Customer Reviews

Bathory

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nothing quite compares to placing a record on one's record player, placing the needle on the vinyl, & absorbing that particular sound that only a record can emminate - soft crackles & all. Just light some candles in a darkened room, burn some incense, & experience the evocation; so much the better if you happen to possess a novelty grammophone connected to perfectly placed speakers.

The first time I ever saw this recording, I was in a Moby Disc Records Store, where I would always peruse the imports section. I was immediately drawn to the striking cover, which bears the demonic image of the Baphomet Goat --- a veritable bust which would look quite handsome as a statuette in one's parlor. I eventually sent away for a poster & a T-shirt bearing this image. I also eventually met with Quorthon at a local Metal store, where I got the poster & the LP signed, with a firm handshake to boot.

On the original record, the Black Goat had red burning eyes. On the back cover, the songtitles were printed in bloodred Olde English lettering, imposed upon a large blazing white pentagram on black backround. Again, quite striking. It no doubt found itself on many a xian pyre, in the hopes of ridding the land of the evil it wrought. Indeed, I have seen this very record on the "death row" of records destined to be burned, as I went undercover amongst the xian deathcult's "occult seminars" {a couple of instances in order to view My own artwork which had been first confisctaed by school staff, xeroxed, then eventually returned to Me}.

This is pure Black Metal, with 9 songs, including the Intro.

Storm of Damnation
Hades
Reaper
Necromansy
Sacrifice
In Conspiracy With Satan
Armageddon
Raise The Dead
War

On the CD, the Black Goat is still thereon, sans the red glowing eyes, & the back cover sans the pentagram & the Olde English font. Still, the musick is brutal, heavy, & dare I say it? Possessed vocals spewn from the depths of Hell.

"Storm of Damnation" sets the eerie mood with sounds seemingly drifting up from The Abyss. Very doom oriented. Useful for Destruction rituals & Hex Spells.

The so-called "re-mastered" version here, is really just a recording from vinyl straight to CD, as I was delighted to hear very subtle traces of those unmistakable needle noises from time to time, whioch really adds an arcane element to the recording. So now, you can listen to Bathory on your CD player, whether it be in your automobile, on a discman, at your friends' homes, or in your own Lair.

Bathory, along with Venom, Celtic Frost, Possessed, & Mercyful Fate, formed the bedrock for the current Black - Death Metal underground, which continues to thrive in the darkened shadows; the occult recesses of the nightmarish musickal black.

As I have stated before, some Musick is timeless --- & I will add some of the Primevil Black Metal along with it.
Despite what happened to Bathory after 'Bathory', 'The Return', & 'Under The Sign of The Black Mark', {the Infernal Trinity, & the best Bathory ever created}, these three opuses are as a triune barb of Hell thrust into a bleeding Heaven, & remains a classic in Luciferian blasphemous rage.

Anyone interested in the origins of black metal will love this. While "Bathory" is not the "first black metal album" as some suggest - Quorthon (Tomas Forsberg) was obviously influenced by Venom, and possibly the first Slayer album also - this album undoubtedly inspired many of the more recent black metal bands (Satyricon, etc.). Quorthon wrote this album when he was 18 years old, and he recorded it himself at "Heavenshore Studios"(a garage) in 36 hours; not surprisingly, the music and lyrics are somewhat basic, and the sound quality is a bit rough (especially the vocals on some tracks). Don't let this deter you, though; this is great stuff. In my opinion the final song, "War", is a bit weak, but the other 7 songs and the intro (which is a bit too long) are excellent. The songs are for the most part up-tempo, but not ridiculously fast like some black metal bands. Most of the songs sound at least somewhat different, which I find very impressive coming from a 19 year old songwriter. Albums on which all of the songs are played at the same speed bore me; the somewhat slower "Raise the Dead" (not the old Venom song) is a nice change of pace. The lyrics? Pretty basic stuff, but on a groundbreaking album like this, that can be easily overlooked. Hey, how many black metal albums have great lyrics anyway?

