The Quorthon Nordland interview Part I Autumn 2002

In this interview, almost 13 000 words in length, Quorthon of BATHORY is talking both about the new BATHORY twin album "Nordland" and the history of BATHORY, as well as sharing with us his thoughts, memories and some inside stories from two decades of making metal history. There obviously is something special about certain groups. This summer has been the hottest summer ever recorded in Swedish history, and yet though I should've gasped for air and felt like a piece of boiled ham of something, playing this particular brand new CD got me shivering. And thought at the time the CD came into my hands unmarked, with no cover artwork to study and with no lyrics to read, there really was no doubt as to what this could possibly be... After hearing those ominous deep voices and the doomsday drums thundering their way through "Prelude", anybody would say surely this couldn't be anything else other than the new BATHORY album. And before that crushing guitar riff takes you into the title track, you find your feet already firmly placed on a desolate beach in that cold barren landscape where this saga begins... The new BATHORY album "Nordland" takes us back to a time since long gone. Resting in the soil, the bones of fathers long gone. The foreverdark woods, full of both unseen and unknown. Waves are cut by the bow of elegant dragonships. A journey is made across a raging sea. Forks of lightning cutting through dark clouds in a worried sky. A sacrifice is made to the old northern gods... From the beginning to the end, "Nordland" is drenched in equal parts blood of the bodies hanging from the tree of gods at the midwinter-sacrifice, and the salty cold water of a violent ocean. Each and every track is filled to the brim with adventures and legends. In BATHORY's perception of the ancient north, the runes are just as self-evident as the tales are real. The ravens soaring on black wings. The Dragon in its cave, guarding the sword of gods. And as if that wasn't enough, you will have to ride through the foreverdark woods in order to get to the by now infamous Asa bay. That is if you're not travelling by sea...

-There are of course certain things you'll be returning to, once the time and place of an album ends up in a typical BATHORY version of the ancient north, says Quorthon with a smile as he is mentioning BATHORY returning to the infamous Asa bay on "Nordland". Quorthon: The village down Asa bay is one such detail. It's a fictive village, probably placed somewhere close to the Mälaren outflow into the Baltic Sea. And that "great hall up high" is another such detail, mentioned on previous "Nordic" albums in BATHORY's past. Of course "the hall" itself is Valhalla, the hall of warriors fallen in. It is one of this almost unbelievably hot summer's many Saturday afternoons, and we have met up to talk about BATHORY in general and the new two-part album "Nordland" in particular. By now I have been able to listen through the new album a couple of times. I have read the lyrics and admired the breathtaking album cover artwork ever since we first got the slide sent to the office. I am equipped with a sheet full of questions regarding both the new twin album and the history of BATHORY, as well as the impressive BATHORY back catalogue. I have added a whole range of odd issues that I have been stumbling across during my time at Black Mark while receiving BATHORY related emails from fans on a daily basis. So I feel pretty well prepared to make the best out of this very hot Saturday afternoon. And so I slide a fresh C90 tape into my tape recorder...

A truly classic BATHORY shot! The new twin album is right throughout purely Nordic stuff. Could it really be said to a part of an ongoing evolution, picking something up from the past like this typical BATHORY northern theme?

Quorthon: An overwhelming majority of BATHORY's fans consider the pure BATHORY and, according to their dedication and the tone of their letters, one that no other act seem to be able to deliver with quite such a feel and so genuinely. In March 2003 BATHORY we will celebrate 20 years. And despite the fact so many frontiers has been explored both musically and lyrically over these two decades, it seems to me that the pure ancient Nordic atmosphere stays at the top of the list with our audience. I don't know if that says anything about what's missing out there in terms of acts and styles. In my book, it's probably also a matter of origin. We wouldn't have passed quite as well as sailors of dragonships had BATHORY been an American or German act. In a way, BATHORY is such a grateful project to be working with. Because despite the fact our audience is divided into two separate camps, BATHORY seem to be just as much gods to a pale-as-a-corpse Black Metal fan, as masters to a forest wandering Nordic Metal fan. THE RETURN Once dubbed the most evil album of all times! I have heard people say there's a huge number of new acts out there most feeling they never seem to find their very own style and sound. There's been a lot of talk recently about the vast number of new acts popping up and going straight for a style, a sound and an image simply because it's the flavor of the week and will mean a free ride on today's main attraction. I think that's a pity. The more styles and sounds out there and ways to express yourself, the fuller the scene. The more out there for the audience to choose from, and for other musicians to be inspired by, the better I say. To me the answer to the problem is quite simply; just be yourself. Look at BATHORY. We may have been going through tons of styles and sounds during these two decades. But that's not a negative thing. That's exploring yourself and contributing to enrich the scene. And people insist that we've always been able to maintain that special BATHORY atmosphere and feel. That's worth all the money in the world to be hearing people saying things like that about your stuff. It's always been pretty obvious to me anyway, that the pure Nordic atmosphere would be back on a BATHORY album again sooner or later. I mean, throughout the years, we have created a need for that particular atmosphere, feel and sound to be featured on a BATHORY record again. There are those who just love the rawness and brutalities that made up albums like "The Return..." and "Requiem", just as there are those who love the atmosphere and mood of albums like "Hammerheart" and "Blood on Ice". BLOOD ON ICE The theme-album that came into life via tons of fan mail. I see the issue the same way I do a very good book. I have an entire library filled with books featuring all sorts of subjects. And should I feel the urge to read one specific book, I'm gonna read it even if I may have read it in the past. And even should this particular book be the most awesome mother of all bindings, that does not mean I'll never read any other book but that particular one. In other words; just as much as BATHORY will want to step into each and every world previously visited on past albums, just as much can you be sure that BATHORY will not mean the same style and sound for all time.

The pure Nordic style we of course recognize from such albums as "Hammerheart" and "Blood on Ice". Bits of "Twilight of the Gods" I guess carried the Nordic atmosphere as well. How would the Nordic theme on "Nordland" be similar or different to that of these so called Nordic or Viking albums?

Quorthon: "Blood on Ice" certainly carried a Nordic touch, but it was more of a saga with nothing in common with what's on "Hammerheart" or "Nordland", or any other of our albums for that matter. It was a theme album meaning that right throughout the album, you could follow a story which was loosely based on ancient Scandinavian and Germanic mythology, Richard Wagner's Siegfried-legend and the original Conan script by Robert E. Howard from the 1930's. The "Hammerheart" album could be considered somewhat close to "Nordland" in that I started from the exact same spot writing the material for "Nordland" as I had started from when I wrote the material for "Hammerheart" all those years ago. Lyrically they have a lot more in common than musically. The "Twilight of the Gods" album has very little, if anything, in common with either "Hammerheart" or "Nordland". I've personally never regarded "Twilight of the Gods" to be one of them so-called "Viking" albums.

On to the subject of "Nordland" being a twin release, one volume released early in the winter and one in late winter. I know how "Nordland" became a twin release, but what could we tell the BATHORY audience about that?

