Bathory (band)

Bathory was a Swedish heavy metal band formed in Vällingby in March 1983. Named after Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory, they are considered pioneers of black metal (alongside Venom and Mercyful Fate) and Viking metal. The book Lords of Chaos described Bathory's first four albums as "the blueprint for Scandinavian black metal." Quotes about Bathory In a musical realm where scale of influence has little to do with commercial success, few originators of the extreme metal arts evoke as deep a sense of mystery, or incite such hushed, reverential tones of admiration, as Sweden's Bathory. Essentially a one-man operation helmed by the mysterious Quorthon, Bathory's development from the rawest form of embryonic black metal, to thrash, death, and back to its self-devised Viking-themed black metal, has mirrored and regularly defined the genre's very evolution. Indeed, along with Switzerland's Celtic Frost, Germany's Kreator, and Denmark's Mercyful Fate, they easily qualify as one the most important European extreme metal acts of the '80s and '90s. Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic External links Category:Heavy metal bands Category:Swedish bands