Ελληνικά
BATHORY : THE(RE IS NO) RETURN…
Just seven months after their self-titled debut, the restless creative spirit of Bathory returned to the scene with ”The Return…” released on May 27, 1985 through Black Mark Productions. Although the time between the two albums was remarkably short, Quorthon’s second full-length represented a decisive step toward the formation of the sound that would later become known as viking black metal. If the first album hinted at the direction Bathory were pursuing, the second established the aesthetic, atmosphere, and ideological framework of an entire musical movement.
Vikings were never a conventional band. Quorthon was the creative core of the project, handling almost the entirety of the songwriting and recording process, with contributions from Stefan Larsson on drums and Andreas Johansson on bass (his only appearance with the band, although some of the bass parts were also performed by Quorthon himself). The recording and mixing sessions took place in February 1985 at Electra Studio under extremely limited conditions, with a minimal budget and technical shortcomings that left a strong imprint on the final result. Production, mixing, and mastering were handled by Stig Börje Forsberg, Quorthon’s father and the founder of Black Mark Productions. In addition, Quorthon himself was responsible for the album’s visual design, taking the photograph used on the back cover, while the iconic front cover image was created by Gunnar Silins. The artwork incorporated elements of the occult imagery that had already become a defining part of Bathory’s aesthetic. It has been noted that the demonic figure appearing in the lower-left section of the back cover bears strong similarities to an illustration by Joseph A. Smith from Erica Jong’s 1981 book ”Witches”. This same source is also believed to have provided inspiration for the iconic Baphomet image featured on the band’s debut album.
Years later, Quorthon himself admitted that the album’s infamous dirty sound was not the result of some grand artistic vision, but rather a consequence of the poor production conditions, overloaded recordings, and even external noises that managed to bleed into the studio. Nevertheless, the production is slightly more cohesive compared to the debut, while still preserving its raw and primitive character. This very imperfection would eventually become a defining benchmark, having a profound influence on later bands such as Darkthrone, Mayhem, and Emperor.
Despite the obvious influences from Venom, classic heavy metal, and the NWOBHM scene ”The Return…” is not simply a continuation of the British proto-black or speed/thrash metal sound of the era. The Swedes retained the violence and raw energy of their early years, but transformed them into something far darker, more threatening, and deeply infused with a sense of occultism and absolute evil. Where the debut often maintained an almost punk-like spontaneity, the second step plunged completely into a world filled with satanic imagery, blasphemy, misanthropy, and an otherworldly atmosphere. The album’s production remains, to this day, one of the most extreme in the history of metal. The guitars appear to emerge from a cloud of distortion, the bass is almost buried within the mix, the drums sound primitive and untamed, and Quorthon’s screams are presented more as tortured cries than conventional vocals.
Although technically far from flawless, this sound created a suffocating, almost supernatural atmosphere that became the album’s most defining characteristic.
The opening track, “Revelation of Doom” serves as the gateway into this dark world, with distorted sounds, distant screams, and a threatening atmosphere that prepares the listener for the explosion of “Total Destruction”, one of the most defining songs of the early black metal.”Born for Burning” already reveals Quorthon’s growing maturity as a songwriter, combining aggressive riffs with slower, almost doom-like passages. The track was one of the earliest compositions he ever wrote for Bathory. It originally carried the title “Live in Sin” (or “Live and Die in Sin”) and was performed at a slower tempo with different lyrics.
Songs such as “Possessed”, “The Wind of Mayhem”, “Bestial Lust”, “Reap of Evil” and “Son of the Damned” strike a balance between raw aggression and the creation of an atmosphere that would go on to become the foundation for the entire second wave of black metal. The album reaches its climax with the title track “The Return of the Darkness and Evil” a song now regarded as a classic. Its combination of unfiltered brutality and an almost epic melodic sense foreshadows the creative developments that would follow on Bathory’s later releases. The composition was covered numerous times in the years that followed and remains one of the most iconic moments of the band’s early era.
The lyrics revolve almost exclusively around themes of Satanism, the apocalypse, blasphemy, war, death, and the rejection of Christianity. According to Quorthon himself, there was a deliberate intention to give the album a sense of mystery and ritualistic revelation, an element that further strengthened the release’s dark aesthetic. However, based on his later statements, the approach of the early Bathory albums did not carry the fanatical seriousness that would later characterize parts of the Norwegian scene. Instead, there was often an element of exaggeration, black humor, and conscious provocation qualities that were lost when this imagery and attitude were adopted literally by many later artists.
The significance of this release can hardly be overstated. If Venom were the first to introduce the term black metal to the world of heavy metal, Bathory were the band that gave the concept its definitive form. The trademark shrieking vocals, distorted guitars, relentless rhythms, mystical atmosphere, enigmatic aesthetic, and primitive production became the blueprint upon which the entire Scandinavian scene of the early 1990s would be built. Although the musicians’ technical abilities were criticized from the moment of the album’s release, history proved that its influence was never based on virtuosity, but rather on the power of its atmosphere and its unique artistic identity. What some listeners perceived as a poorly recorded and chaotic work became, for an entire generation of musicians, the starting point of a new musical movement.
Decades after its release, this milestone continues to be regarded as one of the most important and influential albums in the history of extreme music. Beyond the inevitable comparisons with Bathory’s debut or with later masterpieces, their second album remains the work that proved black metal could develop its own distinct identity.
A timeless gem primitive, imperfect, and violent, yet at the same time absolutely fundamental to the formation and evolution of an entire genre.
It’s the RETURN of the darkness and evil
It’s the RETURN of the fire and flame
It’s the RETURN of my master Satan
It’s the RETURN of desire and pain