Quorthon: All the material on both "Nordland" volumes falls within the same story frame. It's not a theme twin-album. But should you want it to be so, there is a very loose plot on there, one you can follow should you listen to the tracks in a slightly different order than how they follow one another on the two CD's. However, should you not want it to be a story in there at all, you can easily just enjoy the material without being bothered about some plot. TWILIGHT OF THE GODS This album was heavily influenced by the operas of Wagner and books of Nietzsche! When we entered the studio in mid July, we brought with us some twenty tracks. Once all of that had been recorded, it struck us all that the program was going to be around two hours long. Of course we couldn't possibly fit all of that onto the album. So we had to sit down and decide which eight to ten tracks would have to be taken out of the production. A lot of tracks ended up being close to nine minutes long and most tracks were in the seven minutes area already, so even though the album would be some forty-five minutes long, it would still just feature a handful of tracks. This wouldn't look good at all. And it wouldn't feel good, putting just a handful of tracks out after having been working on tons of material in the studio. So the idea came about to make it either a double album or a twin release. HAMMERHEART is the a true classic. An absolute favorite among the "Nordic" metal fans of BATHORY! Some of the atmosphere of this album is captured on the new "NORDLAND" release! We knew some tracks had to go as it was anyway. A couple of tracks really didn't do much for the loose story and had been worked on only lightly. Once we had actually decided to make it a twin release, it was easy to see which tracks would end up on the two volumes and which were to be left out. We opted for a twin release rather than a double album on the basis that a twin release would be easier to handle and put less strain on the whole production and network involved. It would be a very interesting subject both to ourselves, to Black Mark and to our audience. Not too many acts have produced twin releases. Also, one album is enough to digest, the information on a double album would just clog your system. I am a huge fan of The Beatles, but I still think that their white double album should have been released as either a single album or a twin release. There's too much information on there. Volume one and two of "Nordland" would be easier to digest and assess on their own being released a few months apart. Having digested volume one, you're ready for volume two.

The whole concept of the ancient north; Asa bay, the dragonships and the lot. Will that subject require a very different approach in terms of writing lyrics than, say, modern topics?

BATHORY in the sword wielding days Quorthon: Sure. When writing modern lyrics, you just have to watch your own time, the society and all, getting an urge to pick something contemporary up. What you do basically is writing about it much in the same way you would telling a recent story without preaching anything or taking side for or against whatever. It's your artistic interpretation of something contemporary or near contemporary. And just as you interpret your own time writing modern lyrics, so will people interpret things reading them, simply because of the modern issue. If you write "dragonship", that's going to be treated as pure fantasy, or dealt with the industrial mass-murder of the 1940's. And while we weren't applauding mass-murder or anything, but simply describing the hell that actually did happened, it seemed you weren't allowed to write about it in an all-impartial way and put metal music to it. If you're a big shot Hollywood producer making a three hour long motion picture about it, filling it with all sorts of nasty scenes, they'll honor and applaud you for it though.

So why bring the issue up in the first place, if you knew it was hot stuff?

Quorthon: Once while in Berlin promoting "Hammerheart" years ago, between interviews, I quickly ran down a hobby shop buying a bag full of plastic model airplanes. One German journalist saw me stuffing the boxes of airplanes down my trunk and later on described in his article how disgusting it was having to witness me caring so much for my "nazi-toys". I guess I learned the hard way how very differently people will react when spotting a box of P-51 Mustang or a plastic Me 262 jet airplane model. So I made damn sure to pick the subject of war and shit up just slightly every once in a while after that, just to piss them off. And of course they hit the roof every time. I loved it, but it created an ugly atmosphere, particularly in Germany. With the Nordic theme; apart from the obvious difference you're not interpreting contemporary stuff but rather make things up and paint a scenery with words, you really have to sort of sense. I don't necessarily mean wandering off into the nearest wooded area and close your eyes, or spending time sitting down by the shore listening to the waves or go hugging rocks and things. I call it sensing, to paint with words and imagining. Those Nordic lyrics may refer loosely to a particular time and place that actually happened, i.e. the 8th-11th century Scandinavia, but that time and place is just so far back in history, it's really something very abstract to most modern folks in every way. The BATHORY line-up back in 1988. While on the subject; the sunwheel used on the back of the "Hammerheart" album, to us it was simply a sign for the sun and a Nordic ancient symbol of the cycle of life and death, connecting with the Nordic theme of the "Hammerheart" album. But in Germany and elsewhere it was interpreted as a political or ideological statement made. Like the "blood-brother" reference made in one or two lyrics. It had nothing to do with no race or ethnic group the way modern society interpreted it. A thousand years ago, and perhaps even today, your brother by blood, either biologically or symbolically, would mean an extra hand at the farm. It would mean a swordsman you could depend on in battle or somebody in whose care you could leave your house, wife and children when either duty or adventure called. In other words, a "blood-brother", not the "don't-call-me-I'll-call-you" type of guy. Sure you can read about it in books, but that's only gonna give you the facts in written, not fill you up in spirit and soul. Read a book on sex and then ask yourself if that did it for you the way the real thing does it for you. So what I do when writing the lyrics is simply imagining, trying to get a sense for that particular time and place without sounding as if I've just been watching the history channel or something. It's going to be my interpretation of things, it's going to have that personal signature. But they're not historic documents, they're metal lyrics, they're BATHORY stories. What I mean isn't that books aren't ok as the source of information or inspiration. But with our Nordic material, books are not the place for me to go. I go inside. Do I come across as if I've hit some good fungus or something?!

Nah, not at all ha-ha-ha. I was wondering about something. There's a lot of reference made to nature, weather, the elements and animals in these Nordic lyrics. Any mentioning and description of people is very scarce!

Quorthon: When I write Nordic lyrics, I don't want to come across as an academic copying actual names, places and historic events to the letter. Also, I've been trying to avoid using too much muscle-this and broadsword-that, along with all the slaying, raping and pillaging bit. Come to think of it, there has always been a lot of slaying, raping and pillaging in every phase of history and in every culture. However, it's much more of a challenge not to bring that stuff up. Quorthon close up. I don't know if I'm one of those nature romanticists, but I can't really imagine anything more powerful than a terrific thunder and lightningstorm. There's something about dramatic weather that's so overwhelmingly "wow". And nature itself is beyond religion, politics and what have you. It doesn't give a damn about us at all. It is effected by us and the way we fuck this place up, though. At a healthy distance away from any manmade environment, it's easy to imagine just how much impact nature and weather must have had on not only our way of living, but also our perception of the world and beyond, in the days we weren't driving around in it in 4WD monsters. In my lyrics, I guess there's a lot of placing the listener in the midst of the elements and in the center of an environment filled with stuff like "tree of gods" or "mountain towering to the sky". In modern society we have street signs telling us where we are and where to go to get where we're going. The best way I can describe the scene where a story takes place, is by pointing out to be listener the features of the landscape that I've already placed him or her in. Stuff like "the brook with crystal clear water" or "the soft turf of the forest" or "the endless sky above". There's no describing the inside of a person. The mind is virtually absent in my stories. You'll only be able to find lyrics on that subject on the early 90's albums. With me having already taken on the part of the storyteller, and the listener already invited and in the process of being shown the sites, I've always felt there isn't much room left for too many characters other than the few needed to actually bring the story further. And whether BATHORY takes you there better than any other act, I don't know. But judging from what our fans will have to say about that, we're taking them damn close.

