@Simon Achebe THANKS for your 2 links. Actually I think Bathory could be inspired by Shitlickers. The 1. link have some spirit and sounds like the 1. album from Bathory. I have never heard this band before. Bathory is my all time best band of many reason. Yeah Bathory also have roots from punk. My main reason is that we (Alle uns kinder vom Bahnhoff Zoo) used to hear the new album for the very first time taped from a LP without any listen before the party from in the woods and then the next album and so on. To explain : If the new album was "Under the sign of the black mark" then we listened to the 2 other albums. Good tradition and cheers :) To be in the woods and hear the first viking album from Bathory was a little ........ shock !! (But after that also great) ! Quorthon never mentioned Venom. Venom sucks ! The riffs from "born for burning" is stolen from Venom ! Otherwise the 1. black metal attack was for me only Bathory. Then the 2. attack from bands like Burzum and Darkthrone was especially inspired by Bathory. Hail the hordes and see you in Valhalla ! Cheers in maids !! Note : I will buy some Shitlickers and put in my archive :)
@Simon Achebe HI :) I find you very interesting ! You have especially knowledge of swedish punk ? I am a black metal head and can name that Bathory was intentioned to make concert with early Sodom. Sodom obssesed by cruelty ! Thanks for the several bands you named. The best selling punk from Denmark is Paragraf 119. My fave is President Fetch "The eternal ..." :) BUT black metal is the best. Also other BM genres as DSBM as Lifelovers "Konkurs" .............
""Hail to Mythical Metal and punk of the 80s!!"" I wrote with a person from Brasil. He wanted to give his Yellow goat if I had some LP from Island. Cant remember this band Ha ha ! Many goods bands from the 80s. Actually its named the golden age from 88 until 93 ...
Here we have 2 links to the best danish metal today - Please click the video from the start - Enjoy ! 1 ) Konvent Female doom and death - Kick ass ! ruclips.net/video/XmfjZOmOIDA/видео.html 2 ) Heilung Metal from before the viking age ! ruclips.net/video/QsprwNATaIg/видео.html Quote Kreator : We have to create !!
In my book, Bathory is at the root of two Metal genres: Black Metal and Viking Metal. I can't think of many other bands (artist) that could claim the same (perhaps Death with Death Metal and Technical Death Metal?). Like it or not, Quorthon (Bathory) was a genius and his work is worth knowing.
To give some facts about the equipment availability, Quorthon was the son of a small label owner and producer and worked at said label. Bathory was recorded in a converted garage studio, making them technically a garage band, but these days they would probably be called an industry plant. As far as connection to Venom, Quorthon denied having listened to them for a while, but eventually admitted that they were named after the Venom song and that Black Metal was one of the greatest albums he'd ever heard.
Not sure about the industry plant thing, because Bathory were first introduced by a compilation album called Scandinavian Metal Attack and then they started making actual albums because people wanted them to due to there having been almost nothing like them at the time (putting aside the heavy Motörhead influence).
This is from Bathory's very first album. As others have said they had no money and this was basically self-produced on the meager equipment that they had access to. After this Bathory themselves would evolve and change significantly. With Under the Sign of the Black Mark (their third album) they perfected this early, raw, thrash-influenced style; but on their next album, Blood Fire Death, they started what got coined as "Viking metal" (mostly because of the lyrics) which is a bit more accessible--less raw speed/aggression with more groove, longer songs, and bigger buildups. As much as this early Bathory influenced a lot of various underground extreme metal, including future black metal band, I'd say their "Viking metal" era was just as important, influencing a lot of what would become symphonic and proggy black metal. While I appreciate the early albums (especially Under the Sign), Blood Fire Death and Hammerheart are among my favorite metal albums. Forgetting all the historical import/influence, Quarthon was just a phenomenal riff-writer. One reason I love the band Immortal so much (even more than Bathory) is because I think they took this riff-centric take on black metal and ran with it even further.
