Bathory

The debut, made almost single-handedly by Quorthon — Tomas Forsberg — in Sweden. Recording began on 14 June 1984 at Heavenshore Studio, a converted garage in Huddinge on the edge of Stockholm, with Quorthon and "The Boss", Börje Forsberg, credited with the production. Black Mark, a sublabel of Tyfon Grammofon, put the record out on 2 October that year as BMLP 666-1. The sound is thin and the playing is rough. That roughness is less a shortfall of skill than the limit of the equipment and the hours available, and what came out of it is a texture later bands have gone on citing. The speed and distortion of "Hades", "Sacrifice", "In Conspiracy With Satan" and "Raise the Dead", and a voice that seems to be shouting from somewhere further back in the room, have the outline of black metal almost complete at a point when the term was not yet in common use. It is one of the two or three records always named when the question of the first black metal album comes up, and the Norwegian generation that followed has kept naming it as a starting point. The running order here is the 1984 original's as printed; the unlisted outro is not included.