Ok, now this may seem a bit odd, but I've only just actually got into Bathory. Shame on me, yes I know.

I finally decided to get Blood Fire Death, being as it seems to be one of the most praised, and also got a copy of Hammerheart from a friend, and I have to say they are both fantastic, and I can't believe it's taken me so long to get into them.

So, being as Bathory has gone from scene creating BM, to epic BM, to viking, to power etc... what is your favourite period/album and why?

What to people make of the vast change in sound over Quorthon's career? Which album should I get next etc.

Discuss his music, his life, his death!

bathory where an important band for me growing up, first song i heard was 'for all them who died'
after that i was hooked

For me Viking period was best. Hammerheart being the best in my opinion.
Of the black metal trio Under the Sign of the Black mark is my favourite.
I don't really like anything after Twilight of the God's.
I feel Blood Fire Death suffers from being a sort of hybrid of the 2 styles, as viking metal the next two are better, and black metal the first 2 of the first 3 are better, and I feel it's just left somewhere in between. But a fantastic album none the less.
Hammerheart>Twilight of the Gods>Under The Sign of the Black Mark>Bathory>Blood Fire Death>The Return.


I think that cover's the main points

^ Didn't realise you were a fan Neil?

Time will tell for me. I'm not a downloading man, so it's gonna take a few months to pick up the "important" albums, which I figure from what I've read over the years is everything up to and including Twilight of the Gods.

I have heard the Nordland albums are pretty good though

I used to be a massive fan. There is/was a tonne of pics on facebook of me with a twilight of the god's shirt. I went through a massive phase Bathory phase at college.

Everyone tells me Nordlands are good, but Blood on Ice is better, but in turn thats just a sub Par Hammerheart. I had heard that Blood On Ice was written before Hammerheart and never recorded though, so some people consider it one of the early albums.

It was mainly written and recorded earlier but apparently Quorthon thought it was too big a leap from the albums it was recorded in between. Here's the metal archives guff about it:

"This album was originally recorded in 1989 and was intended to be the fifth Bathory album, but the album was not immediately released and had not been finished properly. Because of this, Quorthon was worried that it drastically presented a departure from the band's original black metal sound, so the project remained in the vault until it was finally redone in 1995. According to interviews, around 40% of the original material dating from the 80s was re-made - the remaining was untouched. This album falls right in line with the Viking era of Bathory."

I might give it a whirl later to see if my opinions have changed much.

I'm a "Hammerheart" guy. Have got BFD, Twilight and Blood on Ice too and prefer the viking stuff, but you can't argue with BFD.

Blood Fire Death and Hammerheart, obviously and Nordland I & II are also bloody good. I was never taken with the black metal albums but then again, I'm in a tiny minority who really like Requiem.

Under The Sign and Blood Fire Death are my favourites, but Hammerheart is monumental. Basically, the first six albums are absolutely essential IMO.

Blood Fire Death, definitely. Never really listened to Octagon and Requiem properly and Twilight Of The Gods can fuck right off, but the rest are great.

Some good stuff. More influential than great themselves, I would say. Obviously they're important to name drop now which is cool and all, but I don't remember anyone listening to them really "back in the day".

Nearly all of his albums are good, but some are better than others.

HAMMERHEART. BLOOD FIRE DEATH. UNDER THE SIGN...

Only three that are really essential.

I have the first 4 albums. Kinda just stopped after that. Return of the Darkness and Evil is my favourite by a mile.

And how would you like to be "addressed"? As _______________? ShitE? BumO? Or will Helen do

This. Hammerheart > Twilight of the Gods > Blood On Ice > Nordland I > Nordland II > the "thrash" albums > the rest.

What is "Viking metal" anyway, and how is it such a massive step away from black metal?

I've never heard Bathory. Them and King Diamond are the two big gaps in my metal knowledge.

Being someone who grew up with Bathory and thus watched the development I'd have to say that when Bloodf Fire Death came out it just eclipsed all the albums that came before. The title track is a massive epic... but when Hammerheart came out I really didn't like it. Until later, and now of course it's my favourite of the lot. Twilight of the Gods is probably my second favourite although the last track might be a bit of a stretch for some people...
Requiem was... a disappointment, let's be honest, but Octogan is properly shit. You know you've hit rock bottom when the best track on your album is a Kiss cover...
Blood on Ice was better and had a genuinely brilliant track on it 'The Lake', and Destroyer of Worlds had two good songs on it, but a lot of shit too.
Never really got into the Nordland albums, just kind of okayish really.
I still like the Return, probably because when it came out I was 15 it was proper evil. Likewise the first one and it was cool how there was no photo's of Quorthon... that said, he could never outdo Venom for me.

To me it's sort of a mixture between folk metal and black metal, but with other influences. It's like the sort of folk metal that doesn't actually sound folky at all but is still called such. It's hard to describe, but I would say it's one of those genre's you know when you hear if that makes sense. Often it just sounds Vikingy, and makes use of the sort of chant like clean vocals but you have the growl's and whatnot as well.
On the one hand you have the likes of Bathory's mid period, Ereb Altor and Gjallahorn, the latter two are quite doom influenced, but yo ualso have the more folk/black side with bands like Nebelhorn, Falkenback, Tyr, Einherjer, Turisas (on some tracks.) Frostmoon etc.
And then Forefather who I'm told insist upon being called Anglo Saxon metal,l but lets not go their, (cracking band none the less)
There is an arguement for lyrical themes being taken into consideration, but for me thats just none sense.

I know it's not a great explanation, and I'm sure some would disagree with aspects of it, but like I say, its one of those things that's hard to describe.

The poster formally known as...

Heh, you decide.


Annihislater, I completely disagree with you. It's all down to what bands label themselves, and black metal is not an essential part. Twilight Of The Gods is not BM. Amon Amarth are not BM, or folk. Most popular "viking metal" has no trace of BM.