And the music; what would be the main difference between writing more brutal stuff and Nordic music?

Quorthon: Actually not as much of a difference as one might first think. As far as composing the music is concerned, the difference between them two styles is mainly spelled intensity and atmosphere. Our Nordic material tends to be based on a melody line, it may be simple or multi layered, but a definitive melody line is obvious. Also the typical heavy beat will sort of require a specific type of guitar riff. But it all depends on what comes up first, a heavy guitar riff that'll work as the actual base, or a melody line suitable for the introduction or the chorus. Writing the more brutal stuff will almost always begin with me playing the guitar. And while I do, I may hear something that sounds interesting and worth working on. Other times I may think this great fast rhythm up while doing something completely different like riding my Harley or cooking or whatever.

So what will usually come first, the lyrics or the music?

Quorthon: I think at least three-quarters of what's on all the BATHORY albums, began as music way before I had even any words written. I might not actually have anything down on paper, but a basic idea for a story is usually enough for me to try some riff or notes out on guitar or keyboard, and then set out to write that particular track. A subject out of the blue will trigger the music. It's very rare that a great sounding guitar riff or a series of interesting notes on the keyboard would bring about lyrics or an idea for a story. I can't think of a single case of music having to be changed or altered in any way, to suit lyrics written way after that I got the music down. So I guess the answer is that not only will the music have come around first, it will usually have been completed before I've got as much as a complete verse down on paper.

From following the stream of letters and emails to Black Mark, I have of course noticed which titles in the BATHORY back catalogue that are most frequently ordered through our webshop and talked about the most. How vital is the voice of the fans when you're setting out to write something that so obviously is intended to pick up from where a classic BATHORY album like "Hammerheart" left off?

Quorthon: Immensely important. I do care a lot for details brought up in fan mail. I have sometimes even been criticized for paying too much attention. One English journalist even more or less forbade me to ever read fan mail again. As if that would help in bringing about a new BATHORY album that would be closer to what he felt BATHORY should really sound like. But I did understand his point of view, even though he was wrong. Quorthon photographed in the UK in the late 80's! The hopscotch from one style and sound to another on the albums throughout the years, will have confused some people who may seek only for consistency in their lives. And it must have been irritating as hell to those who will accept you wearing only the particular coat they have chosen for you. Me reading the fan mail was judged as the sole reason for all these changes occurring. So there I was; on the phone with this journalist telling me how wrong it was of me to pay attention to the fans, who not only bought the friggin' albums paying for them with their own money, but also took the time to write me. Unbelievable. One of the things a lot of fans asked for in the last year, apart from as much a pure Nordic atmosphere as possible, would be a singing style close to that used on "Twilight of the Gods". The production of "Twilight of the Gods" is another thing requested for frequently. Also mentioned a lot was how they'd been missing the topics and the feeling of "Hammerheart". And so when writing the material for "Nordland", I pictured the vocal style and production of "Twilight of the Gods" but with much of the feeling and topics of "Hammerheart".

The styles and sounds on the records have changed quite a bit over these past twenty years. The 80's meant albums all varying a lot in style and sound from primitive Death Metal, Black Metal, Doom, Thrash and Epic stuff. Then the 90's started off with the big "Twilight of the Gods" arrangement, which was followed by a couple of albums containing a very brutal style with modern lyrics. A quick look would tell an observer there are three clearly identifiable sides of BATHORY; the demonic, the brutal and the Nordic side. All extremely loved by your fans, although your audience is clearly divided into separate categories. With such a diverse musical background to live up to and rich well to pick from, what's the deciding factor determining whether a new BATHORY album should contain dark brutalities or majestically rumble in an ancient Nordic atmosphere. Regained lust for something you haven't done in a while, reviews or fan mail?

Quorthon: Gut feeling actually. Never ever a review. Reviews are just one guy's idea of something he's heard once or twice at best, all while having to listen through a whole bunch of stuff released that week. Fan mail is a very vital ingredient. After all, they're our audience. If I'd let their words just whiz through, going in one ear and out the other without paying any attention, it would be like neglecting the most honest, loyal and powerful force in the industry. They're the ones we're making BATHORY albums for anyway. In order to actually do anything well, the gut feeling must be absolutely right. The element of excitement is one not to be neglected. A musician and composer will sometimes need a little time to get a bit of perspective and to recharge the excitement for a specific topic or style of music. I sure as hell do. It's just like a farmer will never sow the same type of crop on the same piece of land two years in a row.

So the Nordic theme on "Nordland" is a temporary move rather than something more permanent?

Quorthon: Even though the pure Nordic feeling and atmosphere naturally feels very exciting right now, I am sure it would all feel very watery after a while should BATHORY offer a release like "Nordland" every year and several years in a row. Having said that, there's absolutely nothing that says the next one couldn't be all Nordic as well should an overwhelming majority of the fans express a whish for it to be just that.

Now, I have read stuff in assorted metal media, some folk claim the 90's for BATHORY to have been a failure, with the two albums "Requiem" and "Octagon" taking most of the beating. What if any of those minds would suggest "Nordland" to be no more than an attempt by BATHORY to please the Nordic Metal craving crowds that didn't hear enough broadswords on "Destroyer"?

