Spring 2003

Web interview with Quorthon and the

Fans Asks the Questions-section.

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The Fans Asks the Questions - section

When NORDLAND I was released in November 2002, www.blackmark.net offered a highly detailed and interesting megasized interview with Quorthon of BATHORY. The interview was made both during the process of recording the material for NORDLAND I and NORDLAND II, and just shortly before the release of NORDLAND I.

We then talked about the NORDLAND twin release, brought up a few milestones in the history of BATHORY and went over the extensive BATHORY back catalogue. We also discussed a few subjects related to the scene in general and asked for Quorthon’s personal views and memories of the past twenty years.

At the end of this NORDLAND I web interview in the Autumn of 2002, we asked you, our visitors and all BATHORY fans, to contribute in the making of a NORDLAND II web feature, by sending us your questions for Quorthon to answer. Since then, we have been literally drenched in questions for what we have dubbed the BATHORY Fans Asks the Questions section.

To include each and every question received is of course virtually impossible. The randomly picked questions that follows, are the ones that made it to the BATHORY FAQ section. Quorthon, though, has dedicated a mountain of time to personally answer a great share of the many hundreds of emails received.

Some questions may have been slightly changed due to lack of both time and space, others may have been translated to English for this feature. In some cases, sender did not include a full name, we have then settled for pseudonym and either state or country of origin. Certain care has been taken in order to avoid duplication of issues raised. We hope that you will have a great time reading both the questions of the fans, and Quorthon’s answers.

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THE FANS ASKS THE QUESTIONS - SECTION

Q: I once read in an interview how you described the battle imagery and scene in "A Fine Day to Die" applicable to the struggle of the native American Indians in the 19^th century as much as anything about "Vikings". True or false? Brad, Ohio, United States

Quorthon: True. I have never regarded "A Fine Day to Die" a so-called "Viking" track. It’s as much about any people’s struggle for freedom as it is a battle scene in general. From that point of view the battle scenery, or struggle as such, is of course as much applicable to the struggle between the invading white man and the native American tribes a hundred and fifty years ago, as that of the Vikings and the Christians - if there ever was one.

Q: When you form BATHORY, anticipate you evolution of BATHORY musically and lyrically from start yes or no? How you decided take your steps of evolution? Antonio, Milano, Italy

Quorthon: Of course we couldn’t possibly have anticipated anything of what was to happen in the twenty years that has passed by since the start. As far as any planing regarding the evolution of BATHORY is concerned, there simply were none. We just evolved, as did the music and the lyrical content. It was more a case of simply exploring new sounds and styles, than any calculated plan to go through such and such stage or phase at any particular time. The change from primitive pseudo-satanic lyrics to more Norse oriented topics brought about a change musically as well.

Any step one may take, is due to an interest in exploring yourself as a songwriter and musician, what can be done in a studio, what it all would sound like and feel like doing. And ultimately in the end, a desire to see how our audience will react to something they may not have heard you do in the past.

Q: I know you don’t listen to contemporary metal but mostly opera and classical music, how then is it possible to create stuff like "Hammerheart" and now the NORDLAND epic without being influenced of other groups in the epic vein? And how do you see BATHORY’s legendary status today? Johan, Trollhättan, Sweden

Quorthon: Now a days it’s a matter of simply setting out to write something that’s not only special, may it be dark brutalities, demonic stuff, satanic material, epic tracks or purely Nordic, but also very close to the feel and atmosphere of BATHORY itself. When we did HAMMERHEART, the whole idea was to create an album that felt and sounded like it was all Viking through and through. Every chord, every beat, every word, were all carefully chosen to create the best primitive Nordic atmosphere.

This was true for the debut album, as well as for THE RETURN and BLOOD ON ICE. We set out to make these albums entirely of one form and style. With the other albums, it was more a case of taking one step in whatever new direction while still dragging along some residue from the past. UNDER THE SIGN, BLOOD FIRE DEATH and DESTROYER OF WORLDS, for instance, were all very much mixed efforts containing a little bit of all styles and sounds of BATHORY up until that moment in time.

As far as not being influenced by other groups in the same vein is concerned, I think it is more a matter of bringing material out from within yourself rather than listening to others or trying to copy that or incorporate that it into your own work. I may not follow or have the slightest knowledge of the current extreme metal scene. I may not be able to say from where this or that act may originate. I may not be able to name even the hottest sub-category of extreme metal out there today. I may not be able to put an album title and group name together and stuff like that. But then I never did. It’s not due to some lack of interest or an attempt on my part to try to come off as eccentric or cool.

I actually stopped buying much CD’s - or LP’s rather in those days - when I formed BATHORY. I really did quit being an active follower of music in general around that time. It’s true since forming BATHORY I have mostly been listening to classical music and opera, but I have also continued to listen to whatever I listened to while growing up.

For BATHORY it’s more a case of picking up and cherish bits of the past every now and then, rather than trying to break new ground for extreme metal. BATHORY has become such a vital source of inspiration for thousands of acts and one of few pillars on which the whole extreme metal scene rests, it’s much more important for a BATHORY album to sound like BATHORY rather than trying to invent something entirely new, or worse, copying somebody else.

In the past we were allowed to evolve and develop without having a bunch of so-called legendary albums behind us, by which anything we did could be compared. Throughout the 80’s, we went from primitive Black Metal to Death Metal incorporating acoustic guitars, multitrack backing vocals and even synthesiser, and this at a time when the Bay Area sound and thrashing noise was the flavour of the day. We were certainly a legitimate target in those days. UNDER THE SIGN, BLOOD FIRE DEATH and HAMMERHEART may be regarded as milestone albums today, but they were laughing matters when first released, believe me. Not too many shouting out their expertise these days are old enough to remember that.

If we hadn’t evolved from the style and sound of our early 80’s, to the stuff we did during the mid 80’s, there would be no legendary albums like UNDER THE SIGN and BLOOD FIRE DEATH to praise. If we hadn’t moved on from there to the stuff we did in the late 80’s, there would be no HAMMERHEART and TWILIGHT OF THE GODS to refer to when the history of the so-called Viking Metal is to be traced.

The problem came around later, in the early 90’s, when we naturally wanted to move on further as usual. Some people, however, wanted us to stay put. They wanted to freeze time for BATHORY. We felt very uncomfortable being placed behind glass in the show room of the Museum of Extreme Metal. Being stuffed and admired like a relic, albeit a very important and highly praised one, was a very demoralising and disastrous situation.

Love and acclaim our past if you please, but don’t push us back into a corner or try to nail BATHORY down sound and stylewise, because BATHORY has never been about one style, one sound or one moment frozen in time.

