Welcome to the oldest Bathory page on the web!
Quorthon has also recorded two Solo Albums , containing material
quite differnent to that released as Bathory.
Most albums are recorded by a trio, but all music and lyrics are by
Quorthon , who is unquestionably the central figure in the band.
Two musicians
credited on the early albums go by the names of Vvornth (drums)
and Kothaar (bass).
If anyone can provide any extra stuff not already here
such as explanations to some of the terms in the lyrics then I'll put them in.
According to Adam, Equimanthorn is the name for a God of War.
From Perechon, Quorthon is actually the name of a half-god,
half-demon monster. Also, check out Perechon's Bathory History Page giving a
detailed history of the development of the band.
Author, C. Dean Andersson explains how the dedication on "One Rode to Asa Bay" came about.
Send me some Bathory lore, and your name could be here too!
Sleeve notes to Blood on Ice ,
again thanks to Serge .
I've put together a short biography of the Countess Bathory, a.k.a.
Erszbet Bathori, Blood Countess of Cachtice, Blutgrafin, etc.
Background
Bathory are the original, and definitely the best Swedish `Black
Metal' band.
The very early albums, particularly their eponymous first album, and to
a lesser extent "The Return ..." are heavily Venom-influenced,
but they quickly
developed their own very distinctive style, embodied in "Under the sign
of the Black Mark" and "Blood Fire Death". Nordic
influences, intimations of which are already present in "Blood Fire Death"
in the title song and "A Fine Day to Die" take over from the
so called `Black Metal' style with the album
"Hammerheart" (the cover depicting a Viking funeral) and the music becomes more melodic in the later albums.
Bathory Lore
Again, from Alkaid, a translation
of the latin inscription from Hammerheart;
That phrase was a monastic litany found in the Lindisfarne monastery in
Northumbria; bothered year after year by the Norse raids, those poor monks came
up with the aforementioned prayer. ( Check out also, "The Battle Of
Lindisfarne" song on Enslaved's latest work "Eld", about the battle
on which the english definitively expelled the Norse from their land in 793 ad ).
A furore normannorum....
Translation:
"From the fury of the Northmen,
Deliver us, O Lord for your outmost grace.
Saving our bodies and possessions,
From the fierce nordic people who lays waste to our kingdoms,
Deliver us, God."
I noticed these before, but
I forgot about them, anyway, Alkaid points out that there are
two acrostics in "Blood Fire Death". Take the first letter
of each line of "The Gold Walls of Heaven" and "Dies Irae" and
you get two hidden "messages" ;^).
(5/2/98) Thanks to Francisco, a sinister text and poem he
got with his copy of "Under the Sign". Turns out it was a song by another band completely. I'll dig out the details
if anyone is interested.
Discography
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Bathory Serial No.: BMCD 666-1 Year: 1984 |
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The Return... Serial No.: BMCD 666-2 Year: 1985 |
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Under the Sign of the Black Mark Serial No.: BMCD 666-3 Year: 1987 |
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Blood Fire Death Serial No.: BMCD 666-4 Year: 1988 |
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Hammerheart Serial No.: BMCD 666-5 Year 1990 |
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Twilight of the Gods Serial No.: BMCD/LP/CT 666-6 Year: 1991 |
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Jubileum I
Serial No.: BMCD/CT 666-7 Year: 1992 |
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Jubileum II Serial No.: BMCD/CT 666-8 Year: 1993 |
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Requiem Serial No.: BMCD 666-10 Year: 1994 |
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Octagon Serial No.: BMCD 666-11 Year: 1995 |
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Blood on Ice Serial No.: BMCD 666-12 Year: 1996 |
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Quorthon - Album Serial No.: BMCD 666-9 Year: 1994 | (No picture) |
Quothon - Purity of Essence Serial: BMCD 666-13 (Double set, 100 mins) Year: 1997 |
Just click on the song titles to go directly to them. I have written a program which converts automatically from lyrics archive format to HTML. Mail me in you're interested.
We also have the sleeve notes for Blood on Ice!
The interested fan might care to compare Blood on Ice to Sabbat's Dreamweaver, itself a concept album based on Brian Bates Way of Wyrd. Walkier's vocals are not to everyone's taste, but I think the lyrics read like poetry...
As you can see, I've finally typed in the lyrics to Blood on Ice
Special thanks to chief tab-hunter Francisco Rocha for the tab and links!
Sites with tab:
If anyone else has ANY BATHORY TAB, then I'd REALLY appreciate it if they sent it to me (I'll incorporate it into this document).
The link list really needs cleaning out as I expect many of the links no longer work. If you come across a link that is out of date or definitely defunct, then let me know... I am actually working on this now - just a little more patience!