Yeah, at this point, the production was not done on purpose. Bathory at this time was essentially one pretty young guy in a garage. And a lot of punk atitude, I keep mentioning that and I think that should be becoming clearer by now between this and Venom. The intentionality of the bad production values came into effect with Darkthrone, really, who would famously record a lot of their 90s output in a 4 track. This despite the fact that their debut was actually pretty accomplished musically. And Burzum, but fuck Burzum. Bathory was pretty much mandatory for Black metal's origin story, but I do confess I was kinda hoping for a later track by them. By the later 80s they were pretty much bridging the gap into playing around with atmosphere and more epic sounds and they would later go on to essentially invent epic Viking metal.
Same here. This is from their first album but it was their 3rd album Under The Sign Of The Black Mark which I consider to be THE first true Black Metal album from start to finish. Very little Thrash in it anymore. PS. Don't fuck Burzum. Screw the nutcase Varg but without his input in the form of Burzum we would lack a lot of good bands and black metal subgenres today.
@@MaaZeus I dunno. As a Norwegian I feel like foreginers over-emphasise how important Vikernes was, often to the detrement of more important people who either weren't as click-baity infamous or didn't ever really make it past the demo-etc stage (in the case of Thorns because of Vikernes).
Interestingly enough, Quorthon developed significantly into one of the forefathers of Viking /folk metal in the 90s. That type of music is certainly easier to the ear. In my humble opinion, his contribution to folk metal music has been great, too great, and not only because of his deep and sincere emotional attachment to the theme. The two albums Nordland and Nordland II stand particularly high in terms musical quality. It is no wonder Bathory have some of the most dedicated fans in the metal scene and I am proud to be one of them.
I read that the cause of the lofi sound comes from lack of proper recording material, Im not sure exactly how it works cause I wasnt around back then but the way I remember it is that they didnt have enough recording tape for the album so they recorded it slowed down and later sped it up which caused the heavy distortion. Another thing worth mentioning is that the majority of digital uploads of the debut album is of an inferior remaster that introduces even more noise, the original is far more muted and easy on the ears and has more noticable drums aswell.
Yeah Black Metal is not for everyone, first wave and second wave is mostly atleast in the beginning very garage sounding and low-fi, but that is Black Metal. As a genre Black Metal have evolve alot, I know you did reaction to Deathspell omega and Imperial Triumphant, as example and yeah they are more then just Black Metal, I think Deathspell Omega is more towards Black Metal as sounding, Imperial Triumphant is just crazy and blends almost everything they can.
Musically, it would be much more accurate to say Venom is a speed metal band, which is faster version of traditional heavy metal, but not yet thrash as in early Metallica/Slayer vein (in 1981-1982 there was no thrash metal to begin with). Or if we want to be more precise, it's proto-thrash. But still, there were bands around '80-'81 playing fast but they didn't sound as ominous, harsh, demonic as Venom. Your standard early speed metal had much "happier" vocals, not gritty, harsh or downright demonic as Chronos' barks. This is something he carried over from his influences in punk, early hardcore and Motorhead's Lemmy of course. While, I wouldn't necessarily put Bathory as early thrash metal, this is the beginning of a completely new beast. Tremolo picking does sound like one continuous note and has this evil vibe a later black metal would adopt. Early thrash metal from Germany, like Sodom, Kreator or Destruction, their first recordings from 1982 to 1984 were instrumental for development of the genre, but Bathory on the next album develops black metal as separate genre from obvious thrash influences.
For this Black Metal journey, maybe react to Emperor, the song With Strenght I Burn or Ye Entrancemperium, i think those would represent a more "elegant" approach to composing Black Metal. And it's also one of the best Black Metal bands out there!
Venom only give a name,but Bathory really give shape to new excelent music style..from Bathory start everything..when compare Venom and Bathory in start...well..Bathory is winner..
Seeing as you've done Weakling as well, if the theme of the week isn't limited to early 80s black metal and could be the origins of any black metal subgenre, you absolutely need to get to Alcest - Ecailles de Lune Pt. 2, Alcest is the originator of blackgaze (which is black metal mixed with shoegaze) and this song is the best thing the band has created and the crowning jewel of blackgaze
He's already reacted to Alcest two times that I know of. One of them was the third track off Ecailles de Lune: ruclips.net/video/gq9nLwZ_GqE/видео.html
If you liked this you should try Winds of Mayhem on their second album. Its pretty cool and badass and production is amazing on it somehow even though its black metal. I think you would like it but good reaction to Hades.
