History Music / Bathory

* CreatorThumbprint: Nearly every one of Bathory's early albums contains an almost identical outro track. The outro makes a return on ''Nordland II'', perhaps as a CallBack to the early albums.
* EchoingAcoustics: ''Hammerheart'' and a few other albums have this style of production.

* HornyVikings: The Viking Metal works tend to blend this trope with ProudWarriorRace.
* HorribleHistoryMetal: "Woman of Dark Desires" tells of the infamous historical exploits of Elizabeth Bathory. Overall, the band also has quite a few songs relating to unpleasant events in Scandinavian history.
* IAmTheBand: Pretty much every album after the first one. On ''Hammerheart'', ''Twilight of the Gods'', ''Destroyer of Worlds'', and the ''Nordland'' albums, Quorthon is the only performer; on others he used session musicians.

** ''Blood on Ice'' (recorded next, but not released until 1996) featured a full-fledged GenreShift to FolkMetal, with a lot of Music/{{Manowar}} influence thrown in.
** ''Hammerheart'' (recorded after ''Blood on Ice'', but the next album released after ''Blood Fire Death'') demonstrated a more epic sound than shown on any of Bathory's previous releases, and is generally seen as the TropeCodifier for viking metal.
** ''Requiem'' featured a GenreShift to ThrashMetal.
* ProudWarriorRace: Dealt with quite frequently in all of the 'viking' albums.

* PurpleProse: Quorthon's lyrics are generally very descriptive and detailed.
* RatedMForManly: His Viking material is ''absolutely'' this.

* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Song to Hall Up High", "Man Of Iron", "Ring of Gold", "The Ravens", "Hammerheart", and probably several others.

* UncommonTime: The coda of "Home of Once Brave", like that of "For Whom the Bell Tolls", is in 10/4. Probably not the band's only example.

* VikingFuneral: Mentioned in "Shores in Flames."
* WarGod: Odin and Thor are portrayed this way in a lot of Quorthon's lyrics.

* ChronologicalAlbumTitle: ''Octagon''.
* ConceptAlbum: ''Blood on Ice''.

Although Music/{{Venom}}'s ''Black Metal'', released in 1982, was the first record to coin the term, it was Bathory's early albums, featuring [[RockMeAsmodeus Satanic lyrics]], low-fi production and an inhuman vocal style, that defined the genre. Many fans have speculated Venom was an influence on Bathory; however, Quorthon has said in an interview with Kick Ass magazine in 1985 he only heard of Venom after the first, [[SelfTitledAlbum self-titled]] Bathory album was released. He also expressed dislike for many influential and popular heavy metal bands at the time, such as Music/IronMaiden and Music/JudasPriest. He has also stated the band's early work was influenced primarily by Music/BlackSabbath, Music/{{Motorhead}}, and punk rock.

Bathory's self-titled debut album and the subsequent releases ''The Return'' and ''Under the Sign of the Black Mark'' are now regarded as major influences on the Norwegian bands which extended black metal's musical progression and popularity in the beginning of the 1990's.

The first signs of what was to follow appeared on what many fans consider to be Bathory's best album, ''Blood Fire Death'', on which some of the tracks the pace had slowed down to allow for a more epic songwriting approach, said to be an [[UrExample influence on]], or [[TropeMakers initiation of]], the extreme metal sub-genre viking metal. The Viking theme was also first introduced on this album. However, most of the musical elements of black metal were still present.

With ''Requiem'', released in 1994, Bathory changed style once more, this time turning to retro-thrash in the vein of 1980's [[ThrashMetal Bay Area thrash]] bands. In recent years, many critics have seen Bathory's output as increasingly erratic, as the band returned again to Viking themes and, with the ''Nordland'' albums of 2002 and 2003, largely abandoned the retro-thrash sound of the mid-1990's in favour of the more popular, more epic style for which they are best known.

* ''[[GenreShift Blood on Ice]]'' (1996, but mostly recorded in 1989)

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: 9 to 10 for his Black metal (though a solid 11 at the time), 7 to 8 for his viking metal, though his interludes on the Viking metal albums get as low as 1.

* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Song to Hall Up High", "Ring of Gold", "The Ravens", "Hammerheart", and probably several others.

* BigBadassBattleSequence: Many songs, including "A Fine Day to Die", "Blood Fire Death", and "Shores in Flames" are about this.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: 9 to 10 for his Black metal, 7 to 8 for his viking metal, though his interludes on the Viking metal albums get as low as 1.

* AltumVidetur: "Dies irae" means "Day of Wrath"; it's also named after a hymn.

--> ''"People of Asa bay... it has only just begun!"''

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: "Oden's Ride Over Nordland" into "A Fine Day to Die."
** A lot of them, really. ''Every'' AlbumIntroTrack does this; there's also the first three songs on ''Twilight of the Gods'', "The Rite of Darkness" into "Reap of Evil", "Song to Hall up High" into "Home of Once Brave", "Nordland" into "Vinterblot", "Ring of Gold" into "Foreverdark Woods", "Blooded Shore" into "Sea Wolf", etc.

* HorribleHistoryMetal: "Woman of Dark Desires" tells of the infamous historical exploits of Elizabeth Bathory.

