Customer Reviews

Nordland I

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The first Bathory song I ever heard was "Mother Earth Father Thunder". I was blown away. This is without a doubt, the *heaviest* metal song I've ever heard in my life. It's epic and powerful. It grabs you where it counts and kicks your ass. You'll never hear metal the same after this song.

Some of Bathory's stuff is too thrashy/black metal for me (never did like 300bpm songs with indecipherable screaming), but the viking metal stuff he did was outstanding.

The Swedish band Bathory has always been essentially a one-man-band project formed by Quorthon (Ace Thomas Forsberg) in 1983 when he was 17 years-old. Quorthon released 12 studio albums and 5 compilation albums in the next 20 years under the Bathory name, as well as 2 rock albums simply as "Quorthon."

His last two cds were two connecting viking metal albums NORDLAND I (2002) and NORDLAND II (2003). These releases ended up being Quorthon's swansong as he was found dead in June 2004 from heart failure (not drug or alcohol related).

Quorthon's musical output was a mixed bag of various styles of metal & rock -- horror speed, epic metal, thrash, acoustic and rock.

With the two NORDLAND albums Quorthon essentially reverted back to the epic style of 1990's HAMMERHEART and 1991's TWILIGHT OF THE GODS, as well as the epic metal featured on 2001's DESTROYER OF WORLDS. Although the NORDLAND project does not surpass the savage magnificence of HAMMERHEART, it certainly beats out TWILIGHT, which only had a few stellar numbers.

1.) "Prelude." This is a nice instrumental opening to the album.
2.) "Nordland." The titular song starts out with a powerful marching-like opening that lasts well over a minute. The main break riff is a bit weak but it doesn't last long; besides, the chorus is great. Quorthon actually SINGS on the song and it's not bad if you like his voice; in fact, it's kind of trance-inducing. One thing I love about Quorthon's vocals is that he morphs his voice to fit the needs of the song, whatever style it might be. In other words, he's not one-dimensional like too many extreme metal vocalists who are content to bark out their vocals in the same boring fashion song after song.
3.) "Vinterlot." This is one of the best songs on the cd. It begins with a crushing start/stop riff, similar to "Father to Son," with a low one-note vocal in the background. I love the low-sung vocals on the verses and the epic Viking break ("AAAHHHHHHH, OHHHHHHHHH," etc.).
4.) "Dragon's Breath." Another great song! I love the unique barked-out words of the verses.
5.) "Ring of Gold." This is an exceptional, beautiful & soothing acoustic number which proves that Quorthon can actually sing. Magnificent.
6.) "Foreverdark Woods." This one starts out with, of all things, a great mandolin melody and is mandolin-driven all the way through -- a standout track and one of my favorites.
7.) "Broken Sword." Although this number starts and finishes with great acoustic pieces it's primarily a speed metal piece. I personally hate mindless speed metal that has no soul. Even though the speedy riffs and licks start out that way Quorthon wins me over with his catchy melodies, especially in the vocal department. The closing acoustic piece is magnificent.
8.) "Great Hall Awaits A Fallen Brother." I wasn't too overly keen on this one at first but it's now one of my favorites on the cd. It starts out with a fairly generic driving metal riff but Quorthon somehow turns it into a masterpiece simply because he's an expert song-crafter. Once again, the verses and chorus feature catchy vocal melodies. The chorus effectively combines heaviness and acoustics. My favorite part kicks in at the 4:30 mark where Quorthon takes the listener on an unexpected 3-minute mellow-yet-heavy diversion -- more soothing and trance-inducing melodies.
9.) "Mother Earth, Father Thunder." This is a solid epic viking number but standard fare if you're used to Bathory. I'm sure if you've never heard Bathory before you'd think it was stellar. Anyway, the first few times I heard the chorus I couldn't help giggling at the way Quorthon sings the line 'Mother earth father thunder' ultra-low in the background. Still, it's a fine, if unexceptional, piece.
10.) "Heimfard." A fitting and stellar instrumental epilogue -- seagals, waves and all.

Bathory's brand of metal isn't for every one. It's very unique (songwise and production-wise) and completely non-mainstream or commercial. Quorthon released some weak material in the mid-90s with REQUIEM, OCTAGON and even BLOOD ON ICE, but ended his career with 3 great or near-great albums. My favorite Bathory recordings are as follows:

HAMMERHEART
NORDLAND I
DESTROYER OF WORLDS
NORDLAND II
TWILIGHT OF THE GODS
BLOOD, FIRE, DEATH

The rest I could take or (more likely) leave, but I highly recommend all the above albums, starting at the top. If you don't love HAMMERHEART you won't likely appreciate any of the others either.

This is an album of great power, majesty, and beauty. I just heard a little clip of the title track and thought I'd give it a shot - the whole album is excellent. High production values, and a wide range of styles make this a fantastic buy. I guess it's no longer black metal - but great Nordic metal.

This is, with Nordland II, the best piece of "Viking Metal" available (at least that I'm aware of). They're also two of my favorite albums, only held back by Lost Horizon's "AFTTGB" and Virgin Steele's "Invictus".
These albums are chocked full of raw, well, what better words could I use than "POWER", "EPICNESS", "SPIRIT", and "DEVOTION". Bathory has always been more than noteworthy for their excellence in their rythmic black/thrash metal hybrid, but these albums are off the wall!
If I only get two hours of sleep, either Nordland should fix me up (true). My body is killing me from my relentless strength training, either Nordland should push me beyond limits I never knew I had (true). Need something to play for an amazing sexual experience? You got it, Nordland(I/II) (true). Need to call Quorthon back from the Golden Halls of Valhalla? That's right, Nordland. Well, OK, I've never tried that last one. But it's not a magic I'd put beyond this music. Excellent way to finish off the musical career of black/thrash/viking metal's finest act. Burnin' Leather!

I've been listening to Bathory since summer of 1995, and they've been my favorite band since shortly after that. My favorite albums from Bathory are Blood Fire Death, Hammerheart, and now Nordland I. I have heard all their albums at least 100 times each, and I must say that this album is very powerful. I've been listening to it for the last 2 months, and there's not much else I've been listening to. The best songs are Nordland, Vinterblot, Dragon's Breath, Foreverdark Woods, and Mother Earth Father Thunder. These are amongs the best Bathory songs. If you only like the early Bathory albums, then I don't recommend this album. But if atleast liked Hammerheart, Twilight of the Gods, Blood on Ice or anything slow, heavy, and powerful... then you'll love this album. I've always considered Hammerheart to be their best Nordic/Viking album, but I must admit that this most likely has it beat. Of course those have withstood the test of time, but I'm guessing this album will, too. And Nordland II should be out in a month or two... Hail the Hordes! 1/28/03 - Mark McKillip

Rest in peace, modern day viking and inspirational musician.

I am a new fan of Bathory. This was the first Bathory album that I purchased. I listened to the sound clips and they sounded pretty cool so I decided to get the CD. When I listened to the Cd for the first time I was just BLOWN AWAY! I have never heard anything with so much power and beauty as this CD other than the greatest band ever(DEATH). This CD is full of memorable guitar riffs and vocals. The whole album is perfect, every song is great. I recommend this album to anyone who listens to real metal.