Bathory was a Swedish heavy metal band formed in Vällingby in March 1983. Named after Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory, they are considered pioneers of black metal (alongside Venom and Mercyful Fate) and Viking metal. The book Lords of Chaos described Bathory's first four albums as "the blueprint for Scandinavian black metal."
Bathory abandoned the black metal sound for their fifth record, Hammerheart (1990), which is often cited as the first Viking metal album. The band continued in the Viking metal style for most of their remaining existence, although they experimented with a thrash metal style on the albums Requiem (1994) and Octagon (1995).
They stopped performing live early on and never toured; frontman, founder and main songwriter Tomas "Quorthon" Forsberg was the sole constant member and at times responsible for all instruments. Bathory ended when Forsberg died from heart failure at the age of 38 in June 2004.
Members:
Quorthon (Thomas Börje Forsberg) - vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums, percussion, keyboards, synthesizers lyrics, composer (1983-2004; died 2004)
The Animal (Björn Kristensen) - vocals (1983)
Freddan/Hanoi (Frederick Melander) - bass guitar (1983-1984)
Vans McBurger (Jonas Åkerlund) - drums (1983-1984)
Ribban (Rickard Bergman)- bass guitar (1984)
Stefan Larsson - drums (1984-1986)
Adde (Andreas Johansson) - bass guitar (1985)
Christer Sandström - bass guitar (1986-1987)
Paul Lundburg - drums (1986-1987)
Kothaar - bass guitar (1988-1996)
Vvornth - drums (1988-1996)
From: Vällingby, Sweden
Genre(s):
Black metal,
Viking metal,
thrash metal
Active From: 1983-2004