Band:	Bathory
Album:	Blood Fire Death
Style:	First wave of black metal, Viking black metal
Release date:	October 08, 1988
A review by:	Lucas

01. Odens Ride Over Nordland
02. A Fine Day To Die
03. The Golden Walls Of Heaven
04. Pace 'Till Death
05. Holocaust
06. For All Those Who Died
07. Dies Irae
08. Blood Fire Death
09. Outro

Bathory, a legend among extreme metallers and especially Black metal fans, without doubt one of the most important bands in Black metal history. Period. "Bathory", "The Return", "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" and "Hammerheart": they have all left their mark on the face of metal. Another undeniable classic from the warrior mind of Quorthon, leader of Bathory, is the fourth album named "Blood Fire Death".

On "Blood Fire Death" the Black metal sound has almost completely gone in favour of a Thrash metal approach, whereas the first three albums got further and further away from Thrash and more into the direction of Black metal. Perhaps Quorthon wanted to get closer to his roots? Or perhaps he simply felt he was now skilled enough to pull something like this off.

Whatever he wanted, the truth is that "Blood Fire Death" has turned out to be a wholly amazing album and definitely worthy of the title "classic". What makes this album so special is not the exceptional musicianship or beauty, but rather the incredible raw and charming edge to it. Quorthon was never a great guitar player, and it shows, but it is exactly that sloppiness which makes this so charming. The old-school production and sound, the awesomely fast neck-breakers of riffs, the typical cymbal (ab)use, everything about this screams old school! Just listening to it gives me a huge shot of adrenaline and the urge to go out and trash something.

Quorthon had his own special brand of vocals which still sets him apart from many vocalists to this very day, as there are only few out there who can lay as much passion in their extreme vocals as he did. He nails the angry, ripping vocals common in old Thrash, but really shines when he sings a little slower and cleaner. When he does that, he maintains his raw vibrato and sounds very passionate and – oh, how I loathe this word and how it is abused these days – epic. Listen to how he screams "BLOOD FIRE DEATH" and tell me you can stay calmly seated. Ha. Not a chance.

Yet even this album has a couple of flaws that mustn't be forgotten. The flaws that bother me are not those music-technically, as I said, they add greatly to the charm and appeal of this album. What most people tend to look over is that all of the songs on "Blood Fire Death" have the annoying tendency to sound very similar to each other. Yes, I did just critique your favourite album, but don't get too angry over it. It is only a minor annoyance on an otherwise great and stunning masterpiece of an album.