Hammerheart
| Hammerheart | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bathory studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Noise Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
8th |
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running time |
55:46 |
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| occupation |
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Quorthon and The Boss |
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Hammerheart is the fifth album by the Swedish band Bathory . It was released in April 1990 as a fold-out cover LP. Hammerheart continues the path from Black Metal that Bathory had taken with its predecessor Blood Fire Death , and is considered a milestone of later Viking Metal .
History of origin
Bathory went to Heavenshore studio in June 1989 to record the album. The effects device rented for this was hardly used. As it was very hot that summer, the band had to leave the door of the garage that served as a studio open most of the time to avoid passing out from the heat and lack of oxygen.
Track list
- Shores in Flames - 11:07 am
- Valhalla - 9:33
- Baptized in Fire and Ice - 7:57
- Father to Son - 6:28
- Song to Hall up High - 2:30
- Home of Once Brave - 6:43
- One Rode to Asa Bay - 10:23
- Outro - 0:52
Playlist on the 2003 remastered version
- Shores in Flames
- Valhalla
- Baptized in Fire and Ice
- Father to Son
- Song to Hall Up High / Home of Once Brave
- One Rode to Asa Bay
- Outro
Texts
In contrast to the predecessor Blood Fire Death there are no more satanic allusions in the lyrics, but topics related to paganism .
Shores in Flames is about a boat trip to the coast of a foreign country. The city there is attacked by the protagonists at dawn. The text contains allusions to Odin , his ravens Hugin and Munin, and Thor .
Valhalla is about Valhalla , where the warriors who fell in battle go.
Baptized in Fire and Ice and the Father to Son ( “Dedicated to the Children of the North Star” ), which is dedicated to the “Children of the North Star”, refer to tradition from father to son and have clear patriotic traits:
“Promise me my son to always
Cherish what is home to you
What is the truth and to
Defend all of your race
Never lose the values
I have taught to you
Always keep your moral and ideals
Do never bring your flag disgrace ”
"Promise me, my son, to always
honor what is home to you.
What is the truth and
to defend your entire gender.
Never lose the values that
I have taught you.
Always keep your morals and ideals
And never bring shame on yours." Flag"
Song to Hall Up High is aimed at Odin, in whose hall the protagonist wants to enter after his death, and goes into Home of Once Brave , which deals with nature and also refers to Odin and his ravens.
The song One Rode to Asa Bay , dedicated to Dean Andersson, deals with the Christian invasion of Scandinavia and the forced Christianization of the pagans. Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg had a music video made for this song .
style
The clear vocals that Quorthon first used on the forerunner Blood Fire Death are the norm on Hammerheart . He also had a fast, thrash -biased style of the early albums back, and the songs are long usually about five minutes. Fierce from Webzine vampster describes the music as the “perfect soundtrack” to “Stories from bygone times”, he describes the music as a “sluggish, bombastic and epic bastard of Doom and Black Metal that is peppered with an atmosphere that makes you think of Mark and leg goes ”. Despite the acoustic passages, the album has "NOTHING to do with Folk Metal " for Fenriz von Darkthrone . At that time Quorthon stated that he mainly heard operas by Richard Wagner , who was an important inspiration and whose name can be found among the acknowledgments.
layout
The design of the album was done by Quorthon, the record cover is a painting by Sir Frank Dicksee , The Funeral of a Viking , which shows the burial of a Viking on a longship set on fire. The photography in the LP is by Jörn Böhmer Olsen and Ralf Sörensen. A sun gear can be seen on the back , which sparked controversy.
reception
Eduardo Rivadavia from allmusic is of the opinion that Quorthon's clear singing would have required vocal training. Hammerheart is considered the archetypal Viking metal album. Rivadavia sees a connection between Quorthon's anti-Christian orientation and the crimes of the black metal scene, which he describes as hate crimes . Fierce von vampster wrote that not a single band has "managed to achieve the unique Viking atmosphere of BATHORY's" Hammerheart "and that no album has" earned the name 'Viking Metal' "that the production was rather poor and “Quorthon is simply not a technically good singer”, for him are “facts that simply don't play a role on this album. 'Hammerheart' conveys a feeling, 'Hammerheart' offers timeless music and 'Hammerheart' is in a class of its own ”. It is "[t] spit all his mistakes [...] a perfect album".
Fenriz von Darkthrone emphasizes that Bathory's then new style was "EXTRAORDINARY original".
“What Quorthon did with Bathory in 1989-1991 has NOTHING to do with folk metal, he marched against everything when he released 'Hammerheart' and 'Twilight of the Gods'. The whole scene played faster and faster and with more and more hi-fi sound; but he did thoroughly honest Viking Metal, all to himself. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bathory - Bathory. Retrieved January 22, 2010 (English).
- ↑ a b Fierce: BATHORY: Hammerheart. Hell of Fame. July 10, 2001, accessed February 22, 2010 .
- ↑ a b dirk-bengt: Darkthrone - Interview with the metal missionary, drummer and non-musician Fenriz. November 27, 2008, accessed February 22, 2010 .
- ↑ Luxi Lahtinen: BATHORY - An Epic Interview With Quorthon. 2001, accessed February 22, 2010 .
- ↑ Roberto Martinelli: Interview with BATHORY :: Maelstrom :: Issue No 12. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 23, 2010 ; accessed on February 22, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Eduardo Rivadavia: allmusic (((Hammerheart> Overview))). Retrieved January 22, 2010 (English).
- ↑ Arlette Huguenin: DARKTHRONE: Too much black, not enough metal. November 17, 2008, accessed February 22, 2010 .
