Bathory: Blood Fire Death
1988 Kraze/Black Mark
Duration- 45:44

After 3-minutes of horses in the intro Odens Ride Over Nordland it's
another 2-minutes of acoustic guitar and mellowness before A Fine Day
To Die shoots you in the face with a wall of hate. No doubt AFDTD is
a killer song that is raw and aggressive with a blackened roar and
some ripping solos. The Golden Walls of Heaven is faster and more
black/thrash with a very dark evil feel and more of those killer lead
solo's. Pace Till Death is fast in the early Metallica (Ride The
Lightning) vein only with vocals that are almost industrialized.
That aggression only continues on Holocaust. Finally things die done
to a mid-pace for the sick vokill's that make up For All Those Who
Died despite the generic drumming. Dies Irae picks up the pace again
with another blast of in your face death metal and more subdued
solos. Blood Fire Death is an epic at 10 ½-minutes and showcases the
future direction of Bathory heading into Viking metal territory on
the next couple CD's. This song is mid-paced, has a cleaner vocal
approach and some background singing for atmosphere plus plenty of
powerful riffs.

There's no doubt in my mind this was the best album of Bathory's
black/death era of more aggressive music and certainly had the best
production. There's nothing wrong with Under The Sign of The Black
Mark, certainly it blows away the pitifully under produced $100
recordings of Bathory and The Return. I guess this was back when
Sweden wasn't known for metal so maybe Quorthon couldn't get a real
studio to record in unlike other legends of the underground Celtic
Frost/Possessed who also led the black/death onslaught of the mid-
80's. Blood Fire Death is one of those hallowed treasures that all
fans of aggressive music need to have in their collection beside
Reign in Blood, Kill'em All, Morbid Tales, Endless Pain, Seven
Churches, Welcome to Hell, Scream Bloody Gore and Morbid Visions as
albums that led the charge for extreme metal.

http://www.bathory.se/
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