Swedish Metal Band Bathory

Bathory: Swedish Metal

In Stockholm, 1983, the guitarist Quorthon, bassist Hanoi, and drummer Vans joined together to form a band. After going through a series of names, such as Nosferatu and Natas, they settled on Bathory as an homage to the Hungarian countess Elizabth Bathory, who according to myth bathed in the blood of virgins. Unsurprisingly, given that choice of name, Bathory’s music is typically considered under the genres of thrash metal, black metal, or viking metal.

Bathory in fact is considered one of the fathers of these genres, as particularly their first two albums, Bathory and The Return, have been cited by many subsequent Norwegian heavy metal bands as large influences on their own development. Near the end of the 80’s, Bathory’s style began to shift somewhat from the highly aggressive death metal. in 1988’s Blood Fire Death, which is widely considered their best album, their songs begin to move towards a more atmospheric and contemplative style, though still within the overall heading of thrash metal.

In the 1990’s Bathory began to explore the mythologies of the Norse and Viking cultures, which is notable in the song “Valhalla” on the 1990 release Hammerheart. Their next two albums, Twilight of the Gods and Blood on Ice continued this mythological exploration, as well as stylistic move towards the large epic song. Beginning in the mid 90’s, Bathory’s style became more and more difficult to identify as they continued to experiment with each album. The 1994 release Requiem was more in the vein of 80’s thrash metal, as did the subsequent 1995 album Octagon. After Blood on Ice released in 1996, the band took a 5 year hiatus from recording.

Their return to the recording studio in 2001, for Destroyer of Worlds, brought a merging of the thrash and viking metal. After this album, Bathory returned fully to viking metal, beginning what was to be a four-part series of albums titled Nordland. However, the band was only able to produce the first two, Nordland I and Nordland II, before Quorthon died on 7 June, 2004 due to heart failure. Such popular musical acts as Metallica, the Smashing Pumpkins, Opeth, and Marilyn Manson have cited Bathory as an influence on their own musical careers. Since Quorthon’s death, a tribute box set has been released featuring 3 CDs, a DVD, and a 176 page booklet.