BATHORY: HAMMERHEART (1990)
1) Shores In Flames; 2)
Valhalla; 3) Baptised In Fire And Ice; 4) Father To Son; 5) Song To Hall Up
High; 6) Home Of Once Brave; 7) One Rode To Asa Bay; 8) Outro.
Bathory's one true masterpiece. Yes, it may be
a bit hard for those who are not innate fans of the formulaic «epic fantasy»
genre to acknowledge this — that a pompous, thoroughly un-ironic, crudely
recorded metal album about the forceful conversion of one's Viking ancestors to
Christianity could ever deserve being called a masterpiece. It has not been
easy for me, either. But I did get over it, eventually, and now am confidently
re-stating this: Bathory's Hammerheart
is a masterpiece, and probably the one «Viking Metal» album to get if
you only plan to get one. Unless you have vikingophobia or something.
So what is the key to Quorthon's secret here?
The key is quite simple — in fact, simple
is the key. Where the general trend among power metal and progressive metal
bands was to make the music more complex, by adding more and more notes to the
riffs, more and more sections to the songs, more and more influences to the
styles, etc., Quorthon, having temporarily jettisoned the «evil speed metal»
warhorse, has retained the overall idea of keeping his melodic base as simple
and repetitive as possible. Had the guy been utterly talentless, this would
probably have been the end of him. But as it is, the slowing down reveals his genuine
knack for «basic» heavy melodies with a strong emotional undercurrent. Be it
the old pagan gods that inspired him for this one, or some other unknown
factor, these here riffs work, and work admirably.
Naturally, the album is not «authentic». No
matter how bloodthirsty / pure at heart / worthy of adoration / awesome in
every way Quorthon's Northern ancestors might have been, they did not entertain
each other with heavy distorted riffs and heavy artillery-style drumming. Nor
was the process of converting to Christianity always as dramatic and tragic as
Quorthon paints it to be in ʽOne Rode To Asa Bayʼ (even if violence was indeed
involved in many a particular occasion). But, like most Viking metal, going all
the way back to Led Zeppelin's ʽNo Quarterʼ, this is not a case of «history in
music» — this is musical mythology, standing with one toe in facts and the rest
in inflamed imagination, and the value of Hammerheart
is not in educating the listener, but in spreading the inflammation.
ʽShores In Flamesʼ and ʽOne Rode To Asa Bayʼ
are the two major epic pieces that open and close the album — the former
presenting the «Viking» world at its apogee (a tale of raiding and ravaging,
of course) and the latter at its nadir, with Christianity taking its revenge and
burying the old pagan pride and warpower six feet under. ʽShores In Flamesʼ has
all the required scenery: sound effects (steady rowing at the beginning,
burning embers at the end); eerie build-up (acoustic intro with faraway vocals,
gradually unfurling into fire and fury); anthemic sing-along battle march delivered
in tandem with the riff, early Black Sabbath-style; and some of the most
bloodthirsty, banshee-wailing soloing ever delivered by mortal man. Special
honorable mention goes to the percussion onslaught of «Vvornth» — nothing
particularly complex, but the guy was clearly picturing himself in the guise
of a mighty fur-clad warrior, with each beat falling like a heavy blow from a
mighty warhammer. Evocative!
My personal favorite number, however, is
ʽBaptised In Fire And Iceʼ — this one wastes no time with no sissy intros, but plunges
headfirst into one of the most beastly-brutal riffs in Bathory history... wait,
there are at least three different
riffs here: the verses are driven by a simplistic, one-chord pattern that might
as well have a punkish origin, then the bridge is turned over to one of those
«deep sea metal» riffs invented by Toni Iommi, and then the "baptised in
fire and ice!" chorus is accompanied by something in between the two
extremes (and sounding fairly grungy, or alt-rockish, whichever you prefer).
