This is Bathory's fifth album, and man, it's a classic. Repetitive, gothic, doom, viking metal with no speed at all. Also, Quorthon SINGS non-satanic lyrics. Instead, it's about being Nordic, sailing cold black seas, Valhalla, and the imposement of a (foreign) god. Minus one song, these epics are longer than six and a half minutes (each). Kind of grainy production (even on CD). Fave tracks: all! But you might like "Baptised in Fire and Ice" (despite the VOIVOD "Tribal Convictions" ripoff), "Father to Son", and a song I find chilling, "One Rode to Asa Bay". If you like plodding metal with a corrosive singer pouring emotion into every word, then buy this.

© 1999 mlotek
[originally published in "Doomhauled"../"Scrolls of Doom" fanzine 87-90]