Band:	Bathory
Album:	Bathory
Style:	First wave of black metal
Release date:	October 1984

01. Storm Of Damnation (Intro)
02. Hades
03. Reaper
04. Necromansy
05. Sacrifice
06. In Conspirasy With Satan
07. Armageddon
08. Raise The Dead
09. War
10. Outro

This album certainly had a huge influence on black metal to the point that many would even consider it the very first true black metal album - I certainly would - and that album cover has become one of the most iconic covers in black metal history; a simple satanic logo that had huge effect on creating the black metal genre.

Bathory was inspired by several thrash metal acts that would also use satanic lyrics and themes, such as Venom and Celtic Frost. This was what would become known as the first wave of black metal, which would later inspire bands such as Mayhem and Darkthrone, and would help create the early Norwegian black metal scene; a scene that would create a cult following like no other in the music industry.

What made this album different from the other bands from that scene was probably the first introduction to this kind of harsh vocals, which would have been the harshest heard around that time. The production was also of a low quality creating a more raw and simplistic sound, almost sounding like it was recorded in somebody's garage. It's clear now though, looking back, that this album's influence outshone its quality; it sounded very poorly produced, although it was this raw production that became the template for the future of black metal. After all, these bands didn't have the need for a quality kind of production, this was black metal after all and this music was their passion, you would either love it or hate it, as was the case for this album.

Although this debut had a certain influence of thrash, it also had some completely new elements to it, making it unique to all others. The already mentioned harsh vocals were one thing but also the riffs were quite repetitive, giving the music a more hypnotic feel. The riffs would be very similar, sometimes exactly the same were used in pretty much every song, which could make it quite hard to tell songs apart. This concept of riffs became widely used in the style of black metal, most famously the repetitive, hypnotic riffs in Transilvanian Hunger. Most notable for me, is the creepy atmospheric intro, "Storm Of Damnation", which gave me shivers; Bathory would use short, creepy, instrumental songs like this several more times in the next few albums. If I was to pick out a standout track from this one, that would be hard to do, but "Raise The Dead" sounds quite different to the rest of the songs, it is a slightly slower tempo song, with a different-sounding riff, and the bells at the intro have an evil feel to them.

The quality of Bathory is certainly a long way from his later Viking-themed material, such as Hammerheart, but you cannot deny its importance and that's why I would have it in my top 10 of the most influential albums ever!