Bathory: The Viking Metal Years, 1988-1991

Bathory is crucially important in the history of black metal for two distinct reasons.  First, for taking the template laid down by Venom on Black Metal and shifting the early black metal sound away from speed metal and/or NWOBHM; second, for creating the subgenre of Viking metal in the later 1980s.

Bathory in the Viking Metal years

After their old style pretty much peaked on 1987's Under the Sign of the Black Mark, Bathory shifted gears with 1988's Blood Fire Death.  This album saw a move away from the darker, more Satanic atmosphere of the early work, with crisper-sounding guitars, clean vocals, and imagery and lyrical themes drawn from elements of Scandinavian mythology.

"A Fine Day to Die" is one of Bathory's most famous songs from this period

On Blood Fire Death, the changes from the earlier period were not as radical as they would later become, but they were present nonetheless.  One could hear the guitar sound begin to shift from the vile, raw, down-tuned sound of old-school black metal.  The vocals were not always a demonic screech.  And the songs were long, epic soundscapes.

My favorite from this period in Bathory's history, "Baptised In Fire and Ice"

With 1990's Hammerheart, the shift was more pronounced.  More varied tempos, clearer-sounding vocals, rousing choruses, and a guitar sound that was crisp and almost regal.  Just as Bathory had redefined extreme music with their first three albums, they redefined it again with their next three albums.

Off of 1991's Twilight of the Gods

With 1991's Twilight of the Gods, Bathory again peaked.  They had created the mold that all later viking metal bands were to follow.  Most of Bathory's material throughout the 1990s was thrash metal with elements of the viking sound.  It really wasn't until albums such as the Nordland albums that Bathory returned to the pure viking sound.

Select Discography:

Blood Fire Death (1988)

Hammerheart (1990)

Twilight of the Gods (1991)
Blood on Ice (recorded 1988-1989, released 1996)
Nordland I (2002)
Nordland II (2003)

Next time:  TREBLINKA