Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Bathory: a sound forever burned into the minds!

June 3rd marked the anniversary of Quorthon’s death. Back in 2004 I was shocked to hear of his passing. It seemed like blasphemy that such an iconic cult figure had died at such an early age.
As with many, Bathory played an integral in many music enthusiasts. For me, I still clearly remember when first hearing Bathory’s music. I was about 16 or somewhere around that age. A friend of mine had a recorded cassette of Under the Sign of the Black Mark. Since it was a recorded cassette, I had no artwork to reference and back then there was no internet to just look it up. So my virgin ears had only the music itself to feed on. The music was so dark, heavy and atmospheric.
At that point in time I was already into death metal and hardcore, but Bathory’s sound was much different. My imagination created an image of the band as something truly evil and mysterious. No other band had such an impact on me. In my mind I painted a picture of some faceless sinister force. Of course being younger definitely played a part on creating such thoughts.

Another interesting way Bathory melded into my life was Blood, Fire, Death is what I had in the tape deck when having my first wreck. I took a curve too fast and wound up in a ditch. The situation wasn’t funny, but I do remember it happening rather quickly then having my car almost on its side. On impact the engine was immediately killed, but the radio continued blaring Bathory…… Quorthon’s music is timeless.

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