too. Seemingly intending to go on with Bathory, the disc concludes with the traditional outro that had adorned many of the earlier albums. Tragically it was not to be, as Quorthon died a year or so later with reported heart problems.

Other stuff: Quorthon also released two hard-rock/less-metal orientated 'solo' albums under his stage name. Generally alienating the Bathory fans I think these are mixed but underrated as pieces of music. Utilising overly obvious sampled sound effects on occasions, the music itself is proficiently played and often well sung with plenty of good tracks between them (one track - 'Boy' - I reckon was heavy enough for some of the Bathory albums). As the band's popularity peaked (around Hammerheart) a video was recorded to 'One Road to Asa Bay' - an interesting curiosity, it does little to boost the band's image really (probably not helped by the fact that there were problems gathering the footage together after the technician did a runner with the masters). He also recorded a video interview for MTV around 1990, where he came across appearing awkward and uncomfortable - much better are video interviews he recorded for fanzines and the like, where he was clearly revealed to be an articulate and sentient person willing to give time for those that love his work. There were three Jubileum Bathory albums which were aimed at introducing new fans to the existing music whilst providing old fans with some rare unreleased material. The best of this material goes back to the early days of the band with the likes of 'Witchcraft' and 'You Don't Move Me...', the latter showing off a little of the band's punk origins. Quorthon also recorded a few covers under both the Quorthon and Bathory monikers for Black Mark (the label on which he resided for most of his career) compilation albums, for example a slow, epic version of 'Ace of Spades' (!), a pretty accurate take on Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs', plus tracks that celebrated his appreciation of The Beatles ('I'm only Sleeping') and Sex Pistols ('God Save The Queen') as well as Kiss of course.

Despite less than perfect output, the rocky path of Quorthon and Bathory has become semi-legendary in the world of extreme and heavy metal. Somehow he elevated the band to near godlike status in an Internet-less era, without any live touring whatsoever, and missing the backing of big labels from the nineties onwards. He was a fan-appreciating musician, taking time to individually respond to mail throughout his career (indeed, he wrote me personally a very lengthy and thoughtful email once in response to a couple of questions I sent off to him). The man is responsible for almost single-handedly creating two entire sub-genres of metal - black and viking - themselves spawning countless great bands who have since spawned more great bands. Outright copycat acts have followed in his wake also - the underground Morrigan is worth checking out for those who like anything written about in this article, the best album of whom is the stupendous Headcult - at times you would have thought Quorthon was alive and well listening to this and some of their other stuff! The importance of such a legacy can't be downplayed, and alongside some of the misfires that were produced on-route, there are many more classic songs that are still enjoyable to this day. Like the stuff or not, it's hard to imagine the contemporary metal world if Bathory had never been born.