Band:	Bathory
Album:	Bathory
Style:	First wave of black metal
Release date:	October 1984
Guest review by:	Cuca Beludo

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

Well, before you read this review, just forget all you know about black metal! Forget all those modern black metal bands, forget all those awesome symphonies and forget even the epic viking albums of Bathory. For all the young metallers that don't know much about the history of black metal and listen often to Cradle Of Filth, this album (maybe) will sound like the worst thing ever made, but there is much history behind this release and all of Bathory, that I will explain. Now we will see what black metal was before... before...

First, when listening, you will notice that the sound is (very) rough, well... it's because the album was recorded in a garage. Not all the bands have as much money as they can spend and make the most epic symphony, the most epic solo, hire the best musicians and buy the best instruments. Bathory was one of these bands. Not only this album, but The return... and Under The Sign Of The Black Mark, both by Bathory, have the songs and vocals being pretty rough (though Under The Sign Of The Black Mark doesn't have the songs too rough like this), and this rough song became too famous that Bathory is known for being one of the pioneers of Black Metal, and many bands are influenced by the band. See some other black metal bands: they have songs... like... rough, but not because of the low production, but because of the influence of Bathory in the black metal scene... their rough sound became the black metal starting point. Oh! And Bathory NEVER was influenced by Venom! In fact, Quorthon, the founding member, saw the band for the first time after the release of their debut album, Bathory.

Ok, I think I spoke a bit of the influence. About the songs, this album is very good. The songs have a fast pace, very fast indeed, good solos and introductions (highlight for "Raise The Dead"). Every song has a different and proper beat, making every song different to one another. The vocals are proper enough for the genre. The lyrics are about common things in black metal: drink the blood of angels, rape virgins, forget all about god and join forces with satan, serve hell and more. Again, highlight for "Raise The Dead", that talk about... raise the dead ones! Basically, all the songs talk about the same thing, but in other ways, making them very good for listening.

Resuming: The quality is poor, but the originality is high. This is a piece that must be owned by all the black metallers, both because it's created as what it is, and because it's very cool to listen. Well, that's it! I hope you liked my comments about this classic, great band! Now, after read all this, why not buy this?

I think that the following tracks are the best: "Hades", "Reaper", "Raise The Dead" and "In Conspiracy With Satan".

Thank you for read! HAIL QUORTHON! R.I.P.!