Search - Bathory :: The Return...

The First True Black Metal Album! And One of the Best!

jtom181 | middle river, md United States | 05/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Despite the fact that Venom invented the name of the genre with their Black Metal realease, everyone knows they were not TRUE BM, as what they did was done tongue-in-cheek, and mainly for shock effect. Bathory, of course, is quite different. No doubt influenced by the Satanic themes of Venom, indeed the name Bathory comes from a Venom song title-Countess Bathory- Quarthon took things a step farther. What becomes clear in listening to both the first album, Bathory, and especially The Return is: the level of commitment to BM ethos and ideology that is really absent in Venom, overall. This goes way beyond simple snarling vocalizations of allegiance to Satan, which is actually not present with Bathory, and into the black realm of chaos and nihilism. This is clearly evidenced by the song titles, such as Total Destruction, The Wind of Mayhem, The Rite of Darkness, and The Return of Darkness and Evil. Make no mistake: Any issue as to whether or not Quorthon was actually a practising Satanist, and I seriously doubt that he was, is beside the point. What he has done on The Return is the REAL DEAL. It is the true epitome of black metal: evoking the enveloping prescense of evil and darkness in the form of musical hymms to all that is black and destructive. And that is exactly what this album does. It is the first UTTERLY BLACK metal album , and one of the best. All that you could ask for is here: grinding guitars, bashing percussion, torn-throat vocals, lryical invocations of darkness, death, and destruction, etc. This is a foundational album that especially influenced the Norwegian bands that would follow, and is an absolute classic of black death thrash. Also, this album is the perfect music for aligning your soul with the dark, cthonic powers-that-be, and for works of hexing, entropy, and necromancy..."

Sex, Satan, Metal, Sin, Death!

Draconis Blackthorne | The Haunted Noctuary | 10/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The harvest moon glows eerily in the darkened sky, Lucifer's gaze through the misty night upon the black earth, emminates a haunting and comforting rapport amidst the cold autumnal nocturne. Dancing shadows upon the walls depicting images of balefire ceremonies, growing into grotesque apparitions fortelling impending doom...



REVELATION OF DOOM veritably sounds like a microsphone lowered down into the depths of The Abyss, and besides makes for an appropriate infernal meditation, to place one "in the mood", as it were, establishing that nefarious atmosphere which betokens the presence of diabolical projection. TOTAL DESTRUCTION is an apocalyptic tale of omni-annihilation to bring forth a renewal of stronger and more evolved elements. THE WIND OF MAYHEM comes forth from The West, filling one with Strength and Passion - it whispers your name... BESTIAL LUST lets loose the Satanimal Beast in a Satantric frenzy. POSSESSED invokes the demon within to surface; THE RITE OF DARKNESS invites you to participate, holding a black candle at a point in The Pentagram, and thus usher forth the denizens of the void to reclaim the earth and its inhabitanats. REAP OF EVIL contains marvellous poetry of the classic darkened fane; SON OF THE DAMNED, infernal progeny, thus prepares to ascend the earthly throne. SADIST manifests the cruel master ready to grant pain and pleasure...; THE RETURN OF DARKNESS AND EVIL concludes where Revelation of Doom began, with a veritable doomsday prophet inunciating the terrible fate of the human race.



This album radiates the impression of those arcane phrases haunting in the air, the echoing vocals, the eerie quality brings pleasure to My ears - at once mesmerizing, and inspiring towards feral expressions from the darkest recesses of the imagination. This album is one of the original "Satanic epic" creations, along with Venom's "At War With Satan" opus, which set the anti-xian mythology to optimum psychodramatic proportions. Each and every song is a masterpiece of Black Metal composition, like opening up an olde musty book from some dusty cobwebbed shelf, only to unleash the horrors within. Wave after wave of sonic bliss. In My opinion, it is only a small bit 'better' than the first, only in that the sound quality is improved, for the first was recorded using a small Yamaha amp due to monetary limitations, so The Return really delivers Quorthon's potential in veritos. 'It is said that The Return was recorded in a church to capture that certain reverating embience. The Return...' is itself a portal to the Underworld - the Abyss of the Psyche - so as the CD case is opened, so are The Gates of Hell...



Track List:



"The REVELATION OF DOOM comes forth from Hell, fortelling of TOTAL DESTRUCTION upon those who were BORN FOR BURNING as THE WIND OF MAYHEM blows to revitalize the Legions of Darkness and infuse with BESTIAL LUST, that they may be POSSESSED and serve as The Gates of The Abyss to unleash The Ancient Ones through THE RITE OF DARKNESS, that we may REAP OF EVIL, the carnal delights and spoils of War, as we are the embodiment of the SON OF THE DAMNED and the SADIST, as we welcome THE RETURN OF DARKNESS AND EVIL upon the world forever more...""

CMON

Don C | Albany, NY | 03/02/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Hey, i loved Bathory as much as the next guy. And this album was kind of an enigma at the time. quorthon was very inspiring to newer bands and he was an innovator. But to keep giving this poorly produced, very basic cd 5 stars is ludicris! I think Quorthon himself would laugh at seeing these reviews. This album only cost like $2500 to make, and you still cant tell that it even cost that much! Some of the songs even have mistakes in them, and the drumming misses beats at times. The whole dark aspect to this cd is great and gives great ambiance, But musically, vocally and lyrically its very basic. Even sounds worse than those old venom albums that sounded like trash. It also has a terrible mix job. Influential? Yes! 5 stars? Absolutely not."