Quorthon: Remembering a metal legend

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Five years ago today, we lost a metal legend who called himself Quorthon. The mastermind of black metal band Bathory, he influenced everything to come after him and did so starting in 1983, the same year Slayer and Hellhammer started out. In fact, he released a complete vision of what future death metal and black metal would sound like years before anyone else.

The first two Bathory albums, Bathory and The Return, created a template which would influence others for years to follow. Typically humble, Quorthon refused to speculate on how influential he was, but kept making heavy metal albums up until the year before his death. His distinctive style consisted of writing riffs in related clusters, or motifs, and using bombastic song structures to make a kind of rock theatre.

"I began to listen to classical music shortly after forming BATHORY, and from 1985-1986 it was all I would listen to. I had been playing various types of rock in various constellations since 1975, so picking up Wagner, Beethoven, Haydn and others really broadened my musical awareness extensively. The motif signature naturally comes from the world of opera," said Quorthon (from a 2003 interview).

Quorthon formed Bathory in 1983 when he was 17 years old and recorded in a basement using his fifty-watt practice amplifier. His attitude was always one of making the music he wanted, even if he lacked the resources to make it slick. This rough-edged quality to his work inspired legions of underground bands to forego the details and go for the attack straightaway.

His work ranged in style from heavy metal, to indie rock, to death metal and black metal. While he did not suffer fools gladly, he was tolerant of inexperienced people and always looked out for his fans. Born in February 17, 1966, Quorthon died on June 3, 2004 and was buried in his native Sweden.