Reviews list for Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark (1987)

Bathory is back at it with perhaps their strongest album yet. The production is just a bit better and the musicianship is just a bit tighter. The songwriting has more variation but still retains the signature evil, distant atmosphere at all times. Other than that, it’s just classic Bathory, plain and simple.

Aggressively Flawed Perfection

If I had to pick one album that defines early Black Metal for me, Under the Sign of the Black Mark would be the one. There are absolutely better Black Metal albums than this, even in Bathory's own discography, but the furious lo-fi aggressiveness sucks me back in every single time. The rawness and speed of the riffs and Quorthon's ragged but somehow endearing voice creates the perfect representation of what classic Black Metal was and how it should be done even to this day.

Bathory are the masters of lo-fi and it especially shows on this album. While the mix and production is dirty and almost amateurish at times with clipping and imperfections coming through, their style of playing and overall tone of all the instruments makes these imperfections just part of the performance. Every time I come back to this album I'm instantly reminded of how bad it initially sounds, but as I sit through "Massacre" and "Woman of Dark Desires" I realign my production expectations and always think that this just sounds precisely what classic Black Metal should sound like. "Enter the Eternal Flames" is easily the highlight, with a massive Black Metal chug riff that never gets old for me. 

Blood Fire Death would be the pivot point for Bathory's career, and I very much prefer that album to Under the Sign of the Black Mark, but this album just has such an evil character about it that isn't completely overshadowed by Bathory's other two monumental releases. 

This is the album where Quorthon really hit his straps. The debut album, while being fairly raw, was pretty much the first real black metal album. The Return took things to an even dirtier, darker sound but I feel it lost out on the song writing side with much out it failing to hold my attention. But Under the Sign of the Black Mark turned everything up a notch.

The production is much better, the song writing has more variety and is much more memorable, and the level of aggression of tracks like Equimanthorn, Chariots of Fire and Of Doom... had simply not been reached before. Even the slower tracks such as Enter the Eternal Fire and 13 Candles are dripping with venom. Literally hundreds of black metal bands owe their existence to this period of Bathory's career.

I can't give it full marks as the album does have its flaws (Quorthon's leads still a bit dodgy, but at least they're short and sweet this time, and Bathory's finest moment is still yet to come.