* CulturedBadass: Quorthon's all-time favorite band and biggest inspiration was Music/TheBeatles. He even did a straight, unironic cover of "I'm Only Sleeping" under the Quorthon moniker; it was initially released on the '"Black Mark Tribute Vol. 2'' compilation and again, posthumously, on ''In Memory of Quorthon''.

** His solo album ''Purity of Essence'' is named after ArcWords from ''Film/DrStrangeloveOrHowILearnedToStopWorryingAndLoveTheBomb''.

* AlbumIntroTrack: Most of their albums. "Oden's Ride Over Nordland" is one of the most famous.

* CulturedBadass: Quorthons all time favorite band and biggest inspiration, was Music/TheBeatles. He even did a straight, unironic cover of 'I'm only sleeping' on his solo album.

* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Song to Hall Up High".

[[caption-width-right:280:Tomas Börje Forsberg, AKA: "Quorthon", AKA: "Ace". Founder and sole member of Bathory, during most of its existence.]]

Bathory was formed in Stockholm in 1983. Founder Quorthon, a seventeen-year-old guitarist, was joined by bassist Hanoi and drummer Vans. After various name changes (beginning with Nosferatu, then Natas, Mephisto, Elizabeth Bathory and Countess Bathory) they finally settled on Bathory. Their first recording deal came that same year, when Quorthon managed to secure the consent of Tyfon Grammofon's boss to record two tracks for the compilation Scandinavian Metal Attack. The tracks which he recorded gained unexpected attention by fans. Soon afterward, Tyfon Grammofon contacted Quorthon and asked him to record a full-length album.

Bathory's self-titled debut album and the subsequent releases ''The Return'' and ''Under the Sign of the Black Mark'' are now regarded as major influences on the Norwegian bands which extended black metal's musical progression and popularity in the beginning of the 1990s.

The first signs of what was to follow appeared on what many fans consider to be Bathory's best album, ''Blood Fire Death'', on which some of the tracks the pace had slowed down to allow for a more epic songwriting approach, said to be an [[UrExample influence on]], or [[TropeMaker initiation of]], the extreme metal sub-genre viking metal. The Viking theme was also first introduced on this album. However, most of the musical elements of black metal were still present.

With ''Requiem'', released in 1994, Bathory changed style once more, this time turning to retro-thrash in the vein of 1980s [[ThrashMetal Bay Area thrash]] bands. In recent years, many critics have seen Bathory's output as increasingly erratic, as the band returned again to Viking themes and, with the ''Nordland'' albums of 2002 and 2003, largely abandoned the retro-thrash sound of the mid-1990s in favour of the more popular, more epic style for which they are best known.

In June 2004, Quorthon was found dead in his home, apparently due to heart failure. He was known to suffer from heart problems in the past. On June 3, 2006, Black Mark Records released a box set in tribute to Quorthon containing three [=CDs=] of his favorite Bathory and Quorthon songs, a 176 page booklet, a DVD with his long-form video for "One Rode to Asa Bay", an interview and some rare promo footage, and a poster.

!!Core discography

!!Bathory provides examples of:
* AlbumIntroTrack: Most of their albums. "Oden's Ride Over Nordland" is one of the most famous.

* BloodBath: Not only does the band share a name with the TropeMaker, ElizabethBathory, but they've also penned a handful of songs that are specifically about their namesake as well as hint at this practice, especially the song "Woman Of Dark Desires."
* ChronologicalAlbumTitle: ''Octagon''
* ConceptAlbum: ''Blood on Ice''

* EmbarrassingFirstName: Ace Börje Forsberg was the name written on Quorthon's obituary, but his real birth name was Tomas. If someone asked him the real name he always gave invented ones: Runka Snorkråka (Wanked snot(hodded)crow), Pär Vers (a wordplay, means perverted), Fjärt Bengrot (Fart Bengrot), Folke Ostkuksgrissla, Fnoret.

* FightingForAHomeland: The 'viking' albums deal with this quite often
* {{Gotterdammerung}}: the title track of ''Twilight of the Gods''. "One Rode to Asa Bay" can be seen as describing the beginnings of this for the Nordic faith.

* HarshVocals: Mostly on his early BlackMetal albums- he pretty much invented the particular style of harsh vocals used in the genre.

* MinisculeRocking: Shows up on a lot of Quorthon's earlier work, due to its quite notable punk rock influence.

* TheWildHunt: Depicted on tge cover of ''Blood Fire Death.''

[[caption-width-right:280:Tomas Börje Forsberg, AKA: "Quorthon", AKA: "Ace". Founder and sole member of Bathory, during most of it's existence.]]

* RockMeAmadeus: "Hammerheart" (the song, not the album) is based on a melody from Music/GustavHolst's ''Music/ThePlanets'' (specifically, "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity").

* ShoutOut: The lyrics in the intro to "A Fine Day to Die" are taken from "Cassilda's Song" in ''Literature/TheKingInYellow.''

* EveryEpisodeEnding: Almost all of their early albums have a nearly identical outro track called "The Winds of Mayhem."

* EveryEpisodeEnding: Almost all of their early albums have a nearly identical track called "The Winds of Mayhem."