Bathory

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Bathory
General information
Genre (s) Black metal , Viking metal
founding 1983
resolution 2004
Website http://www.bathory.nu/
Founding members
Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg († June 3, 2004)
Last occupation
Vocals, electric guitar, studio bass, studio drums
Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg (June 3 † 2004)
former members
bass
Fredrick "Freddan" / "Hanoi" Melander (1983–1984)
bass
Rickard "Ribban" Bergman (1984)
bass
Kothaar (1989–1996)
Drums
Jonas Åkerlund ("Vans McBurger") (1983–1984)
Drums
Stefan Larsson (1984)
Drums
Paul Pålle Lundburg (1986–1987)
Drums
Vvornth (1989–1996)

Bathory was a Swedish Metal - band , the forefront of the subgenres Black- , Viking and Pagan Metal applies. The driving force and only permanent member of the band was Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg (1966–2004), who wrote and recorded most of the songs himself.

history

The band, whose name goes back to the Hungarian "Blood Countess" Erzsébet Báthory (to whom the song Woman of Dark Desires is dedicated), was founded in May 1983 by the then 17-year-old Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg. After several changes of line-up, the band was able to contribute two pieces for the compilation Scandinavian Metal Attack of the record label Tyfon Grammafon, which led to the recording of a full album due to the positive reaction.

Her next releases - the self-titled debut album Quorthon along with a few friends from the Oi! - / punk scene (which he himself had listened to in his youth) had recorded within only 56 hours, as well as The Return ...... and Under the Sign of the Black Mark , both by Quorthon himself and by the Dubbed Death Metal in the press - are now considered to be the main influences of the first Norwegian black metal bands. Although the music style was named after the second album by the British band Venom , the musical ideals of the scene were clearly set by Bathory: At first glance, simple, loud music; a rough sound through technically simple production; satanic , anti-Christian lyrics and a gekrächzter to grunting vocals.

Bathory has often been referred to as the "Venom clone" in the press. The song title Countess Bathory and the fact that both the Venom album Black Metal and the first Bathory album contain two tracks called Raise the Dead and Sacrifice , as well as the artwork on both albums, are supported by the proponents Thesis used. Quorthon, however, stated that he did not own a Venom album and did not know the band before 1984 or 1985. The band was originally influenced by the early works of the bands Black Sabbath , Motörhead and GBH .

The album Blood Fire Death contained some slightly slower pieces and introduced the lyrical reference to the Northmen as a musical motif. Here the life of the Vikings acted as a textual pivot. While the Black Metal elements were still recognizable on this release, this changed with the album Hammerheart , on which the style changed drastically to a less aggressive, but more epic and atmospheric kind of music. In terms of text, everything revolved around the culture of the Vikings and especially pre-Christian Norse mythology . In this way, Bathory pioneered the newly emerged Viking Metal and perfected their playing style on the albums Twilight of the Gods and, years later, Blood on Ice .

Nordic themes had already been used on the Manowar album Sign of the Hammer , but Bathory Quorthon said it had not influenced it because he had not heard Manowar and was of the opinion that he could not fully accept a band that wore fur underwear to take. He would not have taken up these issues if he had believed that he would have been called a “Manowar clone”. He had made the decision to take up other topics around 1986 after he had come to the conclusion that taking up satanic topics was a complete waste of time; he and his fellow musicians were not satanists, Satanism was a product of Christianity. However, the band has always been anti-Christian. Numerous fans of the first albums resented this change; The black metal singer Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin (Ex- Morbid , Ex- Mayhem ) accused him of being a wimp who certainly did not invent occultism or throat singing, expressing constantly changing views in interviews, released on his father's label and had a glam rocker drummer.

1994 Bathory waved again stylistically to: Requiem showed increasingly influences the Bay Area - thrash metal -Bands 1980s. Bathory was considered unpredictable in the scene and took up the Viking theme again with the two Nordland albums from 2002 and 2003.

