The Return... [Original recording reissued, Import]

Bathory | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 27, 1994)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Import
• Label: Black Mark Germany
• ASIN: B000006SRT
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,166 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Revelation of Doom

2. Total Destruction

3. Born for Burning

4. The Wind of Mayhem

5. Bestial Lust (Bitch)

6. Possessed

7. The Rite of Darkness

8. Reap of Evil

9. Son of the Damned

10. Sadist

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The First True Black Metal Album! And One of the Best!, May 1, 2004

By 

"jtom181" (middle river, md United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Return... (Audio CD)

Despite the fact that Venom invented the name of the genre with their Black Metal realease, everyone knows they were not TRUE BM, as what they did was done tongue-in-cheek, and mainly for shock effect. Bathory, of course, is quite different. No doubt influenced by the Satanic themes of Venom, indeed the name Bathory comes from a Venom song title-Countess Bathory- Quarthon took things a step farther. What becomes clear in listening to both the first album, Bathory, and especially The Return is: the level of commitment to BM ethos and ideology that is really absent in Venom, overall. This goes way beyond simple snarling vocalizations of allegiance to Satan, which is actually not present with Bathory, and into the black realm of chaos and nihilism. This is clearly evidenced by the song titles, such as Total Destruction, The Wind of Mayhem, The Rite of Darkness, and The Return of Darkness and Evil. Make no mistake: Any issue as to whether or not Quorthon was actually a practising Satanist, and I seriously doubt that he was, is beside the point. What he has done on The Return is the REAL DEAL. It is the true epitome of black metal: evoking the enveloping prescense of evil and darkness in the form of musical hymms to all that is black and destructive. And that is exactly what this album does. It is the first UTTERLY BLACK metal album , and one of the best. All that you could ask for is here: grinding guitars, bashing percussion, torn-throat vocals, lryical invocations of darkness, death, and destruction, etc. This is a foundational album that especially influenced the Norwegian bands that would follow, and is an absolute classic of black death thrash. Also, this album is the perfect music for aligning your soul with the dark, cthonic powers-that-be, and for works of hexing, entropy, and necromancy...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Early black metal.., April 21, 2003

By 

en norsk kis (Ottestad, Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Return... (Audio CD)

AMAZING!
This is the first TRUE black metal album ever, and damn it's dark!
Every track is brilliant, but the classics "Born for Burning" and
"The Return of Darkness and Evil" are truly breathtaking.
Quarthon is really a mastermind.
If you are wanna hear the roots of modern black metal, buy this.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bathory's best moment., February 4, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Return... (Audio CD)

This is my favorite album from Bathory. They took the rawness from the first album and made some brutal music. This is true black metal and what it should sound like. Everything Bathory did up to Hammerheart is worthy of 5 stars but if I had to pick one for myself it would be "The Return..". Songs like; Total Destruction, Born For Burning, Possessed, Sadist, The Winds Of Mayhem and The Rite Of Darkness & Evil anchor this album and are the highlights which is practically the whole album, it's just excellent stuff. The production is really cheap since Quorthon had little money to work with, but it's amazing what great results can be done with little measures sometimes. "The Return.." is the second album of the "Black Metal Trilogy" from Bathory and in all honesty Quorthon's best moment before he switched to singing and 10 minute long epic songs about Vikings, Odin, and other things I don't really care for.

After "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" Quorthon still made the very good "Viking Metal Trilogy" of Blood Fire Death, Hammerheart and Twilight Of The Gods thus inventing "Viking Metal" (although Enslaved may have done it at the same time as Bathory), but he lost the ability to crush and kill like in the early days. If you listen to Nordland 1 or 2 you'll wonder what the hell happened to Quorthon. I know Dead (from Mayhem, RIP)was influenced by the early stuff and he hated how Quorthon got softer back in 1991, that was when "Twilight Of The Gods" came out and that was good but not brutal and sick anymore. Dead killed himself in 1991 and I can only imagine what he would have thought of the new Bathory sound, he would probably vomit. I'll have to do it for him. I'd like to remember Bathory from 1984 to 1990 as their creative and most defining era and "The Return" captures it perfectly. A Classic