Varg wanted his music to sound like death. So he reversed the microphone and the amplifier. The speaker became the microphone, and the microphone became the speaker. Hope the helps.
I strongly recommend Odens Rides Over Nordland + A Fine Day to Die. Bathory's best track in my opinion. PLEASE check it out. Much more epic and mature in structure but still incredibly raw and blackened.
Sweden's Bathory, Switzerland's Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, and Brazil's Sarcofago are the obvious "missing links" between UK's Venom and the second-wave black metal thing that grew up mostly in Norway before spreading to Sweden, Finland, and elsewhere in Europe and around the world: a lot of what you'd start hearing in Norway in the late '80s and early '90s sounds suspiciously similar to Bathory, but Bathory themselves? Just compare this song side-by-side with Venom's "Black Metal": it's a pretty obvious copy! According to heavy metal legend, Bathory's vocalist Qorthon is (or was) actually a "one-man-band", though it's difficult to say what that means in this context - whether he really did play all the instruments himself, or simply had a rotating staff of session musicians to play along on case-by-case basis - because, taking the lead from Venom, everyone involved used pseudonyms, and in the case of Bathory, never really appeared on stage for live performances, or in publicity shots anywhere, such that there were lots of weird rumors about the band... the most widely-spread rumor would be that Qorthon started his career in little do-it-yourself punk bands with the encouragement and support of a big-name-producer father who indulged in Qorthon's rock star daydreams by lending studio time and space, and so on. Whatever the case, it seems the real identity of Qorthon was one of heavy metal's best-kept secrets: apparently, the general public couldn't even be sure that the few heavily disguised photos ever released of the band were really of anyone involved, or even knew his real name for sure! It seems that Qorthon denied ever hearing Venom when the first Bathory recordings were made, but again, compare this song side-by-side with Venom's "Black Metal", and it's impossible not to see Bathory as a direct imitation - a bit tighter, punchier, and better-produced (by these standards), but all the same building blocks are there! (The USA's Manowar would be another pretty clear influence over Bathory, with Bathory's famous "Viking metal" style cribbing a lot from Manowar and UK's proto-folk metal band Sabbat, later renamed Skyclad....) That's not to say that Bathory isn't a fine copy of those bands, however: it's fairly certain that the second wave of black metal would sound very different if it hadn't been for Bathory, and when Bathory's albums and music were good, they were pretty damned good....
This first BATHORY album isn't much different from Venom. Except for the voice. The way of singing was new and an early standardization for black metal. The evolution went on on the next two albums and others started to ad more too.
I have some stuff available but it's all quite old. I do post my Composition Jam entries on my BandLab page. These are mostly unfinished experimental songs but this is fairly indicative of the style of music I'm most familiar with. www.bandlab.com/criticalcomposer/surprises-through-the-forest-draft-1-ba5aeb84
It's undeniably "thrash" and punky in how it's played but how it was executed is pure unadulterated black metal. Easily the first band to do the style the way it's known for, minus constant tremolo picking and blast beats but it did have the d beat (aka the punk blast beat)
One major difference between lofi and bad quality is Bathory. Bathory has lofi production which adds value to the sound. The Burzum demos are just bad production and it makes songs that are good sound like crap
Bathory go fast, make lot of noise and not care about pretty sound. Me like Bathory. :)
Very important to refer to Bathory in 3rd person ☝️
@Simon Achebe THANKS for your 2 links. Actually I think Bathory could be inspired by Shitlickers. The 1. link have some spirit and sounds like the 1. album from Bathory. I have never heard this band before. Bathory is my all time best band of many reason. Yeah Bathory also have roots from punk.
My main reason is that we (Alle uns kinder vom Bahnhoff Zoo) used to hear the new album for the very first time taped from a LP without any listen before the party from in the woods and then the next album and so on. To explain : If the new album was "Under the sign of the black mark" then we listened to the 2 other albums. Good tradition and cheers :)
To be in the woods and hear the first viking album from Bathory was a little ........ shock !! (But after that also great) !
Quorthon never mentioned Venom. Venom sucks ! The riffs from "born for burning" is stolen from Venom ! Otherwise the 1. black metal attack was for me only Bathory. Then the 2. attack from bands like Burzum and Darkthrone was especially inspired by Bathory.