Q: When I listen to your early stuff, and the tracks from 1983 and early 1984 on "Jubileum" volume I, II and III, it is easy to detect a strong basic Motörhead influence on your part. You have claimed never to have been a Satanist yourself, so why during the first half of the 80’s did you never develop further on that basic motormetal format instead of allowing the satanic themes to evolve over the period of at least two and a half albums? Michael, Sussex, UK

Quorthon: Quite simply I believe we were too young to feel comfortable writing about swigging whiskey, nailing birds and riding a Harley down the highway and stuff like that. We were too young to know what any of that was all about really.

Motörhead had a tremendous impact on yours truthfully before forming BATHORY. I still listen to their albums from those years occasionally. A vast portion of early Motörhead forms the base on which early BATHORY stood, together with some Black Sabbath and GBH. I tried to write some very Motörhead influenced material in the first 6-8 months that BATHORY existed, but it all sounded like we were just playing a cover anyway. It didn’t come out original and, of course, it never was really.

The whole Satanic bag was opened initially, I believe, mainly due to the fact there had been an awful lot of reading horror comic magazines in our teen years. A lot of watching horror and vampire movies. Not that we knew more about black magic or anything like that, but at least the subject offered an interesting backdrop and a vast well of imagery to pick from in terms of writing lyrics. A direct line back to Black Sabbath is of course apparent.

I think you’re right when you insinuate a continuation could have been very interesting as far as that motormetal - great terminology by the way - is concerned. The "motormetal" was so closely tied to Motörhead - and copied by so many in various forms even back then - I think we felt the whole demonic Satanic bit to have been slightly more virgin ground to trod.

At least we finally did a Harley track, "Krom" on DESTROYER OF WORLDS, although it was never really appreciated by anyone except for a few who got the pun and fun.

Q: You have claimed, when BATHORY recorded the debut album, to have been totally unaware of the underground scene back in the early 80’s. But you must have heard of such acts as Venom, Celtic Frost, Slayer and the other acts of the first generation of Black and Death Metal to which you yourself belong. Did any of these acts have any influence on BATHORY’s material in the early days? DB, Sacramento, USA

Quorthon: I seem to remember a friend buying the Slayer debut album back in the summer of 1984, but I can not recall ever listening to it myself until six months later or so. At the time I was annoyed by the high pitched vocals and dual lead guitars - how narrow minded one must have been back then. I didn’t find out about Celtic Frost and those other acts doing virtually the same thing as us, until I did a bunch of underground fanzine interviews back in the autumn of 1984. I heard Venom for the first time shortly after we had recorded and released our debut album and I don’t care if anybody believes that or not.

Today, the connotation people made back then is apparent even to me, even though it was purely accidental. The goat head, the pentagram and the primitive satanic noise. I mean it’s all there, but not as a direct influence, it was those times simply. What created and made Venom do their thing, was the same things that created BATHORY. The past led up to the whole scene. Tracing the lineage all the way back to a character like Arthur Brown, you’ll notice a truck load of albums and acts that simply picked up and carried on from where the acts and albums before them had come to a halt.

Of course Black Sabbath is the whole key here. And although the style and sound of original Black Metal isn’t exactly Black Sabbath straight off, their parent status is indisputable. Punk, and Oi-punk in the case with BATHORY, had a lot to do with why Black Metal would sound so different from Black Sabbath and NWOBHM.

I think it is safe to say that whatever led up to Black Metal - and that story is as long as the story of Metal itself, Rock ‘n Roll, Punk and even Blues - indirectly influenced BATHORY as much as it influenced Venom, Slayer and all the other acts that came to life back in the early 80’s. We would all evolve walking down different paths though, and influenced thousands of acts in the process. I see no prestige in having influenced tons of acts, I simply see it as history of music turning the pages as it always has, and BATHORY is as much a part of the history as Black Sabbath and Beethoven.

In ten years, the acts directly influenced by BATHORY will be regarded as heroes of their time, the early 21^st century. The process continues indefinitely. They are couriers carrying a torch that has been passed on since the days of Hector Berlioz.

Q: How can be you big fan from Beatles and be Quorthon in BATHORY same time? Alessandro, Italy

Quorthon: Ha-ha-ha-ha…. Pardon me Alessandro if that came across as lack of respect for your question. I just found you concern very sweet. I hope I’m not going to ruin your day or anything trying to answer your question. I really wouldn’t want to ruin anybody’s perception of what Quorthon of BATHORY really ought to listen to and enjoy, at least not if I can’t help it and certainly not if it means you’ll see BATHORY in a completely different light and view BATHORY’s albums very differently.

But why couldn’t even Quorthon of BATHORY enjoy what surely must be the most important musical enterprise since the dawn of time. Because of The Beatles, the entertainment industry as we know it was created. Before them, groups and artists, record companies, studios, media and venues were all very different. The entire pop and youth culture as we know it, was created back then. Then it’s another fact they were pioneers in terms of song writing, arranging, recording and what have you, not to mention the revolution they brought about in the studio.

It may not be metal, but then I have never claimed to be all metal. The Beatles is part of my childhood and I will always regard them as number one.

Quorthon: These days I am using a Gibson Flying-V for both solos and basic tracks. I have always wanted to own one for no other reason than I have always thought they look very cool and feel very right when you play one, but I haven't bought one until just recently. So that's the one I am using these days. I am a sorry sucker for Gibson guitars. I could claim to have a hard time accepting anything that looks like a space ship or an axe in a fantasy videogame simply because Gibson will not produce guitars that looks like that, but then I own a Flying-V and I still have my old Ibanez Destroyer I, so I guess I am not all that old fashioned when it comes to guitars after all.

My old Ibanez Destroyer I is almost impossible to use these days. It has otherwise been on every BATHORY album since 1984 but it has also been heavily abused by yours truthfully...

Pick-up's are usually ordinary Dimarzio's. I used to use no other strings but Dean Markley, but I guess they went broke or something for I haven't seen a set in many years. So I have to be content with GHS Boomers 010.

I always used to use amp's in the studio, may they have been Orange, Yamaha, Marshall or Boogie. For the NORDLAND session, I of course brought with me my Marshall's, but I also brought with me one of those guitar pods. The funny thing was the Marshall was very difficult to control soundwise compared to the pod. So we didn't use Marshall at all other than for a few guitar overdubs.

I still think that the Aria Pro II bass is the best bass ever made. They may not look very hot...but if you're skilled with the saw and axe please have a go at one remodelling it. However for the NORDLAND session, we used a Gibson Ripper because it has that 70's sound I enjoy very much these days.