This is pure black metal at at its roots, preceeded only by Venom in 82. Tomas Forsberg is amazing, seeing how he is the only one in the band. He created an album not only leading to other greats but that totally stormed the gates of the early 80's. This is not to be confused with symphonic black metal, this is not COF or Dimmu, for those of you new to the genre. This is stripped to its core, no sustaining atmosphere is provided by keyboard. But if you are into black metal at all this is at the heart of it. A must have for any metalheads collection.

THE BEST ALBUM. No questions asked. Bathory destroys any of this mainstream crap metal seen currently in your local music shops. They are THE BLACK METAL BAND OF THE CENTURY, most noted and respected the world-over.

Influenced by the likes of Motorhead and taking their sound to another level, Bathory created an exciting type of new heavy metal back in 1982. They blended the aggro-thrashings of heavy metal with garage punk, and added a terrifying type of anguished screams over the wall of sound... And this, ladies and gentleman, is what began black metal. While many hair bands took to singing about partying, women, drugs, and booze, Quorthon looked to much darker things of Satanism, the occult, and sacrificial rituals, later to be the blueprint for countless black metal bands.

The music here is simple, fast, heavy-hitting, and shows almost no technical merits except for an occasional solo. The drums focus on basic ride-snare patterns, the guitars churn out simple, yet catchy and effective rhythms based on power chords, and the bass seems almost non-existant. But this release must have made one heck of an impression years ago, especially with Quorthon's anguished, raspy screams forefronting the sound, which was unlike anything ever seen in metal at the time. His screams are a tad like Motorhead here, but would later develop on proceeding albums. The production is dirty, but holds a raw essence of the music, and perfectly suits it.

The songs here really don't have any differentiating features, and all follow basic verse-chorus structures played at hyper-speed. But this album has spirit and ambition, which would inspire a few young lads throughout the world to pick up their instruments and make music even more savage than this. To say the least, if you consider youself a metalhead in the least, this album is essential, along with all other Bathory albums up to "Twilight of the Gods", also worth checking out.

Quorthon, the Lord of Chaos, the Emissary of Evil, the Founder of The most evil, most hated, most diguisting and sick style of metal ever...BLACK METAL. This is the defining album for Black Metal, Bathory's debut album. It is pure evil and anger portrayed through music.

Quorthon started Bathory just for kicks. He made two demo songs called "Sacrifice" and "The Return of the Darkness and Evil", which were placed on a metal compilation titled "Scandinavian Metal Attack". Of all the songs on this compilation, Quorthon's were the sickest and most sought after by all listeners. They liked what they were hearing and wanted plenty more of it. So Quorthon now had a record deal, and was able to stop mowing lawns for spending cash and just make songs and get paid for it. He drew out the goat head, remade Sacrifice and concocted a few more "spells" like "Reaper", "Necromansy", "War" and some others. With the use of heavily distorted guitars, thin drum sounds, blistering bass and growling, puking vocals all done in very cheap and horrible production.... Quorthon created the sound of Black Metal. With lyrics completely about the Lord of Hell (Hades, Lucifer, Beherit, Behemoth call him what you may)...this was not the kind of music that KISS rockers were headbanging to at Saturday Night parties. This was for the true metal worshipers...this was real metal! And it scared many. All the kids who said they were "Total hardcore Metalheads" because they listen to Ozzy Osbourne or Dio were practicly pissing their shorts when they heard what true metal sounded like.

Psychotic album, psychotic vocals, sick guitar sick everything. Bathory's debut album is a classic for any real metal head and black-metal head. Pure chaos on a comapact disc. This album RULES. HAIL and R.I.V. Quorthon forever. Beware-posers and emos will probably have a seizure or faint when hearing this real metal,(all the better or us though!)

I have to say that Bathory are becoming one of my favorite bands of all time, Quorthon is just that amazing. I mean to think that he made practically this whole album himself, as in wrote the songs/lyrics, was the killer guitarist and gave it that "made in my garage" sound all at the age of 18 is nothing less than DAMN F*CKING IMPRESSIVE! I mean when I was 18 I was only just getting into metal and smoking a lot of pot... yeah real productive huh?