Hail the hordes and see you in Valhalla ! Cheers in maids !!
Note : I will buy some Shitlickers and put in my archive :)
@Simon Achebe HI :)
I find you very interesting ! You have especially knowledge of swedish punk ? I am a black metal head and can name that Bathory was intentioned to make concert with early Sodom. Sodom obssesed by cruelty ! Thanks for the several bands you named.
The best selling punk from Denmark is Paragraf 119.
My fave is President Fetch "The eternal ..." :)
BUT black metal is the best. Also other BM genres as DSBM as Lifelovers "Konkurs" .............
""Hail to Mythical Metal and punk of the 80s!!""
I wrote with a person from Brasil. He wanted to give his Yellow goat if I had some LP from Island. Cant remember this band Ha ha ! Many goods bands from the 80s. Actually its named the golden age from 88 until 93 ...
Here we have 2 links to the best danish metal today - Please click the video from the start - Enjoy !
1 ) Konvent Female doom and death - Kick ass !
ruclips.net/video/XmfjZOmOIDA/видео.html
2 ) Heilung Metal from before the viking age !
ruclips.net/video/QsprwNATaIg/видео.html
Quote Kreator : We have to create !!
In my book, Bathory is at the root of two Metal genres: Black Metal and Viking Metal.
I can't think of many other bands (artist) that could claim the same (perhaps Death with Death Metal and Technical Death Metal?).
Like it or not, Quorthon (Bathory) was a genius and his work is worth knowing.
Viking metal is sub of folk metal.
@@shagstars It's not a subgenre of folk metal. It came out before folk metal was a thing and is better defined as a derivative form.
Hellhammer created death metal.
Metallica with thrash?
Such a great collection of songs from over the years he created. I couldn't get sick of it if I wanted to.
To give some facts about the equipment availability, Quorthon was the son of a small label owner and producer and worked at said label. Bathory was recorded in a converted garage studio, making them technically a garage band, but these days they would probably be called an industry plant.
As far as connection to Venom, Quorthon denied having listened to them for a while, but eventually admitted that they were named after the Venom song and that Black Metal was one of the greatest albums he'd ever heard.
The idea of an "industry plant" helping to solidify the black metal concept (despite it not having a name yet) is giving me a good laugh
@@CriticalReactions hahaha
Not sure about the industry plant thing, because Bathory were first introduced by a compilation album called Scandinavian Metal Attack and then they started making actual albums because people wanted them to due to there having been almost nothing like them at the time (putting aside the heavy Motörhead influence).
This is from Bathory's very first album. As others have said they had no money and this was basically self-produced on the meager equipment that they had access to. After this Bathory themselves would evolve and change significantly. With Under the Sign of the Black Mark (their third album) they perfected this early, raw, thrash-influenced style; but on their next album, Blood Fire Death, they started what got coined as "Viking metal" (mostly because of the lyrics) which is a bit more accessible--less raw speed/aggression with more groove, longer songs, and bigger buildups. As much as this early Bathory influenced a lot of various underground extreme metal, including future black metal band, I'd say their "Viking metal" era was just as important, influencing a lot of what would become symphonic and proggy black metal. While I appreciate the early albums (especially Under the Sign), Blood Fire Death and Hammerheart are among my favorite metal albums. Forgetting all the historical import/influence, Quarthon was just a phenomenal riff-writer. One reason I love the band Immortal so much (even more than Bathory) is because I think they took this riff-centric take on black metal and ran with it even further.
Yeah, at this point, the production was not done on purpose. Bathory at this time was essentially one pretty young guy in a garage. And a lot of punk atitude, I keep mentioning that and I think that should be becoming clearer by now between this and Venom.
The intentionality of the bad production values came into effect with Darkthrone, really, who would famously record a lot of their 90s output in a 4 track. This despite the fact that their debut was actually pretty accomplished musically. And Burzum, but fuck Burzum.
Bathory was pretty much mandatory for Black metal's origin story, but I do confess I was kinda hoping for a later track by them. By the later 80s they were pretty much bridging the gap into playing around with atmosphere and more epic sounds and they would later go on to essentially invent epic Viking metal.
Same here. This is from their first album but it was their 3rd album Under The Sign Of The Black Mark which I consider to be THE first true Black Metal album from start to finish. Very little Thrash in it anymore.