Quorthon: I remember at least two, maybe even three different ways to spell the name; Quorthonn with two "n" at the end; Qorthon without a "u"; and I think there was even one Quorton version without the "h". As if that wasn’t enough, there are still those who writes it as Quarthon with an "a".

If I remember correctly, Quorthon is suppose to be a dark prince/demon, one of Satan’s many henchmen fighting the forces of God on the day of judgement.

The name just looked good. When we decided to quit the funny names we had carried for a short while, and pick names from a list of demons/dark princes, that particular name felt just right.

There were such a vast number of members in metal and rock groups in Stockholm at the time with Americanised names, and we thought that looked stupid, hence we picked funny names. After having had those joke names for a very brief time, we settled on names picked from this list of demon/dark princes.

Quorthon: One should remember that BATHORY, UNDER THE SIGN OF THE BLACK MARK, BLOOD FIRE DEATH and HAMMERHEART were all recorded in a small garage stuffed with used car parts and millions of boxes filled with all sorts of mechanical gadgets and stuff. And it wasn’t until the recording of HAMMERHEART that we actually hired a rack of effects, which incidentally weren’t much used as it turned out.

We had only eight tracks to work with and most of the time we would fill these to the brim and beyond. We would stuff the tracks with down-mixes in order to be able to feature all the things we wanted in a song. One track could begin with a wind or an acoustic guitar, only to be followed by a doomsday drum or something like that a moment later. The same track could then house the guitar solo and whatever sound effect would end the track. Recording those albums meant working under very primitive conditions. There was of course a certain limit hi-fi wise to what we could actually achieve working like that.

I think those old albums have their individual charm. We were very young and fresh by any standard. Listening back to those albums, one can easily follow the process of BATHORY maturing. There’s plenty of mistakes on them all, instruments charmingly out of tune etc. Probably my casual and slightly rebellious punk background is as much a reason for all of that as ever the technical limitations of ourselves as musicians and producers of albums in those days, and the somewhat limited qualities of the infamous Heavenshore garage as a studio.

Then we have the emotional side of it all. The special sound from those days has become a tradition and a vital ingredient of what a lot of people consider to be genuine BATHORY. It would be an utterly stupid thing to do ignoring that. We try to maintain a certain underground feel in much of what we do. We are proud of the fact some even still consider us to be an underground enterprise.

And yes, I do enjoy music with a slight bit of rough edges. I’ll prefer that before plain, slick and processed music every time.

Quorthon: Well, I have always admired the touch, feel and simplicity of Steve Jones guitar playing. Ace Frehley was a big hero among us kids back in the mid 70’s. Ozzy and Lemmy are of course in a league of their own. And I’ll agree with anybody who claims Tony Iommi initiated the sound of metal entirely on his own basically, even though he is evidently blues oriented from scratch.

Quorthon: I would bring with me the same ten albums that I listen to most frequently at home anyway. Motörhead’s "Ace of Spades" is still one of the best albums ever made, just as Kiss "Alive!" will never be topped. I have a very strong emotional bond to Sex Pistols’ "Never Mind the Bollocks". I regard The Beatles’ "The Blue Album" and "The Red Album" as pure perfection. The Kate Bush "Hounds of Love" album is magical. Pink Floyd’s "Relics" contains some but not all of their best stuff. And Queen’s "Sheer Heart Attack" is a highly underrated album. I would have to pick Black Sabbath’s "We Sold our Souls for Rock ‘n Roll" simply because it is a compilation containing some real gems even though there are other Sabb compilations out there. Finally I’d have to pick a good version of Richard Wagner’s "Der Ring des Nibelungen".

Quorthon: Gut feeling, the length and rhythm of the words, the subject and the music are all very important points to look into when deciding on which vocal style to pick for a specific track. You can really ruin the track if you pick the wrong vocal style. I think I said it before here, that I don’t care if people who mind more an image - and how you are really suppose to sing when you’re Quorthon of BATHORY - complain about a voice being too clear - which seems to be the subject most debated.

I’ve never understood the acts that use a high value of harmonizer to pitch the voice down to the point you can’t hear any words. I understand it’s an effect. But when you turn a voice into an effect, you’re neglecting the most powerful tool of communication - words.

In the 80’s, the snarling and growling vocal style on BATHORY albums, were of course all part of the music and lyrics we did back then. When we did HAMMERHEART, all of a sudden singing those lyrics in that old style, just seemed out of place. So on that album we experimented with a new vocal style, and we got a great response. This led to a more talking-style on a lot of the material on TWILIGHT. But I’ll say it again, there is no Quorthon vocal-style other than a style to pick the voice that feel best for a specific track or album. And since both REQUIEM, OCTAGON and DESTROYER, are - in various degrees - about the old style snarling and growling voice, there isn’t even a chronological vocal-style pattern.

On several tracks on both NORDLAND volumes, the snarling and growling voice is there, once again, because it suited the topic, the music, the subject and rhythmic of the track. A future BATHORY album may be entirely all about as much snarling and growling as you can take.

Quorthon: I’ve said at some point in the past I might as well regard the entire second generation of Black Metal acts to be my children. But then I thought about that later on, and realised it wasn’t a very fair remark, even though the fact is some of the darkest Black Metal acts seem at least very influenced by our so-called "viking" albums and ought to be double-linked to BATHORY. I wish them all the best of luck and welcome them. The scene will be better and richer the more acts it includes. I have always said; in the end, the people who gets the most out of a very diverse scene, is ultimately the audience.

I don’t agree when some people say we co-created Black Metal. When I was asked during interviews at the end of 1984, for how long we had been into Black Metal and why did we choose to play that kind of style, it was very embarrassing. I knew then there was this English band who’s album was entitled "Black Metal", I didn’t know that had also become the collective name for the entire style. So we just giggled while typing out those answers saying we played "Death Metal", thinking that sounded so much more cool than "Black" which to us had a flavour of reggae about it. And besides our lyrics were all about death anyway.

To us it was so obvious early GBH acted as a template used when the first batch of BATHORY material was written, but it didn’t seem like anybody knew who the hell GBH were. Venom was the first natural option that came to peoples minds when they heard our debut album. Today I don’t blame anybody for that, but in those days we were very puzzled because we had never heard Venom.

