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. The Swedish-born multi-instrumentalist Quorthon (also known as Black Spade and/or Ace Shoot, although his real name, Thomas Forsberg, is still the subject of debate) formed Bathory in 1983 with sidemen Hanoi (bass) and Vans (drums). These two would soon be ejected, however, just as soon as they'd completed work on two of the best tracks heard on 1984's now infamous Scandinavian Metal Attack compilation. Influenced by every form of speed metal known to man at the time (which, admittedly, wasn't much), Bathory soon staked a claim as Scandinavia's answer to Motörhead and Venom (from whose song "Countess Bathory" they attained their name). And, like Venom's early work, Bathory too were challenged by the downright primitive recording conditions of Heavenshore Studios (actually a converted car garage and storage space) -- limitations which inadvertently set the rough, uncompromising template that was later carefully scrutinized and accepted as gospel by generations of black metal-metal musicians. In fact, 1984's eponymous debut and its like-minded successor, 1985's The Return were so inaccessible, so unprecedented in their abrasive anti-commercialism, as to be ahead of their time, carving a niche all their own within this quickly developing subgenre. Interestingly, the additional curiosity that Bathory rarely performed live (and never, after 1985), and that these recording provided almost no information about its constituents (which, aside from main man Quorthon, briefly included various anonymous bassists and drummers going by the monikers Kothaar and Vvornth) only added to their cult-like mystique over time.

Albums list:
Bathory - Bathory
Bathory - Blood Fire Death
Bathory - Blood On Ice
Bathory - Destroyer of Worlds
Bathory - Hammerheart
Bathory - In Memory of Quorthon, Vol. I
Bathory - In Memory of Quorthon, Vol. II
Bathory - In Memory of Quorthon, Vol. III
Bathory - Jubileum I
Bathory - Jubileum II
Bathory - Jubileum III
Bathory - Katalog
Bathory - Nordland I
Bathory - Nordland II
Bathory - Octagon
Bathory - Requiem
Bathory - The Return of the Darkness and Evil
Bathory - Twilight of the Gods
Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/bathory/id89837713