Bathory: Albums (1988-91)

Bathory: Albums (1988-91)

I once heard someone describe the Blood Fire Death (1988) album as a collection of quality songs. The description is certainly valid, but it's also a vast understatement of the truth. BFD is a ground-breaking, momentous human achievement, the importance of which cannot be overstressed. Like the eponymous début album, it delivered something unprecedented that made everyone else sit up and take notice.

The thundering intro, the use of acoustics, the Viking symbolism, the choirs, the cleaner vocals, the pounding drums, the torturing wail of the electric guitars, the Pure Fucking Armageddon heaviness of it all was something that the world hadn't experienced before. In short, it changed the face of metal and made Quorthon a living legend.

Bathory: Albums (1984-87)

Bathory: Albums (1984-87)

It seems that I've not made a single post about Bathory yet! That oversight will now be rectified. In short: No Bathory = No Black Metal.

That's just a widespread opinion that I share, not an established fact.

I know that Venom managed to coin the phrase two years prior, but it took the genius of Bathory's Quorthon (Tomas Forsberg) to turn the phrase into something more than just playful word association; Quorthon gave it life. Bathory shits on Venom from a great height after a week-long diet of prunes and porridge - metal prunes and substantially heavy porridge.

If you're a Venom fan and want to counter by saying that perhaps No Venom = No Bathory, then I won't argue because the jury is (and likely always will be) out on that. But to me, Venom are like Spinal Tap with studded wristbands, in comparison. Bathory is a Storm of Damnation, a Wind of Mayhem, etc.