Thomas Börje Forsberg, also known as Quorthon, was a Swedish musician who founded the band Bathory, which pioneered the black metal and Viking metal styles. Quorthon was a multi-instrumentalist who contributed music, lyrics, vocals, and guitars to all of Bathory’s albums.
Quorthon formed Bathory at the age of 17, after temporarily performing in the Oi! band Stridskuk. He collaborated on his early records with his father, Börje Forsberg, the president of the Swedish record company Tyfon Grammofon. Black Mark Production handled the release of the majority of Bathory’s albums. The first album was produced at Peter Himmelstrand’s garage, Studio Heavenshore, and later published by Black Mark Production.
Bathory’s live performances in the mid-to-late 1980s were uncommon, adding to the black metal subgenre. Quorthon took over Bathory in the 1990s, recording with hired musicians and shifting the band’s sound from black metal to slower, heavier Viking metal. On most recordings, he played bass guitar and relied heavily on a drum machine or session drummer. During this time, Bathory’s image was characterised by rare pictures and the band’s emphasis on Norse mythology.
Quorthon financed for Bathory’s music video for “One Rode to Asa Bay” which appears on their fifth studio album, Hammerheart. The video aired on MTV’s Headbangers Ball, however Quorthon had not seen it at the time of the interview.
Bathory renamed his band Quorthon in 1993 and released two albums: Album in 1994 and Purity of Essence, as well as the EP When Our Day Is Through in 1997. These albums were more rock-oriented than Bathory’s black/viking metal sound. Bathory drew inspiration from these albums and proceeded to write music for Bathory, producing albums in retro-thrash metal and Viking metal, notably on the Nordland saga.
Quorthon, a well-known Norwegian black metal artist, died at the age of 38 in Stockholm from a congenital cardiac condition. The next month, numerous Norwegian black metal bands played Bathory songs at Bergen’s Hole in the Sky event. The lineup consisted of Abbath, Apollyon, Faust and Samoth, Gaahl, Grutle Kjellson and Ivar Bjørnson, Nocturno Culto, and Satyr. The black metal supergroup I dedicated a song to Quorthon on their 2006 album Between Two Worlds.
Discography With Bathory
Bathory (1984)
The Return…… (1985)
Under the Sign of the Black Mark (1987)
Blood Fire Death (1988)
Hammerheart (1990)
Twilight of the Gods (1991)
Jubileum Volume I (1992)
Jubileum Volume II (1993)
Requiem (1994)
Octagon (1995)
Blood on Ice (1996)
Jubileum Volume III (1998)
Destroyer of Worlds (2001)
Nordland I (2002)
Nordland II (2003)
As Quorthon
Album (1994)
When Our Day Is Through EP (1997)
Purity of Essence (1997)