Quorthon: I know exactly where any such thoughts regarding our 90's would stem from. And nothing could be further from the truth. First we have to agree on a definition of the meaning of failure. ALBUM the first of hitherto two solo albums released by Quorthon. Heavy guitarbased rock. Different from anything BATHORY ever did! I believe in this case, by failure most people would simply be referring to both the absence of the much loved Nordic theme and then the subject of the many side-releases during the 90´s. There were two solo albums and three anniversary releases during that decade. But the truth is that every year during the first three-quarters of the 90´s at least, was a much better year salesfigurewise than any year in the 80´s. It's only been in the last three to five years that the wheels were hardly turning at all due to business and distributor related circumstances. One memory of the 80's, is the vast number of small and medium sized distributors and license partners around the world that would handle our records. It was a tough job just to keep track of all the offices and see to it that the statements were in any order. I am sure most of the time the BATHORY salesfigures weren't accurately accounted for, because we knew through fan mail there was a buzz going on here and there. But if one should have believed the sales statements we were sent, we weren't necessarily doing very well at all in these particular places. REQUIEM All of this album, even the cover art work, was all about death in every form! This album has taken a terrible beating throughout the years. But Quorthon loves it and will defend this album until "hell becomes a cool place"! Onto the subject of "Requiem" and "Octagon"; during the two and a half months that I was doing interviews for "Destroyer of Worlds", people would be lifting a lot of issues off their chests. One of the things I sensed to be very important to most people I was talking to, was the need to find and to blame scapegoats for why BATHORY wasn't what they dearly wanted BATHORY to be sound and stylewise. And the scapegoats they'd found and began blaming it all for were "Requiem" and "Octagon". These two albums have been taking a terrible beating throughout the years. The reason for that, I believe, is the fact that "Requiem" and "Octagon" came around at a time when people were used to BATHORY sounding a certain way. Most people weren't accepting BATHORY sounding like anything other than what the previous releases had been like. The albums before these two scapegoats were "Twilight of the Gods", "Hammerheart" and "Blood Fire Death", in other words dinosaurs in the BATHORY catalogue. To those who may have figured that we were on a roll or something, and that this was what BATHORY would sound like forever, the shock must have been tremendous picking "Requiem" and "Octagon" up. OCTAGON This album offered a modern style and sound. It also featured contemporary lyrics. But by and large, those two albums I will defend and stand by until hell becomes a cool place. Mainly because they break a pattern, but also because they remind me of a time when again it was great fun to just blast off with high energy and rawness. It's possible the production of "Requiem" and "Octagon" may not exactly match a pompous and pretentious album like "Twilight of the Gods". But on the other hand, at the time the primitive production sort of was the main intention actually. But of course "Nordland" is a meant to please our "Nordic" audience. But it's also very exciting as a songwriter and musician, to be doing the "Nordic" thing on record again. It interests me to see how BATHORY has been developing since Asa bay was "visited" last time around, as much as the "Nordic" fans must think it's like entering Valhalla hearing this album. To produce this music is very rewarding, to just lean back, close your eyes and be absorbed by the whole atmosphere.

Now, the release from last year "Destroyer of Worlds", contains a mixed bash of material. I believe it came about during very hectic circumstances. What can we say about it that hasn't already been mentioned in the media?

Quorthon: I began writing the material in mid June. We were forced to wait until the end of the Swedish industrial holiday before entering the studio, which we did at the end of July. And we had a master ready by mid August I believe. We worked onehundred and twelve hours on it. We only added a few hours at the very end for additional mix. So "Destroyer of Worlds" is the second fastest recording in BATHORY history, beaten only by the debut which required fifty-six hours from soundcheck to complete master. One guy nearly had a heart attack when he heard we'd spent only onehundred and twelve hours on "Destroyer of the Worlds". He figured we must have been working for six months on tracks like "Lake of Fire" and "Day of Wrath". DESTROYER OF WORLDS The album from 2001, was written to test the BATHORY audience after five years of absence on record. One half of it was brutal and the other half heavy. But neither half was "demonic" or "Nordic"! Unfortunately, most of the time we would have access to the studio only three or four hours per session. The diversity of the material meant a lot of different demands from one track to the other during both recording and mix. Having to sing in a dramatic talking voice one moment and blast off like a terrier on steroids the next, meant that my vocal chords were under a lot of strain. And my voice did break down halfway through the vocal session. We concentrated on other stuff a few days. "Destroyer of Worlds" did feature some material that weren't exactly rubbing shoulders with Nordic BATHORY classics like "One Rode to Asa Bay" or dark BATHORY classics like "Dies Irae". Apart from a mix of modern issues and sort-of swords and fantasy, there were airplanes in there, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a weird game of Ice Hockey. I wanted to test the level of tolerance, the degree of humor allowed for. Not too many may have been approving, but it was necessary. It had been a long time since the last BATHORY album. We had to check up how far we would be allowed to stretch the legend and image, which topics would be ok and so forth. When I sat down to begin writing the material for "Destroyer of Worlds", the intention was to produce a mix of most styles and sounds from our past. A mix that would remind of specific phases in the BATHORY back catalogue. This was asked for specifically by the fans that wrote us. We weren't going all the way to either end of the spectrum. We just borrowed the atmosphere and heavy arrangements from the "Twilight" and "Hammerheart" days and picked up some intensity and rawness from the "Under the Sign" and "Blood Fire Death" days. But I made damn sure not to bring the classic Nordic or classic dark topics up in the exact same form as yesteryear.

Before beginning working on and recording "Destroyer", you had been on a break, which I believe turned out to be twice as long as you had first intended. What was the reason for that break?

Quorthon: Well, BATHORY seem to be able to wear two coats very well and be the act for several kinds of fans; some regarding BATHORY to be the original dark and demonic act whereas others regard BATHORY to be the ultimate Nordic and atmospheric thing. And there is a certain sort of freedom in that, being able to do a little bit of everything. It keeps BATHORY interesting. However in the end, around the time we celebrated fifteen years and released the third "Jubileum" volume, it became a case of "which pair of shoes to wear today". It was like; initially you had to figure out which foot to lift first in order to take a step in whatever direction. Even though this time the gravel in the mind machinery was too many choices, it still felt just like when we had painted ourselves into a corner music and stylewise around "Twilight of the Gods", with all that bombastic production. We ended up scratching our heads bloody from having some fans telling us how BATHORY really should be doing only this one style and sound, while other fans wrote us and said BATHORY ought to be doing this other sound and style exclusively. I even heard of BATHORY fans punching the life out of each other in Greece a few years ago. One gang hailed the Nordic and atmospheric style, while the other regarded BATHORY to be the ultimate dark and demonic act. On top of all that, both in plain and between the lines, the media seemed to ask of BATHORY to be doing whatever was going to facilitate that old "file and pin-down-in-a-corner" thing. And so we said let's just take a break. So we said BATHORY might perhaps need some time-off from both the records and the studios, the media and the audience, but above all from ourselves. The intention was to take a two-year time-off. A break any shorter than that and it would have been like the normal space of time between two albums. The break was going to help us getting some perspective, letting the past fifteen years set in a bit. Plus we were hoping the whole image and idea of BATHORY would mature.

And during these years, 1998 - 2001, I know BATHORY was working on several projects. Some material should have been featuring classical influences and medieval instruments and stuff. Any chance we can release any of that later on?

Quorthon: There was some medieval and classical melody lines on "Destroyer of Worlds". I had been listening a lot to medieval music and got hooked on that quite a bit. I figured that's a sound we haven't done before and wrote some material based on medieval melody lines. But I don't know if any of that material had any more of a medieval touch than the few melody lines that's on "Destroyer of Worlds" or the stuff that's on "Nordland". It's not easy sliding one or two pieces from a completely different session or phase into whatever it is your working on in the studio at the moment, not without disturbing the atmosphere or upsetting the feeling anyway. Let's put it like this; it's not priority number one to be digging material up that we were working on a bit three or four years ago. I know some people have already dubbed this unheard off material yet-to-be-recorded, as the best stuff BATHORY has ever done. If this material would really be all that, it would have been worked on further, completed and released a long time ago. Even though nobody has even heard as much as a single second of this material, they use rather big words describing how badly they need for it to be released. I think this is more a matter of people desiring a certain style and sound not featured on a BATHORY album for a very long time. It's not like we're sitting a complete album here. We have a few demo's made and a handful of lyrics.