PS. Don't fuck Burzum. Screw the nutcase Varg but without his input in the form of Burzum we would lack a lot of good bands and black metal subgenres today.
@Simon Achebe Thanks, I have not heard those before. I'll give them a good listen later. 👍
@@MaaZeus I dunno. As a Norwegian I feel like foreginers over-emphasise how important Vikernes was, often to the detrement of more important people who either weren't as click-baity infamous or didn't ever really make it past the demo-etc stage (in the case of Thorns because of Vikernes).
Nah, Burzum rocks.
Interestingly enough, Quorthon developed significantly into one of the forefathers of Viking /folk metal in the 90s. That type of music is certainly easier to the ear. In my humble opinion, his contribution to folk metal music has been great, too great, and not only because of his deep and sincere emotional attachment to the theme. The two albums Nordland and Nordland II stand particularly high in terms musical quality. It is no wonder Bathory have some of the most dedicated fans in the metal scene and I am proud to be one of them.
The second album The Return (1985) is more extreme than this in everything and still one of the best ever.
I read that the cause of the lofi sound comes from lack of proper recording material, Im not sure exactly how it works cause I wasnt around back then but the way I remember it is that they didnt have enough recording tape for the album so they recorded it slowed down and later sped it up which caused the heavy distortion. Another thing worth mentioning is that the majority of digital uploads of the debut album is of an inferior remaster that introduces even more noise, the original is far more muted and easy on the ears and has more noticable drums aswell.
Demons have been coming out of my easy bake oven ever since I got this classic fresh of the press on cassette 🤘
Yeah Black Metal is not for everyone, first wave and second wave is mostly atleast in the beginning very garage sounding and low-fi, but that is Black Metal. As a genre Black Metal have evolve alot, I know you did reaction to Deathspell omega and Imperial Triumphant, as example and yeah they are more then just Black Metal, I think Deathspell Omega is more towards Black Metal as sounding, Imperial Triumphant is just crazy and blends almost everything they can.
Musically, it would be much more accurate to say Venom is a speed metal band, which is faster version of traditional heavy metal, but not yet thrash as in early Metallica/Slayer vein (in 1981-1982 there was no thrash metal to begin with). Or if we want to be more precise, it's proto-thrash. But still, there were bands around '80-'81 playing fast but they didn't sound as ominous, harsh, demonic as Venom. Your standard early speed metal had much "happier" vocals, not gritty, harsh or downright demonic as Chronos' barks. This is something he carried over from his influences in punk, early hardcore and Motorhead's Lemmy of course. While, I wouldn't necessarily put Bathory as early thrash metal, this is the beginning of a completely new beast. Tremolo picking does sound like one continuous note and has this evil vibe a later black metal would adopt. Early thrash metal from Germany, like Sodom, Kreator or Destruction, their first recordings from 1982 to 1984 were instrumental for development of the genre, but Bathory on the next album develops black metal as separate genre from obvious thrash influences.
For this Black Metal journey, maybe react to Emperor, the song With Strenght I Burn or Ye Entrancemperium, i think those would represent a more "elegant" approach to composing Black Metal. And it's also one of the best Black Metal bands out there!
BATLORD
Love those terrible distorted tremolo riffs. Sounds like an angry swarm of bees in a tin can.
Also, early 80s Bathory is different to late 80s Bathory, the later is far more epic.
Goddam I fuckin love black metal
Venom only give a name,but Bathory really give shape to new excelent music style..from Bathory start everything..when compare Venom and Bathory in start...well..Bathory is winner..
TRAPPED IN DARKNESSS
i love that part
@@coming_up_roses lol based shoegaze and black metal fan
love the frequent videos
Seeing as you've done Weakling as well, if the theme of the week isn't limited to early 80s black metal and could be the origins of any black metal subgenre, you absolutely need to get to Alcest - Ecailles de Lune Pt. 2, Alcest is the originator of blackgaze (which is black metal mixed with shoegaze) and this song is the best thing the band has created and the crowning jewel of blackgaze
He's already reacted to Alcest two times that I know of. One of them was the third track off Ecailles de Lune: ruclips.net/video/gq9nLwZ_GqE/видео.html
If you liked this you should try Winds of Mayhem on their second album. Its pretty cool and badass and production is amazing on it somehow even though its black metal. I think you would like it but good reaction to Hades.
