Bathory

Along with Venom, Bathory are the highly respected pioneers of Black Metal. Bathory's name is the last name of the evil woman Elizabeth Bathory who lived sometime around the 1500s-1600s. some even go as far as calling her a vampire because of her vampiric crimes. About Black Metal: Bathory's "Quorthon" took metal to a new level when he added high-pitched demon-like vocals screaming out lyrics focusing on evey aspect of evil to aggressive thrash. The genre then evolved into a more symphonic sound with lots and i mean LOTS of tremelo picking and blastbeats. Quorthon, who died in 2004 from a heart related problem, also pioneered yet another great genre, Viking Metal, with albums like "Hammerheart" and "Twilight of the Gods" and the latest "Nordland" series. Viking Metal is characterized by mixing heavy metal, lots of choirs in the back chanting to the main riff of the song, and sometimes a bit of a folk influence straight out of the streets of Northern European countries such as Finland or Iceland. (Therefore you will probably hear alot of flutes and maybe even some bag-pipes!) But what mainly characterizes it are the lyrics about Norse Mythology and Asatru beliefs.