Some fans for a moment believed the "Katalog" to be containing some un-released material from these sessions. In fact it was just a sort of BATHORY anthology we produced for the new distribution partners and radio shows. We didn't even intend for it to be released commercially. We had to change our minds about that as it turned out, though.

KATALOG This album was made especially with the radioshows in mind. Quorthon: Right. Some folks within the press thought that really was the edge, like, "-Oh no, not another BATHORY compilation". But we didn't do it for the press or for the record stores. We just produced it for the various radio shows that had sprung up around the world in the last couple of years. Rather than tons of radio guys having to track all three Jubileum volumes down, or worse, tons of BATHORY albums in order to be able to cover our history on record, we figured we'd help them out with a sort of anthology of record. And to make damn sure the most loved tracks were on it, we asked the fans to write us in order to comprise their favorite tracking list. Then I heard you guys were drenched in mail asking for it to be available through the web shop. And now you've had to start producing it for commercial use. So I guess the tracking list was accurate after all.

Normally when there's a new BATHORY album on the way, you'll talk to the media and do tons of interviews. I know you said you're fed up with it all. You told me you didn't want us to book any twohundred or twohundred and fifty interviews with magazines, fanzines, radiostations and webzines for "Nordland". Instead, you've decided to go for something different promoting the new album. Why did you decide to dodge normal promotion and set this interview up for feature on the Black Mark web site?

Quorthon: I just felt I couldn't do it anymore. At least not the same way it has always been done before. Everybody responsible for the whole promotion and marketing planning would go absolutely apeshit if I'd tell them straight out I refuse to do interviews. I probably have to do a handful symbolic interviews. For "Destroyer" I spent more than ten weeks every day either hammering out answers in written or being on the phone with well over twohundred magazines, fanzines, webzines and radiostations in more than twenty-five countries. And the thing that struck me the most was how they all seemed so very focused on image stuff. Every second question would be related to image and true-this or false-that. It had been a couple of years since I had been talking to the media, which made the change in attitude and tone all the more apparent. Yet I was very surprised. I figured the change in attitude and tone must be a general symptom for the whole scene out there, because it didn't matter where they were from or what sort of media they represented. And I thanked my lucky star I'm not involved any more than I am already. The very narrow attitude some of them I talked to seemed to have about artistic freedom, was appalling. Some seemed totally in the dark about allowing musicians and artists the freedom to step aside from a crowded or path exploited beyond belief, every once in a while, to be wearing a different coat occasionally or just stretching out. And it made me feel sick. I guess they were all so used to all these new acts wearing full face make-up or masks, taking their music and lyrics to the limit, coming across as super-this or extreme-that. Just like as if it had become more a scene of fashion and superficial image than music. Some had enormous difficulties actually deciding whether to address me as Mr. Satanic Grandfather or Sir Viking chief.

But BATHORY has sort of helped out a lot in making it difficult being sure what to get when picking a BATHORY record up, haven't you?

Quorthon: Sure, but I still think one should only judge an album for what it is and not force it to go through some demonic-this or Viking-that kind of philter before you've even heard it, irregardless of the band name on the cover. I know it might be confusing, all this BATHORY wearing several coats refusing to stick to one style and sound. But I'd rather go through these cycles and keep finding both new exciting sides and rediscover old classic sides of BATHORY, than perhaps begin to think of BATHORY as boring and quit it all together. There's a new generation of young acts out there, that haven't been around long enough for them to have developed beyond the point where their fans will begin to feel itchy about changes in style and sound. They haven't really experienced the issue of evolution and those demands yet. They might split up and the members will form new acts, beginning from scratch. But when you've been doing this for two decades under the same name, can you really blame BATHORY ordering something other than pizza or a Big Mac every lunch-break. The "Destroyer" album is a very diverse record. It wasn't about stuff that wore horned helmets, drank loads of mead slaying Christian monks all day long. And because of that, people said it couldn't be Nordic BATHORY. On the other hand, it didn't take a shit on no golden throne up there and it didn't wipe its ass with no angel scalps, so people said it couldn't possibly dark BATHORY either. It wasn't given a chance to be just "Destroyer". People wanted it to fit in right next to either "Hammerheart" or "Under the Sign" sound and stylewise. In the years around the late 80's and early 90's, people didn't know whether to treat BATHORY as either this ex-satanic act or this Conan-opera thing, and that's a actual quote from a fanzine believe it or not. Of course the mixed bag of material on the "Destroyer" album didn't exactly make it any easier for them. There were those who wrote us during the second half of the 90's, and basically said how they wished for BATHORY to wear only one coat. Most of the media I talked to last year seemed to have bought that concept as well, and it was sad having to realize that. Earlier in the 80's, the scene was quite able to take a new album for what it was and talk about the material and lyrics with an open mind. In the mid 90's, people seemed not at all prepared to let BATHORY take as much as a single step outside the perimeter others had drawn up for us. While doing all those interviews for "Destroyer", there were some moments of not too nice argumentation going on. Some of those journalists really shouldn't have been talking to any band that particular day. They should have been seeing their psychiatrist. And I believe some of them did the very next morning, judging from how awfully froth chewing they came across on the phone.

And out of that came the idea to feature the mother of all BATHORY articles on the Black Mark web?

Quorthon: Yeah, to be able to present "Nordland" without having to be on the phone or in front of the computer, answering the exact same twenty questions from twohundred journalists for ten weeks, is of course a very potent argument. This is bringing all the issues up that I know the journalists will ask me anyway. It's giving the answers to the questions I know the fans will write and ask me. Direct communication with the fans I guess you could call it. No philters or middle-hands at all. My words in plain. It's possible this is not how you are supposed to do it. It's virtual suicide not sitting down talking to some magazines out there. And I could probably do the whole promotion circus again, spending all that time talking to the media. But I would probably just end up again feeling that three quarters of the interviews and articles missed by something like twenty thousand light-years what I actually said or what an album is all about. So doing it this way is perfect. But I am puzzled as to how come I didn't think about this before. I have always been proud about the fact I've always answered tons of fan mail. This is really like me talking to the fans directly. There is of course plenty of room for the media to interpret anything I say here as well. But at least I haven't had to waste any time participating, feeling what I've felt so many times in the past, that I could just as well have spent the day doing something else. At least here's where the BATHORY audience can read my own words, not having to be content with the article by some asshole in some magazine. The bottom line is after all the music.

How do you see BATHORY's 80's today? You did albums back then considered holy and imperative to everything that has happened since!

