As
Blabbermouth reports, Quorthon, the leader of the metal "band" Bathory was found dead in his appartment at Stockholm on Monday. The reason for his passing is said to be heart failure. Bathory was not a real band since he was the only member.
His first, same-titled, album was released in 1984 and is considered by many (myself included), the first Black Metal album that has seen the light of day. After another 2 albums of unholy super-fast (for the time) black metal ("the return" 1985, "under the sign of the black mark" 1987), he turned the style of his music into more Epic/Nordic Metal ways.... and boy was it good!!! The 3 albums that followed, "Blood, fire, death" 1988, "Hammerheart" 1989, "Twillight of the Gods" 1991) were a phenomenal display of authenticity and talent and quickly established Bathory as the king act in the Nordic Metal music genre.
From then on, the rest of the material that Bathory released in the '90s was ranging from unlistenable ("Octagon" 1995) to brilliant ("Blood on Ice" 1996) but it is certain that the 90's weren't the best period for Bathory. In 2002 it was announced that Bathory is working on a new, 2-cd project called "Nordland".... in my humble opinion it is the best work he has ever released! Purely magnificent! Its epic feeling is oftenly causing the listener to shiver (I personally got tears in my eyes) and it's repetitive nordic tempo is so strong and rich in its simplicity, it becomes hypnotic at times. It certainly has nothing to do with the mediocrity that posseses the metal scene nowadays. These were his last albums to be released ("Nordland pt.1" 2002, "Nordland pt.2" 2003).
He will be remembered for being an intelligent (more like a music genious if you ask me), down to earth and friendly person (so say the few ppl who got to meet him). Not many knew his real name before his death and now it is revealed that it was Tomas Forsberg, son of Börje Forsberg, the owner of Black Mark Records.
Bathory sold several million records, throughout the 20 years of his career, but despite Bathory's popularity, Quorthon had adopted a low-key, anti-rock-star profile that had made him one of the biggest cult personalities in metal. He will be remembered forever as a leader and a true pioneer who, without really knowing, changed the face of metal music. HAVE A SAFE TRIP TO VALHALLA BROTHER...
www.bathory.seps.the website has not been updated yet, as it seems that he was the one on the role of the webmaster behind it.
