Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark
Release: 1986Label: Black Mark
AvNatten: The legendary one man band known as Bathory was given life in Sweden in March of 1983 by Tomas Forsberg who also went by the name Quorthon. The following year Bathory contributed tracks to the "Scandinavian Metal Attack" compilation and the ball of darkness started to roll forward. A key component surrounding Bathory was an aura of mystery, this being one of the reasons the band only performed a handful of shows, all of which were in the early days of the bands existence.
"Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" was unleashed upon the world in 1986 on Black Mark Production and is one of the most important albums in the realm of black metal. The cover artwork adds to the mysterious atmosphere by showing a man wearing a goat mask while standing on top of a mountain with his arms raised, undoubtedly in the process of some sort of ritual. Many fans revere this album to be Bathory's greatest work due to its unrelenting and pure black metal. This disc will maul you, the lethal mix of speed, aggression, and overall brutality eliminates the weak listeners right away leaving those who have blackened souls engulfed in the chaotic madness that Quorthon churns out.
The track 'Massacre' sums up the word brutality, it is based on the battle of Little Big Horn and gallops forth at neck breaking speeds and rhythms. 'Equimanthorn' also is superbly fast and vicious clawing at the listener's mind and attention, everything about this track is pure speed, the vocals are delivered so fast it almost seems inhuman. "Woman Of Dark Desires" is a highlight of the album. It is based on Elizabeth Bathory, the lady who bathed in the blood of her servants in hopes of retaining her beauty and youth. Heavy on atmosphere, this track uses organs in the background and also employs a very catchy chorus that will stick with you. 'Enter The Eternal Fire' is raw and vicious with interesting drum patterns over which Quorthon tells the story of a man who is sentenced to burn for all of eternity due to him leading a life of pleasure. While still on the subject of hellfire and damnation '13 Candles' must also be mentioned, the story within this song tells of a virgin who gives birth to Satan's child, a fitting mockery to the birth of christ. Musically the track is mid-paced with sharp riffs and an evil sounding chant in the background that will send chills up your spine. The cold, raw production enhances the overall effect of this album and captures the melodic yet violent tones that are displayed throughout each track.
"Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" is absolutely a must have release for those who dig their metal raw and dark. Quorthon set a lot of standards on how black metal should be with this album, countless others have tried to recreate the magic and feeling within the vocals, buzzing guitars, and brutal drums on this disc though very few of the bands nowadays can even touch the level of darkness and atmosphere that Bathory created. I was blown away by this album and it changed my views on what was truly cold and dark, in my mind it is one of the ultimate black metal releases and can never be copied, no matter how many times others try they will always fall short of the originality and atmosphere that Quorthon commanded on "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark".
Tordah: Bathory is legendary band in the metal-world and have been a huge inspirational source for tons of metal bands. "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" was Quorton's third creation and the rawest Bathory album.
The album starts off with the fast-paced 'Massacre' and its aggressive guitars and blasting drum-beats. I don't find it that interesting though compared to the next track, 'Woman Of Dark Desires'. This is undoubtedly the catchiest track on the whole album. I've had the chorus stuck in my head on several occasions. The drums are fast, the guitars are fast and Quorthon's shrieks sounds killer. There's a cool organ part in the middle of the song that I like a lot too. The second best song on the album.
My favorite song is 'Enter The Eternal Fire'. An atmospheric track of epic proportions that almost reaches the 7 minutes mark. It moves along at a medium pace and is a big hint of the viking metal sound later Bathory albums would have. A real classic Bathory tune. Quorthon's vocals are also very good here. '13 Candles' is another great track with an evil atmosphere and a crunchy and catchy main riff. The rest of the album is good too, besides the pointless intro and outro tracks.
Even though I'm more of a fan of Bathory's viking-era I think "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" is pretty good. Usually I would complain about the bad production when it comes to black metal but I don't mind it here. Sure, the guitars tend to get buried under the rumbling drums and the bassdrum hits are muddy and not very audible - but it's not a "wall of sound" noise attack. You can clearly hear what you need to hear if you listen with headphones. "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" is definitely a classic album and I think every metalhead should at least have heard one or two Bathory albums. This one and "Hammerheart", more precisely.
Deek: I've always known Bathory for their viking metal material (ie, "Blood Fire Death" and onward, granted some of the later albums went back to black metal roots). "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" is the first of their early material that I really listened to. Now, those that know me know I'm not the biggest fan of black metal (my classic review for the Darkthrone album earlier and the lack of some what-would-be classic black metal in my collection is proof of this fact), but there are the random few bands or albums that will catch my ear and really like. This album is sort of one of those. Definitely a really good album in my mind. I love 'Woman Of Darkness', 'Equimanthorn', and 'Chariots Of Fire'. The intense closer (not counting the 23 second outro) '13 Candles' is also fantastic, closing the album with great intensity and pride, you could say. The simplicity, or at least what sounds simple, is what makes this album the gem it is today. Definitely an album metal heads need to check out if they haven't yet. This is a true classic in the history of a legendary band and man (RIP Ace "Quorthon" Börje Forsberg (this name is from his obituary and adds more mystery to his "real" name, which long has been considered Tomas Forsberg, Ed).
Anders: Some bands and releases are more legendary than others, one of the most legendary and talked about bands must be Bathory, the Swedish band that started out as black metal, slowly evolved into epic viking metal and later on turned to something which can be defined a mix of thrash and grunge, before going back to a mix of the roots, where both black and viking metal became a part of the mix, even though the epic spheres of the viking era shined through on Bathory’s 2 last albums "Nordland 1 and 2".
The album that has the tracks that has been covered the most and the album most band's mention as the most influential for them, is Bathory's third album "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark", a pearl none the less, even though I personally prefer both the first self titled album and even more the second effort "The Return…" more than "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark".
This is black metal manifested in audio, evil, cold, dark and noisy, the hate towards conformity and the loathe for the normal society shines through and there is a lot of frustration hidden in Quorthon's vocals. A grim and ugly rasp, with a lot of emotion and passion, a vocal many since has tried to reach the standards of. The guitar work is gripping and ripping, distorted and raw, the riffs are effective and being delivered pretty fast, considered the standards back then. There isn't that many riffs involved, but damn the ones involved are good and catchy as hell. The drumming is not the tightest and the sound of them is not the audible, the snare-drum can be heard together with some of the cymbals and the hi-hat, while the kick-drums are hidden in the muddy low-end, together with the bass. Not the best production, but it gets an A+ in this connection as it fits the music, atmosphere and universe of Bathory perfect, the music wouldn't be as good, gripping and dark with a good production.
I guess all tracks have been mentioned above, by the one or the other, besides one, the one I can't understand hasn't gripped any of the writers, besides me. It was the one that stood out the very first time I heard the album, the very track that pulled me in, with its coldness, mysterious atmosphere and chilling message, 'Call From The Grave', that amazingly cold, grim and atmospheric track, that always gives me the chills down my back, that track sums it all up. But the rest of the tracks, are all special in their own ways and shows what a great songwriter Quorthon was, he had a special ability to make a track, that touched the listener deep and makes the listener come back to the albums again and again… A thing I can't help, though that's something that goes again for all Bathory's albums, at least the first 5 albums Bathory made, well to sum it up… "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" is yet a mandatory album in the collection of the serious black metal fan, though others should check it out as well, as it doesn't get more classic and legendary as this.
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