''Blood Fire Death'' is the fourth studio album by Swedish

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band Bathory. It was released in October 1988, through Music for Nations sublabel, Under One Flag. The album, although mostly

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

, includes some of the first examples of

Viking metal Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse religion, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Viking metal is quite diverse as a musical style, to the point where some consi ...

. According to the book ''Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult'' by Dayal Patterson, ''Blood Fire Death'' began a second trilogy, an era Quorthon described as the "pre-Christian Swedish Viking Era".

Background and recording

The lyrics to "For All Those Who Died" were taken from a poem by Erica Jong, first published in her book ''Witches'' (1981), while the first three verses of "A Fine Day to Die" are taken from "Cassilda's Song" of Robert W. Chambers' '' The King in Yellow''. The front cover comes from the painting '' The Wild Hunt of Odin'' (1872) by Peter Nicolai Arbo. The painting as well as the opening track "Oden's Ride Over Nordland" use the Wild Hunt motif from folklore. ''Blood Fire Death'' established this motif in metal culture, where it since has become popular with a number of bands and event organizers.Florian Heesch, Reinhard Kopanski. 2017. "Klang – Text – Bild: Intermediale Aspekte der Black Metal-Forschung". ed. Sarah Chaker, Jakob Schermann, Nikolaus Urbanek. ''Analyzing Black Metal – Transdisziplinäre Annäherungen an ein düsteres Phänomen der Musikkultur''. Transcript Verlag. pp. 29-33.

Critical reception

In 2009,

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included ''Blood Fire Death'' in their "10 Great Black Metal Albums" list.

Track listing

Note: The "Outro" is not listed on the cover and is not included on the cassette release.

Personnel

;Bathory * Quorthon – guitars, vocals, percussion, effects, producer, engineer, mixing * Vvornth – drums * Kothaar – bass ;Production * Boss (Börje Forsberg) – producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, mixing * Peter Nicolai Arbo – album cover painting, '' The Wild Hunt of Odin (Åsgårdsreien)'' * Pelle Matteus – sleeve photography

References

{{Authority control Bathory (band) albums 1988 albums Black metal albums by Swedish artists Viking metal albums Wild Hunt