Bathory was a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Vällingby in 1983 and named after the infamous Hungarian countess, Elizabeth Báthory. The band's frontman and main songwriter was Quorthon (Thomas Forsberg). Bathory's first four albums were "the blueprint for Scandinavian black metal". The band departed from this style on their fifth album, Hammerheart (1990), which is often cited as the first Viking metal album. Bathory continued in the Viking metal style throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, although the band returned to thrash metal with the albums Requiem (1994) and Octagon (1995).

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