The Return ......
| The Return ...... | ||||
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| Bathory studio album | ||||
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Publication |
May 27, 1985 |
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| Label (s) | Combat Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP |
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
36 min 41 s |
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| occupation |
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Quorthon |
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Studio (s) |
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The Return ...... , full title: The Return of the Darkness and Evil , is the second album of Bathory . It was released on Combat Records in May 1985 .
background
According to his own information, Quorthon only became aware of Venom after the release of the debut album Bathory and through fanzines interested in Bathory also other extreme metal bands like Hellhammer , Possessed , Kreator , Destruction and Sodom , as well as bands like Demon Eyes, Raven , Blaspheme and Vulcain (whose music he listened to continuously for about half a year) and the Canadian band Exciter , whose sound he used as a model when recording The Return ...... from his own memory . With Slayer he only thinks he can remember that the high pitched vocals and the dual guitar solos bothered him. On Metallica's debut album Kill 'Em All , only the pure Marshall sound impressed him. The band Anthrax were technically great musicians, but he was missing something while listening to Fistful of Metal . He couldn't stand Celtic Frost and Kreator what was received and spread by fanzines. He also railed against Voivod without ever having heard a single one of her pieces in full; that around 1999 or 2000 someone from Ontario anonymously sent him several newer Voivod CDs and after listening to them he had to admit how “damn great and truly original it was”, he described as a “revelation seventeen years too late”. Hearing from these other bands had a noticeable effect on the second Bathory album, according to Quorthon; knowing that at least a dozen other bands were going in a similar direction had the effect that the new album was not as innocent as the first, but written and recorded with a plan. With all the new bands, the band realized that they had to make a name for themselves. Quorthon decided Bathory should go in a different direction from all of these other bands; therefore a large part of the material for the second album was "not as exaggeratedly fast or noisy" as in the majority of the recordings for the debut album. Instead of speed for its own sake and noise, the band should now strive for a heavier sound and a darker atmosphere.
In mid-February 1985 Quorthon went to the Elektra Studio in Stockholm with temporary drummer Stefan Larsson and new, temporary bassist Andreas "Adde" Johansson, where they recorded Sacrifice and The Return of the Darkness and Evil for Scandinavian Metal Attack . Rickard Bergman had declined to participate at an early stage, and Johan Elvén was still serving in the Swedish Navy and was therefore unavailable. The working title of the second album was Revelation of Doom , but "for purely aesthetic reasons" The Return of the Darkness and Evil was considered more appropriate. In addition, the title is more suitable for a second album, and Bathory wanted to re-record the song of the same name for this album. When the band decided to record a tune for the new album (like Storm of Damnation on the debut), Quorthon saw it as "poetic justice" to call this Revelation of Doom . However, the full title did not appear on the album in the end, which Quorthon made a statement on the official Bathory website:
“We wanted people to just read out" The return ... "- as in a second album or a follow-up - and then flip the album over to look for a tracking list. Not finding one, what they got was this apocalyptic poem with the song titles woven into it. Only after listening through the album to the end would you get the full title of the album; THE RETURN OF THE DARKNESS AND EVIL. "
“We wanted people to just read 'The Return ...' - like a second album or sequel - and then turn the album over to check the track list. Instead, they got an apocalyptic poem with the song titles woven into it. Only after listening to the album would you recognize the full title of the album: THE RETURN OF THE DARKNESS AND EVIL. "
Originally the poem was supposed to be recited during unison, but the band didn't manage to use effects to give the voice the right sound. In addition, the band had decided to start the album with Total Destruction and therefore thought the poem at that point was inappropriate as it should have been like an introduction to The Return of The Darkness and Evil and should have been recited before it. The idea was therefore rejected. Quorthon says he doesn't remember the recordings because he was drunk most of the time; however, he still remembers the atmosphere and the surroundings. During the shoot, Johansson was fired for consuming amphetamines and Quorthon had a problem with illegal drugs; he gave Johansson the choice of either taking the day off and returning without an amphetamine high, or of leaving. Johansson does not return and Quorthon took over the bass himself. Towards the end of the recording, a Tyfon employee came into the studio and told the band to take care of the final overdubs , as advance sales had reached 10,000 copies.
Track list
All pieces by Quorthon.
- Revelation of Doom - 3:27
- Total Destruction - 3:50
- Born for Burning - 5:13
- The Wind of Mayhem - 3:13
- Bestial Lust - 2:41
- Possessed - 2:42
- The Rite of Darkness - 2:05
- Reap of Evil - 3:28
- Son of the Damned - 2:48
- Sadist - 3:00
- The Return of the Darkness and Evil - 3:49
- Outro - 0:25
Music genre
In contrast to Heavenshore, Elektra Studio had 24 instead of 8 tracks and significantly more equipment. The music on the album "was so fast, so aggressive and so extreme that people could hardly believe what they were hearing". The production is "colder and more unsettling than before, [...] with grunted, inhuman singing."