Yeah I'll definitely start off by saying that this is one of the first if not THE first true black metal album along with Mercyful Fate's Melissa, Don't Break the Oath, and of course serious props go to Venom's first 2 albums (this album is heavily influenced by Venom) What makes this stand out from other early BM outputs is Quorthon's signature buzz-saw vocals and that aforementioned "I made this for $50 in 50 mins" lo-fi sound. However, if you ask me I friggin' love that kind of production, it really makes black metal...well black metal! Seriously, if you thought Venom and the like was too raw for you then stay the HELL away from this and the other early Bathory albums.

Now let's go over some of the highlights of the album. "Reaper" is a friggin' BM classic dammit, it's short and to the point, very punkish and pure evil, certainly having its listeners into a headbanging frenzy. Necromansy has the memorable line "I gather up the force of darkness to bring damnation lust and war, Demand all heaven's virgins bend before our horny lord". HAHA! C'mon that's just awesome, plain and simple. Hey doesn't the title "In Conspiracy With Satan" sound a lot like Venom's "In League With Satan"? Well obviously not musically I'm just talking about the friggin' title. Yeah I just thought I'd mention that.

Sacrifice and Raise the Dead are more Venom song titles yet these are a tad more evil than Venom's dare I say, or maybe they're just right on par with the evilness. Basically the songs are pretty simple and completely raw, that's pretty much all you people need to know. What's pretty sweet about this album is that I think all the songs are equally good, nothing really stands out so much except for 'Reaper', just buy the album and listen for yourself.

So if you like those aforementioned early extreme metal bands and old school speed metal like Motorhead and such and if you're not a pansy who complains about production then this is right up your alley!

Bathory's 1st album is an essential black metal milestone that no true headbanger should be without!
I first heard Bathory in 1993 when "Jubelium Vol. 1" was released. In my always never-ending search for the heaviest of bands, I took the chance and bought some Bathory without even hearing it. The cover intrigued me with it's satanic imagery and reminded me of Venom, the FIRST black/thrash/death/speed metal band. During 1993, I was listening to bands like Slayer, Danzig, Napalm Death, Autopsy and Cathedral. Bathory was soon added to my music collection and I have been a fan since then.
Bathory was basically a one-man band led by Quorthon, a very serious musician and personality in the early black metal scene. Mayhem, Darkthrone and Emperor were heavily influenced by the satanic lyrics and viking epics. Quorthon believed heavily in viking gods and most of his music after the first 2 albums was based upon the lives and battles of norsemen.
Bathory's debut is raw. It's not one of the best recorded albums I've heard but the point gets across and is very listenable. What can I say about the songs? All are early black/death classics. Each song a gem.
If you like real heavy metal, then I suggest you check out not only Bathory's 1st album but all of them. I never bought one that I didn't like.
I also just found out that on June 7th of this year, Qorthon died of heart Failure in his home. He was 39 years old and was working on a new album. May Odin be at his side as he walks the long road to Valhalla, for it is truly the twilight of a god!

This is the first--and, arguably, best-- Bathory album, certainly
the most 'black'. Every track is pure menace, and Quorthon's
gut-wrenching vocals inspired many of the metal underground's
finest frontmen. If you're interested in true heavy metal,
"Bathory" is a necessary purchase.

Bathory, named after Elizabeth Bathory, serial slaughterer, and psychopath. The name is only adequate. Clocking in at a little over 26 minutes, this might, perhaps be the most influential Black Metal album of all time. This one is very short and to the point. You'll find all of Black Metal's trademarks, screeching vocals, pummeling drums, and super fast guitar riffs and solos. The subject matter of the lyrics is very fun and not to be taken seriously. With songs like "Raise The Dead" and "Reaper", you'll find that horror movie type of theme throughout the album. Also, I might add that the lyrics are absolutlely great: "Beyond the mountains, where the wind cries out its pain, Deserted valleys where the darkness always reigned" (Hades). I can't get enough of that kind of stuff. Anyways, if you're curious about Black Metal and want to know where to start, look no further than Bathory's self-titled debut.