Quorthon: The BATHORY that did the albums "Bathory", "The Return" and "Under the Sign", was a very different bag of attitude, experience and vision, than the BATHORY that did the "Blood Fire Death", "Hammerheart" and "Twilight of the Gods" albums. Half of "Blood Fire Death" contained a new way to write and play the music, a different to construct and arrange a track. BATHORY ...and the world would never be quite the same again. This is the cover of the very limited 1st edition, produced in only 1.000 copies and a sough after item! It all began with a couple of tracks on the "Under the Sign" album really. We took a shot with "Enter the Eternal Fire" and "Call from the Grave", stretching out and trying new ideas musically. We received tons of fan mail mentioning these two tracks specifically. And so we decided to do more of that on the next album. If people had not singled these two tracks out, wanting to hear more of that in the future, BATHORY might never have moved too much from the primitive dark and demonic Death Metal of the early 80's. The desire to find topics to write about other than the satanic, demonic and dark bag, brought about the need for a different beat, a heavier sound and a bigger atmosphere. So the change in style, arrangements and beat, happened at the same time as BATHORY was already shedding the demonic skin. Looking back, I feel the Nordic atmosphere and the epic style of our late 80's, to be just as short but radiant a chapter in the BATHORY story, as the dark and demonic chapter of our early 80's. During the 90's a big change occurred. A lot of people were already beginning to think of BATHORY as legendary. Our albums of the 80's were already regarded as milestones. A couple of our 80's album was labeled the most influential pieces ever released, responsible for not just one but several branches of the second generation of extreme metal. Some even say that BATHORY's Nordic and atmospheric albums meant more to the second generation of Black Metal acts, than the original Black Metal groups of the early 80's. For BATHORY to continue to develop in the 90's, to be pushing the frontier before us, refusing to just sit down admiring the past, was a natural thing of evolution. But the contrast was obvious. There were those who wanted BATHORY to stay static to a phase that evidentially was so legendary and perfect. BATHORY of the early 90's weren't exactly moving about within the perimeters of our golden mid or late 80's era, but we never wanted to either. Some will always seek easy paths in life and as a band you're bound to have them sticking labels on you. BATHORY was pinned down in a corner with this sticker that said: "Swedish act with heavy atmospheric metal sporting apparent Wagnerian influences and Nordic themes". For these losers, the continued development and natural evolution of BATHORY, only meant problems having to constantly rewrite their stickers. BLOOD FIRE DEATH a classic album regarded as their first Viking album even though it never was! Countless reviews and articles from the mid 90's, describe BATHORY as a finished curiosity, a legend gone lost or past some kind of peak. And the only argument they had was the fact that albums like "Requiem", "Octagon" and even my first solo record "Album", didn't sound or look like "Under the Sign", "Blood Fire Death" and "Hammerheart". I even remember one braindead Swedish journalist stating that BATHORY was a greedy enterprise, only exploiting a legendary past to rob the fans of their last coins and trick ignorant youngsters to buy crap albums that didn't remind of anything BATHORY had released ten years earlier. Talk about underestimating the ability of the audience to decide for themselves which records to buy and enjoy. That's a typical journalistic flaw, confusing a personal idea with the collective idea of the masses. It's frightening sometimes to be reminded of just how little some journalists within the entertainment media seem to know about how a song is written, how an album is recorded, what it's like to rehears and play in a group. It's also frightening to realize how little some seem prepared to accept the natural evolution of things and people alike. I would never ever in a lifetime accuse a journalist for being false simply because he or she may dress differently than how he or she would be dressed ten years ago. What some people seem to be forgetting, is the fact that BATHORY never ever during these two decades sounded exactly the same from one album to another. The development and evolution has been constant. The change has been happening not over night but inch by inch. Some feel the need to pair two or even three albums together. But, to do that, is like insisting walking down the wrong road wearing two left shoes and to commit a grave mistake. To tie a series of albums up in bundles, is to display capabilities to set a worldrecord in ignorance or something like that. Treat albums individually and for what they are. The difference between "Under the Sign" and "Blood Fire Death", is really just a vast as the difference between albums like "Hammerheart" and "Requiem". We have this situation mainly because of some people tying albums up in bundles. Naturally, an album may contain material that closely resembles the material on a previous album. Just like the production of one album may somewhat resemble that of a previous album. Some records were recorded very close in time. Several albums were recorded in the same studio. The people involved in the creation of one album were by and large the same as those involved during the creation of a previous album. And the instruments played on one album were a lot of times the very guitar or bass played on a previous record. But the core of things is that material is actually very different, giving it an objective look. People change a lot in a year and so does reality.

Sounds almost like BATHORY's past has been more of a burden than a feather in your hat at times?

Quorthon: Naturally it is not always a pleasant thing, trying to walk on further down the road of evolution and history while having to carry around trophies from past victories tied to your ankles. And its not very pleasant always being compared to an image of you for the past ten years that has lingered on for loads of years. Don't get it the wrong way. We're immensely proud of BATHORY's past, the albums and all, even those that weren't very well received in the days when they were first released. It would be nice, however, if the future was given the opportunity to become a part the evolution of extreme metal. Evolution don't stop here you know. Today is the yesterday of tomorrow. UNDER THE SIGN Another true classic album and a major source of inspiration to an entire generation of extreme metal fans around the world! One should remember that some of the albums regarded as legendary today, were actually looked upon with a rather suspicious eye when they were first released. We began using acoustic guitars, backing harmony vocals and even a synthesizer on "Under the Sign" back in 1986. In those days, you just weren't metal, and certainly not Black or Death Metal, doing something like that. And let's face it, looking at it with a perfectly impartial set of eyes, some of the albums from our past made legendary, were poorly written, poorly played and poorly produced. But they are still hailed as perfect. To me that's pure sentimentality. Even a bad album, objectively speaking, from our teen years, that takes us back to a time and place when we were all younger and life easier, is still a better album than anything recent because we are not as young and life not as easy any more. "Under the Sign" featured harmony guitar solos and we even dared to write about other things than Satan and hell. In those days, you just didn't go there. This was little more than two years after the debut album. Back then, "Under the Sign" was a laughing matter, but today it is regarded as one of the most important and influential albums in extreme metal history ever made. For anything created today, to be constantly compared to something that came out ten of fifteen years ago, is sad and not quite fair.

I'm thinking about what you said earlier, about people making life easy by simply pinning you down in a corner as that "Swedish heavy atmospheric metal act with obvious Wagnerian influences and Nordic lyrics". Even though such a large part of your audience do praise the Nordic stuff as genuinely BATHORY; along with pleasing that majority of your audience, wouldn't "Nordland" also justify you guys being pinned down in just that way?

Quorthon: Once again, because it felt just right. That environment and atmosphere hadn't been explored in a long time. It's just like when an album features modern topics and brutalities, we'll do that when it feels right. It would be awfully sad and boring to have a scene full of acts all thinking "let's do the same thing on every album for all time" wouldn't it!?

You were mentioning icehockey and Harley-Davidson motorcycles before. What sort of lyrics would BATHORY never be able to do ? Do you know when and where the audience would say "ok, that's it"?

