Under the Sign of the Black Mark

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Under the Sign of the Black Mark
Bathory studio album

Publication
(s)

1987

Label (s) New Renaissance Records , Under One Flag

Format (s)

LP

Genre (s)

Thrash metal , death metal , black metal

Title (number)

10

running time

35 min 55 s

occupation
  • Paul Pålle Lundberg - drums
  • Christer Sandström - additional bass

production

The Boss , Quorthon

Studio (s)

Heavenshore Studio, Stockholm , Sweden

chronology
The Return ......
(1985)
Under the Sign of the Black Mark Blood Fire Death
(1988)

Under the Sign of the Black Mark is the third album of Bathory . It was released in 1987 by New Renaissance Records and Under One Flag . At that time it was sometimes referred to as Death Metal , but today it is considered a milestone for Black Metal and a template for the second Black Metal wave.

Style and texts

Under the Sign of the Black Mark gave synthesizers a prominent role in otherwise conservative metal and took on influences from classical music that were more prominent on later albums. While an article about the album written by Vorskaath von Zemial talks about guitar synthesizers and church organs , Quorthon himself mentions the use of a primitive synthesizer to add depth to the pieces and a Roland synthesizer for the operatic Nocternal Obeisance tune . Call from the Grave contains Frédéric Chopin's Marche funèbre from his second piano sonata . The sound of the electric guitars is still unclear and the vocals in pieces like Equimanthorn are faster than in Slayers Hell Awaits .

The piece Woman of Dark Desires is a tribute to Elisabeth Báthory , who gave the band its name. Equimanthorn refers to a deity invented by Quorthon, but also to Nordic mythology and the hell of Christianity . Enter the Eternal Fire is about going to hell as a result of a pact with the devil , the song has therefore been called a " Faustian story" and compared to Manowars Bridge of Death .

reception

The Rocktimes site wrote: “Never before, and especially never again afterwards, has Black Metal been played more wicked, lofty and devastating, but without foregoing 'hits', as this masterpiece has them en masse, or each of these nine black metallic hate tirades has a special melody and belongs in the pitch-black Hall Of Fame. ” She also advised“ to get hold of the 1986 original pressing […], because the remastering destroyed all of the majestic malevolence and special flair of the disc ”. Vorskaath von Zemial wrote that he had never heard anything so dark and ominous in metal and since then he has not found an album so steeped in darkness and darkness as this masterpiece, although he does not use "darkness" as a cliché epithet . This is the basis of the entire second black metal wave. As the only other significant band of true visionaries, Celtic Frost deserves to be mentioned. Out of respect for Under the Sign of the Black Mark , he never tried to emulate the album until he recorded the album In Monumentum after Quorthon's death and based on several songs from Bathory's third album on Born of the Crimson Flame . Sigh's Mirai Kawashima also referred to Under the Sign of the Black Mark as a template for today's Black Metal alongside Celtic Frost's Into the Pandemonium .

Eduardo Rivadavia from Allmusic wrote: “In short, though clearly transitional (which of their albums wasn't?), Under the Sign: The Sign of the Black Mark remains a career highlight for Bathory and a crucial LP for all lovers of extreme metal . ” He awarded 4.5 out of 5 points. In the obituary for Quorthon and Bathory on Powermetal.de it was described as a presumably “largely undisputed fact” that Quorthon had succeeded on this album, “the perfect synthesis between the extreme sound established on the first two albums and the catchy, yes, definitely to create anthemic songwriting ”. Several pieces on this album were referred to as "blueprints for the second wave of black metal that would sweep Scandinavia and particularly Norway from 1991". Sargon the Terrible of The Metal Crypt wrote in his review that only after listening to this album does the rest of Black Metal make sense; the realization that Mayhem's first EP Deathcrush was released a year after Under the Sign of the Black Mark did a lot to explain the origin of this movement (in fact, both records were released in 1987). He complained about the production that the drums and massacre, which were mixed too loudly and impaired hearing the riffs, were a bit too simple; generally the slower pieces are the better, but there are no really bad songs on this album.

The German magazine Visions led Under the Sign of the Black Mark on their list of Swedish 55 best rock albums.

Track list

  1. Nocternal Obeisance (Intro) - 1:28
  2. Massacre - 2:38
  3. Woman of Dark Desires - 4:06
  4. Call from the Grave - 4:35
  5. Equimanthorn - 3:41
  6. Enter the Eternal Fire - 6:57
  7. Chariots of Fire - 2:46
  8. 13 candles - 5:17
  9. Of Doom ...... - 3:44
  10. Outro - 0:25

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c BATHORY - "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" (UNDER ONE FLAG 11) . In: Jon Kristiansen : SLAYER . N ° 1 to 5 . Rosières en Haye: Camion Blanc 2009, p. 439.
  2. Hawk: BATHORY - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark , accessed July 20, 2012.
  3. ^ A b Jens Groh: Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark .
  4. a b c d e Vorskaath: ZEMIAL's Vorskaath on Bathory's 'Under The Sign Of The Black Mark'. (No longer available online.) Black Metal Revolution, archived from the original on August 21, 2013 ; accessed on July 5, 2012 . 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.blackmetalrevolution.com
  5. a b c Quorthon : Bathory - Under the sin .
  6. a b c The Memorial Hall - In memory of Quorthon by BATHORY. Powermetal.de , June 3, 2009, accessed July 5, 2012 .
  7. Mirai Kawashima: SIGH's Mirai Kawashima on Celtic Frost's 'Into The Pandemonium'. Black Metal Revolution, archived from the original on September 24, 2012 ; accessed on July 5, 2012 .
  8. ^ Eduardo Rivadavia: Under the Sign of the Black Mark - Bathory .
  9. ^ A b Sargon the Terrible: Classic Review: Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark. The Metal Crypt - Bathory, May 25, 2004, accessed July 5, 2012 .
  10. various authors: export world champion . In: Visions , issue 312, page 50