Quorthon: I have always said; to ask me something like that, is like asking a mother which one of all her children she loves the most. I am of course equally proud of every album we’ve made. They are testaments of time, what BATHORY sounded like and where we were at that moment in time. I behold each phase or period of BATHORY with equal interest and I will not favour one before the other. To pick up and listen to one BATHORY album, is like picking up one specific year in the history of BATHORY. But you will never ever be able to make yourself a picture of what BATHORY is all about from just one album.

Some albums, like TWILIGHT or BLOOD ON ICE, I have very few memories of, other are very dear to me on another level, like BATHORY and REQUIEM.

Quorthon: Those two tracks were especially written with the intent to upset a certain group of journalists who had done their very best for a long time to make us out to be anything but politically correct. Not that that did us anything - being referred to as not politically correct - but in Germany that’s very hot stuff and we didn’t want to have our German fans believe in something they’d read that wasn’t true.

We weren’t taking a political stand and offered no insight into anybody’s personal belief or ideology. "Under the Runes" was written in such a way this particular ring of journalists would see nothing but images of the second world war and political madness. Our intent was simply to make them choke on their sekt.

Quorthon: I remember being dragged to the movie theatre by a friend some 20 years ago or so to watch the animated movie that came out just then. I was never hooked and have never been interested in either Tolkien or fantasy in general. To me all he did was copying Norse mythology and Richard Wagner, and if you don’t get the whole thing from scratch it is very hard to change your mind later on. Consequently I haven’t seen any of the recent Tolkien movies and probably never will.

Quorthon: We used digital drums on TWILIGHT heavily due to the fact I didn’t associate with anybody at the time that played the drums. I guess I could have played that material myself being an old drummer, considering the material was easy enough to play even for a layman, but for some reason that actually never occurred to me at the time.

I don’t mind digital drums either and I don’t care who is playing what on any record. I am only interested in the end result besides enjoying actually recording. We never work playing against a pre-recorded drum track. As a matter of fact, the drums on most BATHORY albums are 30-70%, 40-60% or 50-50% digital drums and real drums added in various sessions and ways during the whole process. We will usually add stuff like a drum roll or cymbal at the very end of a session. Most of the time we even record the drums in mono.

We never bring anything with us to the studio in terms of pre-recorded material or tracks. Everything on the albums were created in the studio.

The only records that were as much as either 99% or 90% real drums were REQUIEM and OCTAGON - the only addition of a drum machine on those two albums would be some roll on the tom-tom’s in a track or two due to the fact the drums had already been evacuated from the studio and we needed to replace a short roll.

Quorthon: I believe I said earlier it all depends on you - the fans. If a majority out there crave for a third episode of NORDLAND, then I will of course contemplate that plan for 2004 or at least something similar.

But having said that, I should bring to attention the fact that it might just be time to remember that BATHORY does have a great following that do not enjoy anything slower than a MG42 machine gun or anything less brutal than passionate sex with a meat-grinder.

I’ll have a moment or two off during 2003 and think about the next album. I can not make any promises at all regarding the content of a new BATHORY album.

Quorthon: I have done my very best trying to remember myself, and I have come to the conclusion that I play half of the bass on THE RETURN album and most of the bass on UNDER THE SIGN. I couldn’t be able to tell you which tracks particularly, I would have to sit down with the studio two-inch master tapes and solo the bass while listening very carefully in order to be able to answer that part of your question fully. On BLOOD FIRE DEATH I might have played bass on the title track and "A Fine Day to Die". On HAMMERHEART I played all of the bass I believe. On TWILIGHT and all the following albums I play all of the bass.

Quorthon: Not true.

Quorthon: Thank you very much for those very kind words. REQUIEM particularly is very close to my heart, not the least because it was so unfairly treated. I still think some of the arrangements and riff’s on that album are really supreme in BATHORY history.

Now that NORDLAND I and NORDLAND II is out, I would of course love to dedicate myself trying to write material that would appeal to the one half of our audience that gets nothing out of chirping birds and splashing waves. It might not be apparent to all, but both sides of our audience is equal in importance to us, and I feel very uncomfortable when loads of letters and emails from our Black and Death Metal fans arrives complaining about something Epic and Nordic we’ve released recently. Although Black and Death is not quite the same as perhaps 15 or 20 years ago, we might just have something new to ad to that scene.

We’ll see what the next year will bring about in terms of a summary of the response to NORDLAND I and NORDLAND II. It’s up to each and every BATHORY fan to just write me a short letter or send me an email letting me know what you want, what you don’t want and any additional critique or praise.

Quorthon: No, there will never be a BATHORY show. To cut a very long story short here are a few details why that is impossible to pull off. Firstly; who would be on stage? Who would play the 4 to 6 guitars heard on some records? Who would sing the 10-20 backing voices? Who would play the 6-8 tracks of lead guitar figures? Who would play the bass while I am occupied jumping from electric to acoustic guitar? Secondly; how to pick a list of songs to perform without losing the attention of half the audience with every second song? Our audience is so heavily split up into two camps. Thirdly; how would we ever be able to say goodnight after a show without having displayed flying drums, horses running back and forth across the stage, a stage in flames, rain, thunder and wind, dragonships sailing from one end of the stage to the other? It would take an army of people and a truckload of props to pull off the kind of show people talk about in their letters and emails, not to mention the task of financing it all.

Quorthon: We used a synthesiser and it’s sound bank to lay down a back drop of angelic voices on UNDER THE SIGN and on a few tracks on BLOOD FIRE DEATH. I don’t remember if we ever used any sound bank voices on HAMMERHEART. It might have been a 10-90% affair with mostly me doing the backing vocals.

We have never used a professional choir on record, I have been doing all real backing vocals. Down Heavenshore, we would have to use a separate two-inch tape recording the many backing voices, and mix that down before we could transfer it down onto the master tape.

Quorthon: It’s true we never ever recorded a single demo, take it from me, I should know. We managed to talk ourselves into getting two tracks on a compilation album in January 1984. The fan mail that flooded the record company shortly after that, resulted in the debut album. So we never had to make any demos. The tracks you refer to as demos on the three JUBILEUM volumes, are not demos in the sense we recorded them in order to send tapes to every conceivable record company in Sweden or elsewhere. They were try-outs, both in order to test material and ourselves recording.

"You don’t move me" and "Die in Fire" were recorded live in our rehearsal place back in the summer of 1983 using a plain tape recorder. It wasn’t recorded by the original line-up. While the drummer and bassplayer - who were really tight - went to London for two weeks, I quickly assembled a couple of friends of mine - members of an Oi-punk band I had previously been a member of - STRIDSKUK - and recorded these two tracks. They were really great musicians and highly suitable for something like BATHORY, but apart from the bassplayer - who stayed with me for a year and a half - they weren’t interested making anything serious out of it. And as anybody can hear from these tracks, apart from the Oi-punk, I was heavily Motörhead influenced in those days.