Against this background, Quorthon's «singing», now mostly free of growling and
throaty screeching, is perfectly credible — the guy may have no range or
subtlety, but neither would we expect it of an idealized duty-bound Nordic
warrior, whose spirit this guy is channelling so successfully. In fact, it is a
good thing that Quorthon does not have a very powerful voice: it adds a bit of
realism to the proceedings — otherwise, the whole thing would have taken on a
cartoonish, Manowar-style aura, and that would be the end of Hammerheart as we know it.
Because, indeed, the most amazing thing about
the album is that it does not feel «cheesy», not to me, at least. Its subject matter
is anything but new, and rather banal in theory; its English lyrics, though
surprisingly literate and well-articulated for a Norwegian guy with a fantasy
fetish, are still nothing to write home about; its instrumentation is
minimalistic, and its music repetitive (ʽOne Rode To Asa Bayʼ is like an
endless droning saga, going on and on and on until you are finally forced to
believe in its utmost importance through sheer length alone). But, having lost
the crazy speed and the aggressive Satanism of his early years, Quorthon still
preserves the essence of Bathory — an uncanny ability to substitute the boring «institutional»
pathos of power metal for a snappy, snarling, attacking style of delivery, so
that even at his most pompous, he is still directly kicking the listener's ass
instead of roaring away pointlessly somewhere high up in the sky. The balance
between mediocre production, sparse, but loud arrangements, good riffs, and
genuine inspiration is pretty much unique here — so much so that, despite the
superficial simplicity of the formula, even Quorthon himself was never again
able to capture it quite so well.
It goes without saying that for some of
Bathory's veteran fans the stylistic change was a bit too much — those who were
won over by the original trilogy could not pardon Quorthon for releasing a
record so completely devoid of crazyass Satanic thrashing. And for others, Blood Fire Death, with its compromise
mix of the old and the new, remains the definitive Bathory album for ages to
come. But personally, I hold the opinion that it is only on Hammerheart that the guy achieved his
purpose on Earth, and came as close to fully realising his true potential as
possible, even if, technically, the album is less diverse than its predecessor
— then again, was there ever a time in music history when a heavy metal band
could be seriously criticized for lack of diversity? Thumbs up, Viking brothers and
sisters. But don't you go burning any Christian churches — for the record, please
note that Hammerheart provokes
anything of that sort no more than ʽThe Night They Drove Old Dixie Downʼ
provokes anti-Yankee partisan action.
Check "Hammerheart" (MP3) on Amazon
Oh yes, this is far superior to the goofery coming from Manowar. I don't know if I would call it a masterpiece, but I think it totally enjoyable. It is easy for me too - killer riffs, no grunting and some good solo's always quickly make me happy. My only gripe is the monotonous back beat drumming. And I would have liked me a fast song too - after all The Immigrant Song was the first Viking Metal.
ReplyDeleteBtw - if it is intentional I wouldn't know, but Baptised dóés have an ironic element with those pseudo macho backing vocals.
The idea of "Viking metal" as a concept has intrigued me since hearing "Immigrant Song", but I'd never taken the time to check it out -- after the '80s I've only gotten into a select few metal groups. On a whim, I decided to check this one out -- lo and behold, it was pretty good. I still am not a fan of Quorthon's vocals, but then again I've gotten used to Mikael Akerfeldt's death growl after some time. Very good riffs and solos, and the man knows how to recreate the cold, brutal atmosphere of a Norse conquest. Like MNb said, I would have liked a couple of faster songs thrown in to break up the grind, but that's a minor gripe. Overall a pretty solid album, and now I'm interested in tuning in to some more of the band's material.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Kudos George on reviewing more relatively-modern heavy metal groups -- I'd be interested in seeing your opinions on Opeth or Mastodon, perhaps (or, God help you, Mayhem).
A great review of one of Bathory's best albums (although I do personally prefer Blood Fire Death for it's unrelenting "evil speed"). Given that you are reviewing black metal artists like Bathory and Agalloch, do you plan on reviewing the other major black metal bands or solo artists, most notably Burzum, Darkthrone, and Enslaved? I think you would find Enslaved and it's later progressive-flavored albums especially interesting.
ReplyDelete