Quorthon: I think we've covered just about every topic out there. And we've never received as much as a single fan mail in the past whining about the loss or feature of a certain topic. This of course speaks volumes about the problem certain journalists seem to have about BATHORY doing a track about Icehockey and Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Both "Sudden Death" and "Krom" were tongue in cheek. Our fans got the pun and humorous intent, though. In the past we have written about such various things as groupies ("Bestial Lust"), our fans in general ("Of Doom") and Elizabeth Bathory ("Woman of dark Desires"). We also covered topics like the nuclear arms race ("Holocaust"), the inquisition ("For All Those Who Died"), and both world wars ("War Machine" and "War Supply"). We wrote about serialkillers ("33 Something") and Christianity ("Crosstitution"), as well as incest ("Immaculate Pinetreeroad #930") and tons of other things. The "Requiem" album was entirely about death in various forms. We covered the environment aspect on "Judgement of Posterity" and society on "Apocalypse". So neither Oden nor Satan has monopoly on BATHORY.

Going back to the subject of BATHORY's incredibly versatile back catalogue. If a majority of your audience prefers this heavy Nordic atmosphere, yet a steady minority remains in favor of your dark brutal stuff. Any plans to write, record and release the dark brutal stuff under a different name as a sort of a side project?

Quorthon: The issue has been brought up before. My answer is the same every time I'm being asked about side projects of that kind; it would be like denying one side of BATHORY and a part of BATHORY's history. It would also be like betraying and letting a part of our audience down by putting out an album that, even though it may suit them musically and lyricwise, would not feature a BATHORY logo.

Few acts are surrounded by as many rumors as BATHORY. Some things I've read in emails, fan mail, fanzines and magazines, nearly made me fall out of my chair. Why do you think that is, the abundance of strange and stupid rumors?

Quorthon: Probably a mix of several things. The dark demonic stories on certain albums and the epic Nordic tales of other records, may perhaps offer plenty of opportunities for some people already having a problem with separating reality from lyrics, to sort of blend fact and fiction. Another reason may be that BATHORY will be featured in the media usually only when there's a new album out. Some may feel the need to fill the gap between the times BATHORY will be featured in the metal press, with things they either believe they've read, wished they'd read, or things they think should have been there in an article or interview. Other times I believe somebody will just invent something out of the blue at a party on in a club one night, to seem cool or seem like a interesting and initiated figure. People will add inaccurate details to an otherwise correct story, they'll make things up altogether and distort stuff intentionally.

Any real goodies you could offer us?

Quorthon: ...ha-ha-ha.. I have probably been spared the best ones, and the worst ones, I am afraid. That old story about me living in a bats cave in the north of Sweden, drinking blood and eating infants all day long, is one story I have always wondered how the hell it even survived past a lunch break. A really good one I heard years ago, was one that said I died in a motorcycle accident and Black Mark replaced me with some other guy to keep the BATHORY-machinery going. Actually, it's kinda' cute when you think about it. I mean, how many bands will be the subject of stories like that. And it's not like we're turning ourselves inside out to create them either. Still, having said that, you never know whether it's from concern or something else that make some people invent stories like that, some of which can only be described as fabulous filmscripts, and pass the stuff on as a rumor.

We've talked about the Nordic theme a lot, but haven't touched the subject of occult lyrics and Satanism at all. Were you at any point into that stuff for real?

Quorthon: Oh no. I mean, when the whole subject was first picked up, we were just three shitkids coming out of school basically. We could have picked the same topics that all the big guys were singing about; girls, parties, fast cars and swigging Jack out of the bottle. But being so young and innocent, we knew nothing about any of that lifestyle. The infamous impaled goat head impaled on a burning cross. I even remember how back in the summer of 1983, the three of us at one point had been told about this satanic circle meeting up in this strange building in Stockholm. And so we set out to find that place and meet up with those Satanists in a happy-go-lucky way. After an hour or so the three of us found ourselves standing there in a synagogue asking what turned out to be the rabbi: "-So where's the sacrifice going to be held?". That's how fucking initiated and exquisitely satanic we were in those days. I wrote all the music and lyrics even in those days, so it was up to me pick a topic. I knew absolutely nothing about how to conduct a ceremony or what crap to read out in what language at precisely what time a night etc.

Onto a completely different issue now. I remember us talking a couple of months ago about all the BATHORY bootlegs out there. You said you were deeply saddened by some of the stories you heard of fans having bought crap. Is that a reaction on a personal level or business matters?

Quorthon: Well, it's sad really. A fan wrote me and said he'd paid $20 for a crap cassette sold as "Quorthon's guitar rehearsal tape 1986" or something like that, and how he eventually had doubts about it's authenticity. And although the tape did contain the sound of somebody playing guitar in a basement somewhere, half of the riff's played in a random fashion, was stuff that I wrote many years after 1986 when the tape is said to have been recorded. I mean, obviously it's not me but some jerk playing his guitar at home. I don't know what's more frightening; somebody willing to sell stuff like that; or somebody actually prepared to buy it. Vvornth and Quorthon in Stockholm in the late 80's. Back then the line-up situation was always something of a problem. The subsequent lack of names and pictures created a mystery which, much to the surprise of the boys, only increased peoples interest in the act. One of the most famous items, is a CD sold as "BATHORY Live in Stockholm" supposedly recorded in the mid 80's, which I'm sure sounds like something a fan would kill to get. The only problem was, it wasn't until after $15-20 had changed hands and the damn thing was played, that one realized some tracks actually fades out just like they do on the official releases. The whole CD was a bunch of tracks from various BATHORY albums with audience noise added. I wrote the fan back and asked him if we would have had a BATHORY live recording in the vault, didn't he think we would have released the damn thing already!? All the crap quality picture discs out there, a couple featuring BATHORY on side A or B, with some other act on the flip side, should really give anybody a reason to doubt. I mean, I would never in a lifetime buy something like that no matter what band we're talking about. I want the real thing, genuine stuff. What's the point in spending $15 on a cassette that's clearly a fake even to a deaf, dumb and blind person. What's fun about owning something that's crap, fake and anything but genuine. I know there is a BATHORY picture disc out there sold as a genuine picture disc, but with a tracking list made up from several different albums. There's almost as many bootleg BATHORY CD's out there as there are official BATHORY releases. There are some really awful looking BATHORY bootleg T-shirts out there as well. I saw one on the net that looked so poor not even a retard would have a boner wearing it. They didn't even care to spell BATHORY correct. I've seen BATLORD and LATHORD versions over the years. I guess if you've got a winning recipe; if there's a certain amount of dedication and devotion out there for a band; there's always going to be a lot of assholes and hemorrhoids trying to use whatever channels, even underground stores and fanzines, to sell off their crap as the genuine thing. I'll write some of these so-called underground stores and fanzines that are distributing this illegal crap, and explain to them how they betray the whole underground ideal and disappoint a lot of fans. Almost all of these store owners or fanzines will write back to tell me I'm right, that they've discontinued offering that shit and how they will not have anything to do with bootlegs or crap again. And those who do not even dare to write back have proven they weren't metal at heart or of the underground to begin with. The sad thing is occasionally a fan will still write me and sob having spent quite a handful of cash on crap. I then tell him, had he only checked the Black mark shop out, he would have found genuine top quality shirts and whathaveyou for just about the same price he had just spent on crap. And this is not at all from a business point of view. I've been a fan myself. Years ago we even said we didn't want to have too much merchandise manufactured. But since then, we've realized that if we do not sanction this official shirt or that official vinyl, there's going to be a gap between demand and supply. A bootlegger somewhere will rapidly fill this gap by producing and selling his crap, robbing a fan of cash and dragging the name BATHORY in the dirt. Should a fan desire a specific shirt or have a hard time finding a certain album, the Black Mark web shop is the place to go. There's no excuse buying bootleg crap of inferior quality when you can easily get the genuine original high quality stuff from the Black Mark web shop.