"Satan My Master" and "Witchcraft" were recorded in the Spring of 1984, shortly before the recording of the debut album. We used a 4-track tape machine and recorded and mixed those two songs in less than two hours as a try-out for the debut.

One interesting detail is the fact that "Witchcraft" was quickly rewritten, renamed and recorded a month later down Heavenshore as "Reaper" - reason enough why "Witchcraft" never appeared on the debut album. If you listen carefully to "Witchcraft" you might hear the similarities between it and "Reaper". Both these tracks are pure Oi-punk as far as I am concerned with heavy and obvious Motörhead influences, but with satanic lyrics.

There are no more tracks on tape recorded outside a studio. All the unreleased material that remains, is tied to either a project that was never finished or one of the albums.

Quorthon: We would stuff potato flour in leather gloves and squeeze that to reproduce the sound of walking through snow. We’d gently tip huge cardboard’s with salt over to reproduce the sound of ice-crystals blown about by the wind. We would shake leather jackets and boots in rhythm in order to mimic the sound of saddles and riding garments, and we’d flap plastic sheets around because it could either be used as fire or waves depending on how you’d treat the sound and through which effects you run them. We’ve had lots of fun trying to re-create sounds we couldn’t find on tape. The coconuts on the carpet were really great, so was the shaking a cardboard box filled with potatoes. Try and figure out yourself what these sounds were to mimic.

Quorthon: There’s still some unreleased material on tape dating from 1984 and 1985, some of it recorded during a session that went by the working name OCCULTA or OKULTA. I have always said that for as long as we do not ourselves see BATHORY as past a peak or well over due, we will hold unreleased material back until the day when BATHORY is no more and it is time to put together a monster box or something like that. That goes for whatever else unreleased material we have in the vaults may it be Black, Death or Nordic.

Quorthon: I believe at that time, it would have been very hard to take what we did during the TWILIGHT period even further. BATHORY wasn’t ready to go any further down that lane at that particular time. We could never have recorded something like NORDLAND back then, we weren’t mature enough as musicians or as recording artists. I didn’t know how to sing this material. I was lost in interesting arrangements and the deeper meaning of the lyrics. TWILIGHT is one of the albums I feel the least connected with today.

We had set out to make something that would sound like a mixture between a metal opera and a concert in Valhall. It was an ambitious and pretentious project I feel we never quite pulled all the way. I was just then entering a phase when I lost all interest in what we were doing at that time. I thought we had lost connection with the early and mid 80’s BATHORY. Not that developing hasn’t been my thing. On the contrary. But all of a sudden I felt lost, and when in the studio I listened back to what we had recorded, I just felt depressed. I handed the album over to Boss to make something out of it. The whole situation felt awkward. Not only did we use a drummachine but we recorded in a studio we had never worked in before, and after so many years down Heavenshore that’s was difficult enough.

Yet, when I listen back to the material on both NORDLAND volumes, I sense that we somehow did pick that phase of BATHORY up after all. It’s like you have a couple of cauldrons filled with elixir tasting very differently from which to pour energy and inspiration. One elixir made up from ingredients such as intensity, in-your-face attitude and rip roaring thrashing madness and brutalities. The other from majestic, high-flown, interesting arrangements and an almost theatrical approach to music. Once you’re dead tired of the taste of one elixir, you just die for the taste of the other.

Quorthon: Jonas was the drummer of BATHORY during the first 10-11 months. The only recorded material with him playing the drums is "Sacrifice" and "The Return of the Darkness and Evil" recorded in January 1984 and released on the SCANDINAVIAN METAL ATTACK compilation album.

I ran into him last time about 10 or 12 years ago at a club in Stockholm. He told me he was directing commercials, which came as a surprise to me, because last time I heard from him before that, he was in a punk band and lived in London or something.

Quorthon: Of course it might just as well have been a totally different story had we worked in a professional studio recording those albums. We did BATHORY, UNDER THE SIGN, BLOOD FIRE DEATH and HAMMERHEART at the Heavenshore studio. THE RETURN was recorded in a professional studio using 24-track equipment, though.

We needed a place to record and found out there was some recording equipment in this garage made into a small studio owned by a friend of a friend. We didn’t know how to record what we wanted to play and when we began to record, Boss didn’t know what to do with it. We all had to learn. It was a trial and error thing. There were no records to listen to and learn from. Nobody had done this stuff in Sweden before us.

We had previously recorded two tracks for a compilation album in January 1984 - as a matter of fact in the very same studio where we would record THE RETURN a year later - but that wasn’t enough in terms of having a detailed plan how to make an album. So we just went in there with one small Yamaha 20w amplifier - to be used for both the bass and the guitar - and half a drumkit because we could fit more into the small recording room.

I remember the place as if it was only yesterday we were there. The ceiling was low, the carpets were orange, and most of the time the space was occupied by a million paper boxes filled with balls and nuts and assorted used car parts. The lamps and chairs were all typical 60’s design in either brown or orange plastic. We placed the amp in a corner of the room and wet napkins over the snaredrum in order to prevent leakage.

The mixing table was all handmade and allowed for us to use up to 8 tracks plus reverb and delay effects. I believe there might have been a compressor there as well, plus the two-inch and quarter-inch machines. We recorded the entire first album using only one reel of two-inch tape because we couldn’t afford a second reel. This forced us to record with the 30-minute tape rolling at half speed. UNDER THE SIGN took two reels, BLOOD FIRE DEATH swallowed four of five reels because we were working on tons of other material simultaneously. HAMMERHEART was two reels of tape.

Apart from bringing in bigger drumkits and separate amps for the guitar and bass, we didn’t change anything or alter the place until HAMMERHEART when we brought a big rack of effects for the first time. The funny thing was, we really didn’t use it.

There was a synthesiser standing in a corner and one day during the recording of UNDER THE SIGN, I plugged it in and it’s voice sound bank plus an harpsichord setting was used on tracks like "Woman of Dark Desires" and tons of other tracks on that album.

The great thing about Heavenshore was that we considered it to be our place. Nobody else recorded there and nobody knew about the place. We could come and go as we pleased. We paid a symbolic amount before beginning on a new album. We could work an entire summer in those days at Heavenshore for the same bucks we pay today using a professional studio for 48 hours.

