Review by Xephyr for Bathory - Blood Fire Death (1988)
A Quintessential Culmination
When it comes to albums and bands that have been said to completely define or create a certain genre, I try to keep my wits about me and my nostalgia factor in check. The notion of "this album changed the way music is perceived" can be a quick and easy way to justify ranking an album as a top scoring 5 out of 5, but does that necessarily mean that the album itself is good? More often than not yes, these classic albums live up to their legacies, but I try to keep an open mind. Blood Fire Death took all of my doubts and pounded them completely out of existence.
I had been listening to the front half of Bathory's discography just to educate myself on where the Black and Viking Metal genre came from, and at first I didn't think I'd find an album that made me "get" it. Bathory's self-titled debut, The Return..... , and Under the Sign of the Black Mark were great primers for the founding of Black Metal, with Under the Sign of the Black Mark being one of the strongest Black Metal albums I've heard. Bathory being able to take a Thrash Metal foundation and somehow build upon the sound by lowering the quality in multiple ways is strange but impressive in a historical sense. They also pull off the lo-fi, terrible production sound better than most modern Black Metal bands; it sounds more genuine rather than a gimmick, which is admittedly pretty obvious since they were probably working with what they had available to them at the time.
As impressive as their first three albums were, Blood Fire Death hit that sweet spot for me where I finally understood why this band is so important and why Black/Viking Metal can be an amazing genre. While Under the Sign of the Black Mark is Bathory's essential Black Metal album and Hammerheart is their essential Viking Metal album, Blood Fire Death marks the collision of these two genres and Bathory's clear transition into Hammerheart. Having these two genres interact with each other and attempt to force themselves into the spotlight over the other is fascinating to listen to, which is what I think makes this album special.
Blood Fire Death is book-ended by "A Fine Day to Die" and "Blood Fire Death", which are lengthy epics where Viking Metal triumphs over Black Metal, giving a more theatrical and riff-focused performance. Aggressive and slower riffs than the normal Bathory fare along with more chorus and clean guitar parts give these two tracks a sense of grandeur and triumph. The Thrash Metal solos and Bathory sound quality are still there, but it manages to sound larger than life and be heavy as hell. Quorthon's voice is as powerful and ragged as ever, but a slower, more clean singing style finally emerges from him on "Blood Fire Death", which is an awesome shift to hear.
In the middle of the album, Black Metal reigns supreme. Each song from track 3 to track 7 is just as aggressive, evil, and hatred filled as the average song from Under the Sign of the Black Mark. While the topics and overall feel of the songs are about war, battle, and bloodshed rather than Bathory's original best friend, Satan, it works insanely well to deliver a classic and raw Black Metal experience.
Combine these two distinct parts into one album and you have one of the quintessential albums of extreme metal that showcases the rise of two genres that would become a massive part of the Metal world for years to come. While I didn't enjoy Hammerheart's take on Viking Metal as much as it seems everyone else did, I can safely say that I understand and agree with Blood Death Fire being the beast of an album that it is.