With the pieces Under the Runes and Distinguish to Kill , allegations arose that Bathory was carrying right-wing extremist content. Quorthon took a stand, particularly because of German fans who shouldn't believe what the press was writing about Bathory, and admitted that he had written these texts deliberately to provoke certain journalists who wanted to cast Bathory in a negative light, and on everyone Album to try to especially stimulate the German sensitivity to the Second World War.

In 2001 Bathory released the album Destroyer of Worlds , with which Quorthon tried to please fans of both the Thrash and Viking Metal eras. He said that he wrote the Bathory albums less for himself than for his fans, to whom he owed his music for a living. According to Quorthon, Bathory had sold 1.3 million albums by 2002.

Bathory has often been viewed as a one-man band; Quorthon, however, said that he only practically never performed the members because the line-up was constantly changing. The view that Bathory was a one-man band even went so far that some fans thought the line-up on the album Blood Fire Death , which had lasted six months and could therefore be considered stable, was a fake. From 1983 to 1984 director Jonas Åkerlund was the band's drummer.

On June 3, 2004, Quorthon died of heart failure at the age of 38, which also meant the end of the band Bathory. On August 28, 2004, a Quorthon tribute performance took place at Hole in the Sky , with the cast consisting of members of well-known Norwegian bands. Ivar Bjørnson ( Enslaved ) and Tomas Thormodsæter "Samoth" Haugen ( Emperor ) played guitar, Bård G. "Faust" Eithun ( Aborym ) drums and Ole Jørgen "Apollyon" Moe ( Aura Noir ) bass. The position of the singer changed depending on the song: Apollyon on Equimanthorn , Grutle Kjellson (Enslaved) on Call from the Grave , Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven ( Satyricon ) on Raise the Dead , Nocturno Culto ( Darkthrone ) on Total Destruction , Olve "Abbath Doom Occulta "Eikemo ( Immortal ) on Enter the Eternal Fire and Kristian Eivind" Gaahl "Espedal ( Trelldom ) most recently on A Fine Day to Die .

A Bathory tribute band called Twilight of the Gods , founded by Alan “Naihmass Nemtheanga” Averill ( Primordial ), has been performing since 2010, which also includes Iscariah ( Immortal ), Nick Barker ( Testament , Benediction ), Rune “Blasphemer” Eriksen ( Skitliv , Ava Inferi ) and Patrik Lindgren ( Thyrfing ).

Discography

Albums

Compilations

  • 1992: Jubileum, Volume I.
  • 1993: Jubileum, Volume II
  • 1998: Jubileum, Volume III
  • 2001: catalog
  • 2006: In Memory of Quorthon, Volume I.
  • 2006: In Memory of Quorthon, Volume II
  • 2006: In Memory of Quorthon, Volume III

Sampler contributions

  • 1984: Sacrifice and The Return of the Darkness and Evil on Scandinavian Metal Attack
  • 1997: Ace of Spades on A Black Mark Tribute
  • 1998: War Pigs on A Black Mark Tribute Vol. II
  • 2003: Black Diamond on A Tribute to the Creatures of the Night

swell

  1. Bernard Doe: OUT OF THE BLACK HOLE . In: Metal Forces , 1987.
  2. a b c d e f Luxi Lahtinen: BATHORY - An Epic Interview With Quorthon. 2001, accessed February 22, 2010 .
  3. ^ Death Metal ( Memento from December 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).
  4. a b BATHORY ( Memento from March 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).
  5. ^ Bathory - Bathory. Retrieved February 22, 2010 .
  6. ^ Bathory - The Return. Retrieved February 22, 2010 .
  7. Interviews with Dead. Archived from the original on October 17, 2007 ; accessed on February 22, 2010 (English).
  8. Aaron Patrick Mulvany: "Reawakening Pride Once Lost": Indigenity and European Folk Metal . Master thesis. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University, 2000, p. 32.
  9. Roberto Martinelli: Interview with BATHORY  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Maelstrom , No. 12.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.maelstrom.nu  
  10. ^ Fafnir: Enslaved (Grutle) interview of October 17, 2004 .
  11. Twilightheart: Twilight of the gods - interview .
  12. Metalfest 2010 - Twlight of the Gods - Bathory Tribute! . stormbringer.at, accessed on June 20, 2011.

Web links