But it was a trial when one day in June 1989 we came down the studio to record what would be HAMMERHEART, and found that the entire place had been turned into a seven feet deep hole in the ground, then filled with gravel. The whole electrical system had been ripped out and it was just a disaster. The owner of the house had finally made his mind up making the studio into a garage permanently but forgot to tell us. But we managed to actually make a pretty good album right in the middle of all of that. We hung small light bulbs from the ceiling, tied wet towels over our faces in order to prevent us from choking on the dust. Before the place had been filled up with a truckload of gravel - and before we arrived - the base of hole had been cased with concrete, and the heat generated by the concrete setting was murderous, particularly when considering outside the garage doors it was sizzling June.

To this day when listening to anything from that album, I can still smell the concrete setting and feel the gravel dust in my eyes and throat. But the sound this environment created was enormous. We were very happy. We could never have reproduced that sound using effects even if we had tried.

Quorthon: It’s funny you should mention "Bond of Blood" specifically. That particular track is the only track that I can remember as being recycled from a previous session. It was one of around twenty tracks we recorded for an aborted session for an album to be entitled "Valhalla". And as with most tracks on TWILIGHT, I wrote it on an acoustic guitar.

The original track was taking on the form of a dialogue between this person and the horned one. I never felt we quite found the right atmosphere or got it right, so the original "Bond of Blood" track was shelved along with tons of other material from those sessions.

When I was in the process of writing the material for the "Twilight of the Gods" album years later, I realised one day the bit I was playing on guitar was something I had done before. Thinking we were never going to use those old tapes anyway, I quickly adopted the basic layout, the beat and chords along with the title "Bond of Blood". This time that bond of blood of course meant something different other than the bond of the first version.

Incidentally, when we were picking unreleased material for the "Jubileum" volumes, the original "Bond of Blood" track of course had to be included since it was an interesting story on its own how these two tracks were based on the same platform of chords and beat, there was a total difference in the finished layout and imagery between the two versions as well, which we felt could be interesting for our audience to hear.

So how did I go about writing that track in particular or any track in general. That question is virtually impossible to answer. Writing music is a natural drive and a way to live. Initially it’ll always begin with a base of a short burst of notes, a melody line or a single chord that’ll generate in further ideas. If it feels good writing something, it’ll be worked on further and result in a track.

When it comes to lyrics, I will usually begin with a subject, a scene or even just a sentence, and write from there.

Quorthon: I never said I wasn’t proud of BATHORY and what BATHORY has achieved and what BATHORY has meant to an entire scene. I am immensely proud of BATHORY and I am perfectly aware of how and why such a status has been bestowed upon BATHORY. I would never in a lifetime even want to turn away from, neglect or diminish that.

But try and see it from my side of the fence for a brief moment. Despite the pride and whatever the status as such means in terms of - for example - not having to place even a fraction of the ads other acts may have to place in order to make it publicly known there’s a new album out. A new BATHORY album is talked about long before it even hits the shops and everybody knows the very moment it is out anyway. The status also means you’ll have not twenty, not fifty or a hundred webzines, radiostations, fanzines and magazine of all sizes and format all over the world contacting you for a chat, but over two hundred. That’s without having to lift a finger getting their attention. And that’s not only when there’s a new album out. Sure, any act or label would probably be prepared to kill to end up in a situation like that. But there is a down side to it all that few will ever contemplate.

Before this immortal legendary status was bestowed upon BATHORY, everything was just fine. BATHORY was just another extreme metal act and BATHORY weren’t seen in any different light, scrutinised by any other standard than the rest. The minute BATHORY had been - as I call it - placed behind glass in the show room of the Museum of Extreme Metal, it all changed drastically. During the 80’s it was never a matter of livid debate when a new BATHORY album showed signs of evolution and development since last time around. On the contrary, it was regarded as one of the exciting and unique things about BATHORY; nobody knew what to expect from a new album. This meant that new sounds, new styles, new methods to produce and new ways to arrange came about. It did indeed enrich the scene and made recording albums all the more interesting and challenging. When in the early 90’s others hung a medal around our necks and said we were legends, it felt like we had been awarded a set of handcuffs, because along with the legendary status came a standard and a framework within which BATHORY were expected to move only.

Quorthon: I haven’t. And I have never given it a thought. I don’t associate with other musicians and know no other bands. But I wouldn’t be entirely against the idea if the feeling was absolutely right.

Quorthon: Hi Stephen and Christine! Long time no see. If you were the ones I shared a cup of tea with afterwards, then I remember you. Congratulations to both of you and drop me a letter some day.

The cover you are referring to is the "Ace of Spades" cover we did for a Black Mark Tribute CD back in ‘97 I believe. Actually we did two version; one BATHORY style interpretation, and one truer to the original yet to be released. We also did Black Sabbath’s "War Pigs" for the sequel in ‘98.

While on the subject of covers, we did Kiss’ "Deuce" on OCTAGON. Although that was just a recorded quick sound rehearsal we simply added lead vocals and a lead guitar to once we needed an extra track at the last moment. We had to lift two tracks off that album and didn’t have the time to record something original.

Here are some of the other covers we’ve recorded throughout the years that still remains to be released: Kiss "Detroit Rock City", Queen "Ogre Battle", Queen "Now I’m Here", Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", Black Sabbath "Iron Man" and Motörhead "Overkill". While we’re on the subject of Motörhead, I believe we also recorded "Iron Fist" and "Sex and Outrage" at one time.

And incidentally, just recently we were asked to contribute with a track for a Kiss 30^th anniversary CD released this month of March 2003. For that one we recorded "Black Diamond".

Quorthon: ..ha-ha-ha-ha.. with the risk of killing anybody’s image of myself, I am afraid I wouldn’t be that bark raving berserk running up and down foreign beaches broadsword in hand. I hate to travel or go places, but I love flying being the aeroplane buff I am. I’m quite positive I would probably just stay put back home in Asa Bay land, a minstrel comfortably reclined under an oak tree writing songs about it all.

Quorthon: Of course you can send them to me. Pack them well and send the lot to BATHORY HORDES, PoBox 3498, SE16524 Hässelby, Stockholm, SWEDEN. Please include $4 for overseas postage, or €4 for European postage. Within Sweden a mere 40:- would do the job. Make sure to include your full address and if you’d like for the dedication to made to you by real name or a pseudonym.

Quorthon: BATHORY HORDES never was a fan club in a traditional sense, but a brotherhood and sisterhood at heart. It will exist for as long as there are people around the world who loves and appreciates BATHORY’s music.

We never produced a fan club magazine or any special membership merchandise, and we never did send any member news bulletins out or anything. The original BATHORY HORDES was, though, the only place where to get a hold of our only T-shirt in those days, plus of course the Lp’s if you had trouble finding a particular album where you lived.

