Essential Bands - BATHORY
This pioneering Swedish band should really need no introduction.
Their early work has served as something of a blueprint for Scandinavian black metal.
They released material consistently until the untimely death of main main Quorthon in 2004.
However, beyond the first four offerings (pictured above) most of their output was of the viking metal variety; which is not the focus of this post.
If you are a fan of black metal and are somehow yet to familiarise yourself with Bathory, you should rectify that immediately.
You can preview and purchase all of the aforementioned albums below.
Bathory (Black Mark, 1984):
The Return (Black Mark, 1985):