Bathory was a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Vällingby in March 1983. Frontman, founder and sole songwriter Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg was the sole constant member, and was at times responsible for all instruments.

Named after Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory, Bathory is considered a pioneer of black metal (alongside Venom, Hellhammer and Mercyful Fate) and Viking metal. The book Lords of Chaos described Bathory's first four albums as "the blueprint for Scandinavian black metal."

The band stopped performing live early on in its career and never toured. Bathory dissolved when Quorthon died from heart failure at the age of 38 in June 2004.

History

Early years (1980s)

Bathory formed in Vällingby on 16 March 1983. Åkerlund has stated that he and Melander, his cousin, were the original members of Bathory and that Ace, as he was known at the time, joined later on, when they were looking for a new vocalist/guitarist.

According to Quorthon, he settled on the name 'Bathory' after a visit to the London Dungeon, although Åkerlund says that it was also inspired and taken from the Venom song "Countess Bathory". The Venom song was based on the life of Elizabeth Báthory who is believed to be one of the most prolific female murderesses. Quorthon worked part-time at the small record label Tyfon Grammofon, which was owned by his father, Börje "Boss" Forsberg (1944-2017). In late 1983, the label was putting together a compilation of songs by Scandinavian metal bands. However, at the last minute, one of the bands backed out. Tyfon agreed to let Bathory appear on the record as a replacement. The album, called Scandinavian Metal Attack, was released in March 1984 and was Bathory's first appearance on record. Unexpectedly, the two Bathory tracks "Sacrifice" and "The Return of Darkness and Evil" drew a great deal of fan mail.

Soon afterward, Tyfon asked Quorthon to record a full-length album. His bandmates having moved away, Quorthon recruited Rickard Bergman from his former oi-punk band Stridskuk as bassist and Stefan Larsson from punk band Obsklass as drummer. On 22 May 1984, they had their first and only rehearsal together before recording the album. Two songs were recorded at the 22 May rehearsal: "Witchcraft" and "Satan My Master" making it the first recording of the debut album line-up. These traits came to define black metal and the band used this style on their first four albums. Quorthon said that the band were not Satanists but used 'Satanic' references to provoke and attack Christianity. With the third and fourth albums he began "attacking Christianity from a different angle", realizing that Satanism is a "Christian product" and seeing them both as "religious hocus-pocus". and was also influenced by the Exploited, Sex Pistols, Disorder, Riot/Clone, Anti-Nowhere League, Kiss, Anti Cimex, Asocial, Mob 47 and Exciter. The term 'black metal' came from Venom's 1982 album of that name. Many fans and reviewers have claimed Venom was an influence on Bathory, or even accused Bathory of copying Venom. Quorthon often denied being influenced by Venom and claimed that he "heard Venom for the first time in late 1984 or early 1985" and never owned a Venom album. Bathory's early sound has always been associated with Slayer but Quorthon denied being influenced by them.

Bathory stopped performing live in 1985, with Quorthon viewing organizing concerts as too much hassle.

Viking metal years (1990s–2000s)

After Blood Fire Death, the band shed its early black metal style. Their fifth album, Hammerheart (1990), was the first " Viking metal album". This was said to have been influenced by the American power metal band Manowar, although Quorthon described this rumour as "another total misconception", but admitted that "heavy Manowar beat seemed to perfectly suit my new ideas for lyrics at the time".

Musical style

Bathory's music is described as "primitive, evil, fast and raw." Their music also contained references to Satanism, and according to Alex Distefano of OC Weekly, "the band drew in dark forces" with its approach. The band's music has drawn comparisons to Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Venom and Mayhem.

Bathory has undergone several stylistic changes throughout its career. Initially a black metal act, the band began to explore more progressive and experimental styles, starting with their fourth album Blood Fire Death (1988), which is regarded as a key influence in the early development of Viking metal. while the latter album also leaned towards epic doom and classical influences. The band continued in the style of Viking metal for most of their remaining existence, although they experimented with a thrash metal style on the albums Requiem (1994) and Octagon (1995). Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic wrote: "Bathory's development from the rawest form of embryonic black metal, to thrash, death, and back to its self-devised Viking-themed black metal, has mirrored and regularly defined the genre's very evolution."

Legacy

The book Lords of Chaos described Bathory's first four albums as "the blueprint for Scandinavian black metal." Darkthrone Frost of Satyricon. Ambient rock band Vision Eternel also cited Bathory as influential, singling out the albums Hammerheart and Twilight of the Gods.

Swedish black metal band Watain played a live tribute to Quorthon and Bathory at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2010. The resulting recording was the limited-edition album Tonight We Raise Our Cups and Toast in Angels Blood: A Tribute to Bathory with 7 tracks, and was released on 23 February 2015. It was also released as on 12-inch vinyl album, the latter in 1300 numbered copies with four tracks, "A Fine Day to Die", "The Return of Darkness and Evil", "Rite of Darkness" and "Reaper" on Side A and three tracks "Enter the Eternal Fire", "Sacrifice" and "Born for Burning" on Side B. The release proved very popular with Swedish public, with the limited vinyl edition reaching number 1 on the vinyl chart. The album made it also to number 2 on the national Sverigetopplistan chart, the official Swedish Albums Chart in February 2015. In 2016, the staff of Loudwire ranked them 36th on their list of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time.

Band members

; Core member

  • Quorthon (Thomas Börje Forsberg) – vocals, guitars, bass, occasional drums, songwriting (1983–2004)

: Founder and principal creative force of Bathory. He performed the majority of instruments on most studio recordings, often using pseudonyms in the early years. Quorthon remained the sole consistent member until his death in 2004.

; Early members

  • Jonas Åkerlund – drums (1983–1984). Later became an acclaimed music video and film director.
  • Frederick Melander (also known as "Freddan" or "Hanoi") – bass (1983–1984)

Timeline

Bathory’s line-up was unstable in its first years, but after the mid-1980s Quorthon largely worked alone. From Blood Fire Death (1988) onward, most recordings featured him performing nearly all instruments, with occasional use of anonymous session musicians.

Discography

Studio albums

  • Bathory (1984)
  • The Return...... (1985)
  • Under the Sign of the Black Mark (1987)
  • Blood Fire Death (1988)
  • Hammerheart (1990)
  • Twilight of the Gods (1991)
  • Requiem (1994)
  • Octagon (1995)
  • Blood on Ice (1996)
  • Destroyer of Worlds (2001)
  • Nordland I (2002)
  • Nordland II (2003)

Compilation albums

  • Jubileum Volume I (1992)
  • Jubileum Volume II (1993)
  • Jubileum Volume III (1998)
  • Katalog (2001)
  • In Memory of Quorthon (2006)

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • Bathory on Black Mark Production <!-- Black Mark Production is the correct name, see website. -->
  • [ Bathory] at AllMusic