I'd be interested to hear what type of music you'd be listen to in your daily life.

Quorthon: First of all, there's this wonderful misconception that I'm all Death, Black and Nordic Metal. But the truth is, the roughest or most brutal album in my collection would probably be something by early Motörhead or some Oi-punk album from late 70's or early 80's. When it comes to anything remotely close to what BATHORY has gone through, I have absolutely nothing of that category in my collection. And I don't really care if people believe that or not. I'll be listening to just about everything. Yet, at the same time, I am really not listening to anything special. I have a very broad taste and wide horizon when it comes to music. I'll listen to The Beach Boys and Sex Pistols within the same hour. I'll load a CD by Motörhead after having been listening to The Beatles for half a day. I'll buy a Nick Drake album at the same time I'm picking a Glenn Miller CD up. I may buy a CD by Black Sabbath or Kate Bush that I may already have as vinyl. I'll still enjoy my old early Pink Floyd cassettes and Deep Purple Lp's.

Sounds like a truly weird mix of favorites. What out of all that could possibly have been influencing BATHORY in one way or another?

Quorthon: In the early days, the stuff that would act as a base for BATHORY, was the sound of early Motörhead, the energy of early GBH and gloom of early Black Sabbath. Later on, around 1985, I began to listen to classical music only. The result of that was I found a new way to write, arrange and produce the BATHORY albums. I remember back in 1983 how we would be listening to a fairly brand new album called "City Baby in the Attack by Rats" or something like that, by British Oi-punk band GBH. I still have a tape somewhere. That particular record, together with Motörhead's "Ace of Spades", had such an impact on how early BATHORY would turn out. The fanzines and magazines back in the early 80's had a field day when reviewing our first album. The only thing that came to their mind was Venom and so we'd be called Venom clones for years, when in fact we couldn't see or hear any resemblance at all once we actually got to hear Venom. To us it was so obvious it was early Motörhead and early GBH all along, plus a little Black Sabbath. Quorthon here photographed in the late 80's. It's easy to forget that the scene was very different back then in the early 80's. We certainly had no special extreme metal shops or magazines around in Sweden. As for ourselves, we knew absolutely nothing about no underground scene and that's the truth. It wasn't until we had our first album out in the summer of `84 and fanzines would contact us and ask for an interview, that we all of a sudden realized there were tons of other young bands around the world doing basically the same thing as us. As far as the scene out there today, I am in the dark completely. I do not read the metal magazines, I hear absolutely nothing of the recent albums that's being talked about and I never go to concerts really. I went to three shows in all of the 90's. That's not being totally uninterested, it's just laziness I guess. Shielding yourself as much as possible from the scene will also limit the risk of walking down somebody else's path. One magazine once wrote that you can hardly accuse BATHORY for clinging onto some bandwagon, always walking their own path, and I guess that's a pretty fucking accurate way of putting it. I would never want to re-write somebody else's words or try to develop by producing albums full of other people's stuff.

You have two solo releases under your belt. A third one in store soon?

Quorthon: I have some material written that might turn into a third solo album, but again the gut feeling must be absolutely right. There might be one next year or in five years. I guess first one have to change a bit as a song writer and as a person. It's really a fantastic thing being able to just do something like that. I still remember the first time I was asked to make a solo record. I was dead tired of BATHORY and felt we had painted ourselves into a corner sound and stylewise with "Twilight of the Gods". The only way we could get out of there, would be to either make it even bigger and dig deeper into that whole thing. But that would have turned out pretty bizarre in the end. We would have had to fill the whole damn studio up with a symphony orchestra and brings the gods of all heavens down to join in. PURITY OF ESSENCE The 23-track second solo doublealbum by Quorthon from '96. Since he mixed all of his personal musical influences doing this album, it is indeed amazingly various! Rather than me taking a year off doing nothing, the record company said I'd better stay creative and experiment with a solo recording. If you have somebody telling you: "-Here's a studio, just get in there and do anything you please!", you're gonna fucking do it. I was just as curious to find out what that would all sound like. I brought a guitar, a bas and a primitive drum machine, worked the place for two weeks and didn't have much of plan at all. In the end I think what I did was mixing some of my personal musical influences like Sex Pistols, early Kiss, Mountain and Black Sabbath into a mess and tried to make the best out of it. I had no idea what kind of production to aim for or anything. The second solo album, "Purity of Essence", came out of the first one. People wrote me and said they'd be interested in hearing what things would turn out like now that I had sort of had a first taste. And the second time around was much more fun. I entered the studio with more than twenty-five tracks and had this idea of making it a crossover between The Beatles, Sex Pistols, a little bit of Kate Bush and anything that would force me to write stuff that weren't nine minutes or took forever to get to hear the refrain.

What's in store for BATHORY in 2003?

Quorthon: The first thing that will happen is "Nordland" part two. Other than that the future is an unwritten page.

I was thinking more about the fact that BATHORY celebrating a 20th anniversary in 2003. Any plans made up for that occasion yet?

Quorthon: Not yet anyway. Actually I've been so busy with "Nordland" I haven't thought about much it yet. But of course when thinking about it, BATHORY's 20th anniversary is as much a reason for celebration as our 10th and 15th anniversary was. Back then, we celebrated that by offering our fans gifts in the form of "Jubileum" volume I and II, including a lot of unreleased material. Of course there's still unreleased stuff in the vault. But you just don't release stuff like that because it is Monday or a sunny day or whatever. There must be a very special occasion. Perhaps like a 20th anniversary. Still, I don't think there will be anything ready for the exact birthday as such, which if I remember correctly would be March the 21st. Funny, I am not even one hundred per cent sure about the exact date. I am going to have to verify that by checking my personal files out.

The only thing left for me to do is simply to whish BATHORY all the best for the future and good luck with "Nordland" part I and part II!

Quorthon: Thank you very much. And to every single BATHORY fan out there; Hail the Hordes! Quorthon A picture taken in London probably around the time of "Hammerheart".

To be continued...

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