BATHORY - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark LP

There are few albums as timeless in the metal canon as Bathory’s Under The Sign Of The Black Mark, which turns 25 today. Some of today’s most influential black metal bands were enormously influenced by this album and its otherworldly take on the early black metal sound. 
Bathory’s first two albums are pretty basic mixes of dirty heavy metal and crust punk, but Under the Sign of the Black Mark brought all-around black metal perfection with all-out fast songs like “Massacre” and “Chariots of Fire”, heavy songs like “Call from the Grave” and “Enter the Eternal Fire”, and songs with tempo changes like “Woman of Dark Desires” and “Equimanthorn”. Not just every style of song was perfected, but the composition of the album was also structured to create an album larger than its individual parts. Bathory was the first black metal band to fully realize how far you can take the concept of storytelling through music. As the album challenged the listener’s expectations, that mysterious formula was repeated countless times by subsequent black metal bands that wanted the same power.

Black vinyl LP

Black Mark