Attention Viking Metal fans…..the legendary and super-influential Bathory is about to have a back-catalogue release on limited edition vinyl (gold vinyl indeed for some) which, if you’re lucky enough to get one, will be a fine addition to any metal fans’ collection. My friends at musicrecordshop.com tell me that have a number of the limited editions available for pre-order so head on over there now and reserve yourself one.
For the uninitiated, Bathory was a Swedish heavy metal band formed in the early 1980s and there is a NWOBHM connection, however tenuous, as some speculation about their name suggests it was taken from a Venom song – Countess Bathory – who was a Hungarian countess. Bathory paved the way in the “dark metal” scene which would sort of evolve in to Viking metal and inspire the many noteworthy bands to emerge from the whole Scandinavian metal movement.
Undisputed band leader, the enigmatic “Quorthon” – otherwise known as Thomas Forsberg set things up as a teenage guitarist and saw things through all the way to an untimely death in 2004. During their twenty year history Bathory’s style did change, evolve and switch between black metal, heavy metal, a bit of proggy-style stuff, speed/thrash though with an underlying epic feeling with many references to Norse and Scandianavian mythology.
The early years of the millennium saw the band embark on an adventurous series of four albums however the first two of which saw the light of day as Quorthorn’s death in 2004 meant that time was called and sadly it was also the end of Bathory.
They have retained legendary status amongst the Scandinavian metal scene and quite a few of today’s bands of the genre certainly owe Bathory a significant debt of gratitude.
Pleasingly, with the resurgence of vinyl as a recording and collectable music media again, the band’s back-catalogue is being re-issued in the beautiful black stuff and those glorious full artwork covers. You can get them all – Blood, Fire, Death, Nordland I and II, Twilight of Gods, Hammerheart and more. The limited editions and coloured vinyl is something not to miss if you can get your hands on any of them.
Available later this month (24 September) and you can pre-order now at musicrecordshop.com though you’d best hurry as although they have secured some of the limited editions they’ll fly off the shelves soon enough. The link below will take you straight to the Music Record Shop pre-order page. Release date is 24 September.