Blood Fire Death

The fourth album sits at the point where the band changes direction. It was recorded in February 1988 at Heavenshore Studio in Stockholm, produced by Quorthon and Boss Forsberg, and it is the first Bathory record to credit session players under the assumed names Kothaar and Vvornth. Under One Flag put the British 12-inch out in October 1988 as FLAG 26. Most of it is black metal, but the opening "Odens Ride Over Nordland" and the title track take their time over Nordic scenery and Nordic narrative, and it is those passages that get named as the earliest form of what would be called Viking metal — the direction the next album, Hammerheart, would give itself over to entirely. Against them, "A Fine Day to Die", "Holocaust" and "Dies Irae" keep the speed of the first three records, so both directions stand on the one album. The running order here is the original's as printed; the unlisted outro is not included.