Varg wanted his music to sound like death. So he reversed the microphone and the amplifier. The speaker became the microphone, and the microphone became the speaker. Hope the helps.
Bathory/Quorthon = god
I strongly recommend Odens Rides Over Nordland + A Fine Day to Die. Bathory's best track in my opinion. PLEASE check it out. Much more epic and mature in structure but still incredibly raw and blackened.
Love blood fire death such a powerful album
You should react to something from their 2nd or 3rd album
Sweden's Bathory, Switzerland's Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, and Brazil's Sarcofago are the obvious "missing links" between UK's Venom and the second-wave black metal thing that grew up mostly in Norway before spreading to Sweden, Finland, and elsewhere in Europe and around the world: a lot of what you'd start hearing in Norway in the late '80s and early '90s sounds suspiciously similar to Bathory, but Bathory themselves? Just compare this song side-by-side with Venom's "Black Metal": it's a pretty obvious copy!
According to heavy metal legend, Bathory's vocalist Qorthon is (or was) actually a "one-man-band", though it's difficult to say what that means in this context - whether he really did play all the instruments himself, or simply had a rotating staff of session musicians to play along on case-by-case basis - because, taking the lead from Venom, everyone involved used pseudonyms, and in the case of Bathory, never really appeared on stage for live performances, or in publicity shots anywhere, such that there were lots of weird rumors about the band... the most widely-spread rumor would be that Qorthon started his career in little do-it-yourself punk bands with the encouragement and support of a big-name-producer father who indulged in Qorthon's rock star daydreams by lending studio time and space, and so on. Whatever the case, it seems the real identity of Qorthon was one of heavy metal's best-kept secrets: apparently, the general public couldn't even be sure that the few heavily disguised photos ever released of the band were really of anyone involved, or even knew his real name for sure!
It seems that Qorthon denied ever hearing Venom when the first Bathory recordings were made, but again, compare this song side-by-side with Venom's "Black Metal", and it's impossible not to see Bathory as a direct imitation - a bit tighter, punchier, and better-produced (by these standards), but all the same building blocks are there! (The USA's Manowar would be another pretty clear influence over Bathory, with Bathory's famous "Viking metal" style cribbing a lot from Manowar and UK's proto-folk metal band Sabbat, later renamed Skyclad....)
That's not to say that Bathory isn't a fine copy of those bands, however: it's fairly certain that the second wave of black metal would sound very different if it hadn't been for Bathory, and when Bathory's albums and music were good, they were pretty damned good....
too punk for me, "Equimanthorn" is a great example of early Bathory which was great inspiration for bands such a as Mayhem or Darkthrone
This first BATHORY album isn't much different from Venom. Except for the voice. The way of singing was new and an early standardization for black metal. The evolution went on on the next two albums and others started to ad more too.
Bathory is inspiration for my music! the quality of the production is not so important but the songs themselves
would love to hear your own songs
I have some stuff available but it's all quite old. I do post my Composition Jam entries on my BandLab page. These are mostly unfinished experimental songs but this is fairly indicative of the style of music I'm most familiar with. www.bandlab.com/criticalcomposer/surprises-through-the-forest-draft-1-ba5aeb84
Love Venom but Black Metal starts here \m/
It's undeniably "thrash" and punky in how it's played but how it was executed is pure unadulterated black metal. Easily the first band to do the style the way it's known for, minus constant tremolo picking and blast beats but it did have the d beat (aka the punk blast beat)
React to blood and iron, nordland, a fine day to die, ring of gold
Next….Bathory - Nordland, its viking metal
Good album! 👌
React to deafheaven ,"luna"
One major difference between lofi and bad quality is Bathory. Bathory has lofi production which adds value to the sound. The Burzum demos are just bad production and it makes songs that are good sound like crap
Technology is cheating in Black Metal !!
Try a song from "Under the sign of the black mark". Better quality sound.
No metronome 👌
You need to research Bathory. Good grief
I love bathory but to me the first album is close to venom plagiarism
Not my cup of tea.
Lmao
Not your cup of tea but It's my goblet of blood.
@@tonyeckman4822 Nice.