However we did produce 10 000 of those membership cards and ran out of them way back in 1986. Around 1989 I was sent a forged member ship card by a fan for examination, and then I felt it was better not to pick the cards up again producing 10 000 more.

Today, I consider having a set of BATHORY albums in your collection enough to be a BATHORY HORDES member.

Quorthon: Well, I began writing it almost ten years ago but haven’t done a thing to complete it. For the BLOOD ON ICE CD-booklet I used parts dealing with the sessions during which some of the original Blood On Ice-material was recorded. But the reaction from such a vast number of fans wasn’t quite what I had expected. They were furious and practically called me a blasphemer for talking about BATHORY in such a way. And all I did was describing the conditions during which the original material had been recorded along with describing how we went about turning it into the BLOOD ON ICE album. I interpreted their reaction as a desire for the mystery and myth to be maintained, and consequently I never went any further writing that BATHORY book.

Looking back, it wouldn’t have been a very complete book considering another ten years has passed by which would otherwise have been left out. So perhaps when BATHORY is no more or something like that. I wouldn’t want any bit of BATHORY history to be left out.

Quorthon: As with all rumours regarding BATHORY, don’t even believe 1% of what you hear. The Heavenshore Studio - or garage - was situated not in a basement, but at the end of a house owned by a friend of a fiend. And I have never even lived in a house myself, only apartments.

Quorthon: Oh…infamous no less. It’s true in the early years I used to try the media out to see how it all functioned. I would occasionally say something just to see if they’d believe me, how they’d react and if that would make it into the published article or whatever.

I will not throw myself at an issue that I know will have a feature on BATHORY, but of course I’ll have a peek sometime, usually when I am being told there’s something in an particular interview, article or review that’s just absurd, which is frequently.

I am puzzled sometimes how even serious and professional journalist’s will occasionally approach me as if I was either the son of Satan or a weird eccentric type one must talk to or approach in a particular way. In recent years the tone by which I have been met has been of the sour & acid kind. I have no problems with the media no more than the media seem to have a problem with themselves and their own role. I am just outspoken about it. I don’t kiss ass or suck up to the press. I know there is a whole generation of acts out there that think they have to do just that, seeing the metal press as their - if not only so at least most vital - link to their audience.

The apparent arrogance, scorn and despise by which I have been met by so many journalists in recent years, is equalled only by the acidity and ridiculing, almost bullying tone of their reviews, and it sometimes makes me wonder if it’s all worth it doing the whole promotion routine one album after another. Half of the questions I am being asked when doing interviews, concern nothing but rumours and irrelevant stuff. I find myself sitting there phone in hand one evening after another almost begging for questions on the music and the albums. It’s as if most journalists have forgotten all about the key issue, why both I and they are in this to begin with. When still after 30 or 40 minutes I haven’t got to answer anything else except for a) is it true that I drink blood and eat the flesh of infants, or, b) that I live in either a satanic (!) bats cave in the north of Sweden or on a deserted viking (!) island, that’s when your respect for the media sort of hit rock bottom.

Metal journalists - and the metal press in general - are fashion oriented, always on the look out for what’s hot or in at the moment, all in order to get it right when putting their next issue on sale, and I can understand that to some degree. But they seldom cover the whole scene or treat all branches and styles equally. When they accuse BATHORY of being "old school", I take great pride in being "old school", even though I have clue what that means. If however "old school" is something they don’t like, then…hell…we’re all about "old school"…as long as our audience agrees…and they have for the past twenty years.

I think a lot of the magazines out there really should ransack themselves with the same ingenious and frenzy energy with which they cut acts and albums - and labels - by the ankles with ease. I try to be nice when I talk to the media, I’ll make a joke and set out to create a comfortable situation for the both of us. I’ll do my very best to be thorough and highly detailed whenever they do ask me something that’s actually substantial. But most of the time the end result is an article or interview published weeks or months later that’s full of misquotations, twisted expressions and crap.

The metal press is not perfect, they’re not immaculate or almighty. They didn’t make me or anybody else, they don’t even have to buy the fucking CD they’re reviewing anyway, they get them for free so they ought to just cut the complaining crap.

I am honest in my relationship with the media. I can tell a journalist how his magazine suck and how I think the way they handle some acts is below the line. We should all be equally met, with respect and an open mind. Not ridiculed or brushed aside simply because an act may not fit in or because they’re not flavour of the week stuff. The media needs us more than we need them. They ought to be both objective and constructive.

For a while I didn’t talk to the press, didn’t answer their emails or anything. Then I was labelled a renounciate reclusive and eccentric whatever. When occasionally I do answer their emails, even comment on how badly they misquoted me in the last issue and even put words in my mouth, the few who dare to answer me, come back between the lines sounding as if I’m being a grumpy control freak. So you can’t win that battle. It’s in their nature to find errors, mistakes, flaws and crap everywhere except in their own behaviour and treatment of others.

Quorthon: No, I was being honest. There was this guy once who wrote me asking something along the lines how much Nordic mead one would have to drink in order to be able to write a Viking masterpiece like "One Rode to Asa Bay". And apart from telling him I can’t even stand the smell of beer, I told him I got the whole idea for the music from listening to Deeps Purple’s "Child in Time" one day. It’s funny how a series of notes you’ll hear will generate into an idea years down the road. Another case is "Day of Wrath" being highly influenced by both Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and The Beatles "Because".

Few, if any, would ever hear that unless I’d tell them. I love to incorporate small details from outside the extreme metal scene. Things like that Pink Floyd-type bass line on "The Messenger" or a typical John Lord thing on the Hammond organ. But then everything you hear influence you in one way or another directly or indirectly. That rule is also applicable when it comes to "Destroyer of Worlds". It didn’t occur to me at the time, but sometime after the release of DESTROYER OF WORLDS, even I could hear the similarity between the title track and part of Holst’s "The Planets".

Quorthon: I think we already did on UNDER THE SIGN. The track "Woman of Dark desires" is dedicated to Elizabeth Bathory. But I doubt we would ever do a big thematic piece on her.

Quorthon: My personal choice would have been two separate NORDLAND Lp’s. But we had already gone too far advertising a NORDLAND double-LP, so the industry forced us to produce that. I initially didn’t want to make anybody having to buy two albums when the intention might have been to just pick one part of the saga up. Just a precaution in case a particular person would favour one volume more than the other. A greater measure of choice is always the best. Plus ordinary NORDLAND Lp’s would better fit in with the now re-released re-mastered back catalogue on vinyl.