Texts
The lyrics are based on the same dark and nasty themes as the debut, but for the most part with a "refined, somber feel". Neo-Satan literature, horror films and medieval woodcuts served as inspiration , as well as hikes through cemeteries and church visits. Serial killer- themed plays like Possessed , Reap of Evil, and Son of the Damned were inspired in part by cheap Hollywood films starring chainsaw or masked killers, as well as literature that made connections between modern satanists and serial killers. During his preoccupation with violent acts of Christianity Quorthon discovered the Inquisition and as a result wrote Born for Burning , which was dedicated to Marigje Arriens , who was burned as a witch in Schoonhoven in 1591 . In addition to these topics, Quorthon took up nuclear war for the first time in Total Destruction . Bestial Lust, on the other hand, was dedicated to the women with whom Quorthon had sex and with whom his success increased by claiming to be in a band.
layout
The band originally wanted to use a medieval woodcut as the record cover , but opted for “something simple and yet symbolically powerful”. She preferred motifs of gloomy landscapes or a nocturnal atmosphere; the original ideas were reminiscent of the album covers of Scandinavian black metal bands in the late 1990s. Since the band couldn't find any suitable motifs, it looked like they would have to resort to the woodcuts. Shortly before the publication deadline, the assistant sound engineer Gunnar Silins brought his own photographs of a night meteor shower last summer with him. Since meteorites were considered a bad omen in the Middle Ages , the band rated the photographs as interesting enough to at least inspect them. Ultimately, however, she did not record the meteor shower, but the full moon . For the back of the album, several liters of pork or chicken blood were poured over an almost vertical rock wall at night and this was photographed. On the inside of the LP there is a woodcut depicting the osculum infame . Because of the result of the first pressing, the band made sure that their logo, the title of the album and the poem on the back were shown in gold this time and not in canary yellow.
reception
Dave Constable wrote in 1985 in Metal Forces that the album was "true Death Metal ", with which Bathory "should move up to the Slayer league". The album is “not for wimps. It's hard to express how hard this album is! ”. The Return ...... did not reach the status of the three following albums Under the Sign of the Black Mark , Blood Fire Death and Hammerheart , but it was the album that started the hype around Bathory and on which Bathory was perceived as Black -Metal pioneer based; the minimalist cover served as a template for the nocturnal and dark nature motifs of the coming Black Metal generation, and the raw and dark atmosphere as one of the main inspirations of the second and third black metal waves. Quorthon himself mentions that young metalheads from regions as remote as Japan and South America sent him photographs of themselves with self-made Bathory t-shirts. As an example of the reactions in fanzines, he printed a review from a Norwegian fanzine, in which the album received 666 out of 10 possible points:
“Fy faan. He's the most brutal villeste, råeste and heavieste as he comes on vinyl noensinne. It should be rått and fat at that it works properly. If you want lp, you should leave a length etter. DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! Fuckin` amazing. "
"Cursed. It's the most brutal, wildest, rawest and heaviest thing that ever came on vinyl. It's incredibly raw and bold. You can look for a better LP for a long time. DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! Damn amazing. "
According to Daniel Ekeroth, The Return is ...... “in many ways [...] Bathory's most extreme record, and one of the worst albums ever. Everything from the cloudy full moon on the cover to the monotonous and relentless music and satanic lyrics fits perfectly. Forget Venom, Mercyful Fate and Hellhammer - The Return was the prototype for most of what would later be called Black Metal. ”Especially early Mayhem and Burzum owed Bathorys a lot to this phase. Götz Kühnemund from Rock Hard insinuated that Quorthon had "mainly copied Venom" on the debut album and only found "his own trademarks" on The Return ....... A song like Born for Burning “still sounds a lot like Venom, but at the same time marks the detachment from the original [...]. Songs like 'The Return Of The Darkness And Evil', 'Total Destruction', 'Possessed' and 'Sadist' are also really awesome […]. "Metal Mike Blim criticized the modest playing skills in the Metal Hammer , the exuberant effect noises, the" pure copy copies ”and well-known song titles and quotes. With his 3 of 7 points in the monthly soundcheck, he still gave the highest grade to the bottom of the table. The Metal Observer described the tracks as "simple, brutal and evil". The conclusion was: “One of the ultimate classics of the genre, every Black Metal fan should own this!” It gave 10 out of 10 points.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Bathory - The Return. Retrieved December 3, 2012 .
- ^ A b Daniel Ekeroth: Swedish Death Metal . Brooklin, NY: Bazillion Points Books 2009, p. 33, accessed December 3, 2012.
- ^ Götz Kühnemund : Bathory . The Return ... . In: Rock Hard , No. 269, October 2009, p. 96.
- ↑ Mike Blim: Bathery . The return. In: Metal Hammer . November 1985, p. 87 .
- ↑ [Soundcheck] . In: Metal Hammer . November 1985, p. 82 f .
- ↑ Milan: BATHORY - The Return , accessed December 2, 2012.