Bathory - Blood Fire Death (1988)

Artist: Bathory

Album: Blood Fire Death

Released: 1988

Type: Full-length

Origin: Sweden

Genre: Black Metal, Viking Metal

Lyrical themes: Satanism, Evil

Released in 1988, Blood Fire Death is the fourth studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Bathory. The album, although mostly black metal, includes some of the first examples of Viking metal. In 2009, IGN included Blood Fire Death in their "10 Great Black Metal Albums" list.

The lyrics to "For All Those Who Died" were taken from a poem by Erica Jong, first published in her book Witches (1981), while first three verses of "A Fine Day to Die" are taken from "Cassilda's Song" of Robert W. Chambers' The King in Yellow. The first letters of each line of "The Golden Walls of Heaven" form the word "SATAN". Also, the first letters of each line of "Dies Irae" (Day of Wrath) form the sentence: "CHRIST THE BASTARD SON OF HEAVEN." ''Oden'' is Swedish for ''Odin''.

The front cover comes from the painting Asgårdsreien (1872) by Peter Nicolai Arbo.

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".

Tracklist:

1.       Odens Ride over Nordland    03:14    instrumental

2.       A Fine Day to Die      08:49 

3.       The Golden Walls of Heaven 05:14 

4.       Pace 'till Death         03:40   

5.       Holocaust      03:24

6.       For All Those Who Died        04:55   

7.       Dies Irae        05:04   

8.       Blood Fire Death       10:33 

          Total Playing Time  44:53

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