NORDLAND I and NORDLAND II were separated initially simply because of the immense workload. We would never have been able to complete all that complex and demanding material fast enough for a release in 2002 as planned. We drew a line halfway down the tracking list, moved "Prelude", the title track and "Vinterblot" onto NORDLAND I, and moved "The Wheel of Sun" to NORDLAND II. Other than that, there’s no reason as to why any other track ended up on either NORDLAND I or NORDLAND II. This way we could concentrate on NORDLAND I and have that out as planned. While NORDLAND I was being processed for release, we could turn to what was left to do on the material for NORDLAND II.

Whether NORDLAND I and NORDLAND II would now be released as a double CD I don’t know. It’s a good idea, though, now that all the material is complete. I’ll think about it. But for now, there’s no reason why we should begin to re-package both volumes and release them as a double CD.

Regarding the re-release of the BATHORY back catalogue as 20^th anniversary Lp’s, it’s such a big enterprise we have to do all that in steps. First out are the first six albums, our plan is for the remaining albums to follow. We digitally re-mastered each album from the original master tapes, we then of course had to re-manufacture each matrix. We also took the opportunity to freshen up the album covers and innersleeves. Every cover, innersleeve and label has received an enhancing face-lift to last a hundred years. I believe the first 10.000 copies will be produced in limited edition ice-clear vinyl, which is pretty cool.

Quorthon: I don’t think that there will ever be another video by BATHORY, or rather, I know there won’t be another video, unless someone out there is an avid animator and has a truckload of time to do something on our behalf.

The "One Rode to Asa Bay" video has never been released simply because I don’t have a copy of it to release. I know there are several very bad copies around, taped from TV 13-14 years ago. There’s even a couple of bootleg CD ROM versions out there that really doesn’t work.

The video was a lot of fun doing, but very expensive and a waste of time and money. We ended up with 60 hours of film down the can. But we couldn’t get a hold of the material when the time came around to edit the 60 hours down to a video. We could only get a hold of scrap bits from left over scenes and take-outs. That’s what’s in the video.

We’d crawl through caves carrying torches, set a lake on fire, orchestrate a big battle between Vikings and Christian knights in armour on horse. We filled an entire quarry with gasoline pipes, smoke machines and torches. We would build a viking-village and hired, fed and instructed an entire buss load full of people and dressed them up in 9^th century clothing. I don’t think I slept a wink for six days and I lost twelve pounds just working.

To this day I still haven’t seen the video myself, and the 60 hours of film down the can is lost forever since long ago. It was an expensive and educational experience and a lesson we wouldn’t necessarily want to have to learn or pay for again. It was sheer madness to make a video for a song that’s half the length of most TV rock shows. And I am sure it was only ever aired two or three times. Madness.

Quorthon: There was of course a period in my youth when I would sit down listening a large number of records to the point the needle was no longer able to pick up any sounds from the all the more disappearing grooves. I’d listen all days and nights on albums like Sex Pistols "Never Mind the Bollocks" and Kiss’ first four albums. I remember how I’d eavesdrop when older friends played their Mountain, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and Led Zeppelin albums, and in a way I slipped into that as well. Black Sabbath’s first five albums I would listen to over and over again. Motörhead’s "Ace of Spades", "No Sleep Till Hammersmith" and "Iron Fist" albums were particular favourites. Apart from Saxon I enjoyed nothing from the NWOBHM generation of bands. Of course I couldn’t get away without mentioning the "City baby" album by GBH which had a particularly strong influence on very early BATHORY.

Quorthon: I use a mixture of water and two other fluid substances. Sometimes abroad, because there’s no way you can bring that stuff with you aboard a plane and the exact right substances may not be easy to get a hold of minutes before a photosession, I have had to use whatever suitable fluids I could find with slightly less impressive results. Of course I have singed hair and eye brows a millions times, nose and lips as well.

Gene Simmons was of course the source of inspiration for picking the whole fire breathing part up. I haven’t done it years though.

Quorthon: Nope, not true at all. When we sat down talking about a name for the band we had just formed, my suggestion was BATHORY and we settled on that after half an hour or so. I had been to London and the Dungeons where I saw an exhibition featuring Elizabeth Bathory. So I read more about her and figured here’s a great name. For some reason I thought the name looked cool. But there was also an interesting story behind the name should anybody want to know.

Some of the less serious names tossed around down the rehearsal place was Nosferatu - due to the movie, Satan and Natas - Satan backwards. Some of the other names I remember being aired were Vlad Tepes, Sabbaticum and Purgatory.

Quorthon: That’s an issue we’re talking about more and more for each month. I’ve said I don’t know how such a site would be constructed due to lack of photo’s and things. It seems like a rather pointless thing to do, filling the site up with not very much at all besides MP3’s, when the people who would log in will already have all the albums. We could include a discography, yet everybody interested in an official BATHORY site would already know all the details.

I could of course create some sort of forum where fans could ask me anything and I’ll answer them, sort of like what we’re doing here right now. I’m sure it would do wonders for all the rumours and crap that’s flying around.

Quorthon: I haven’t written any material with a third solo album in mind. The tricky thing is whether to write material that’s close to the material on the previous solo albums in one way or another, or just let go and really do something completely different.

There might be a third solo album. But then again, there might just never be one. At least I have no plans whatsoever of doing a third. But I am both puzzled and happily surprised of the number of people who write me and ask for a third solo album. Perhaps in a couple of years then…

Quorthon: On both NORDLAND volumes, we popped a sort of Nordic word in here and there. But to go as far and say that is a start towards a full lyric or album by BATHORY in Swedish is to go a bit too far.

There was a trend a few years ago to sing in your own language. The French have been doing it for years. The way we incorporated a few Nordic words on NORDLAND is ok because it suits the material and gives depth to the saga connecting with the north in such a way. But I think I can promise you all there will never be a BATHORY track or album in Swedish, even if it would sound cool or be very interesting to hear.

Quorthon: We were tremendously happy with Kristian’s BLOOD ON ICE painting. It was exactly what we wanted. When we sat down and began making plans for a NORDLAND artwork, our first idea was just a simple photo showing either ice, mountains or anything Nordic. But it all looked like some page out of a tourist guide or something like that. So we asked Kristian and were very happy to hear that he would love do it.

The end result is just so overwhelmingly powerful and connects with the theme and feel of the NORDLAND material so well. But we didn’t choose Kristian to tie NORDLAND with BLOOD ON ICE, but because Kristian is the best.

Hail the Hordes !

Quorthon

BATHORY

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