Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark (1987) Repress [2014]

 

Under the Sign of the Black Mark is the third studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Bathory. It was recorded in September 1986 and released on 11 May 1987 through New Renaissance Records and Under One Flag. It was a key album in the development of the black metal genre, and greatly influenced the Norwegian black metal scene that emerged in the early 1990s.

The photograph on the cover was by Gunnar Silins, from a photograph in the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. The model used was Leif Ehrnborg, a then-top class Swedish bodybuilder.

The song "Woman of Dark Desires" is a tribute to the band's namesake, Elizabeth Báthory. "Enter the Eternal Fire" was the band's first epic, reaching nearly seven minutes in length, with lyrics referring to a deal with the Devil. The song "Equimanthorn" makes references to Hell as well as to Norse mythology, including Odin's "eight-legged black stallion" Sleipnir.

Fenriz of Darkthrone called the album "the quintessential black metal album". He also cited it as a musical inspiration for the 1995 Darkthrone album Panzerfaust, besides Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales and Vader's Necrolust demo.

The song "Call from the Grave" was featured in 2009 game Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned.

-Tracklist:

 Side A - Darkness:
A1. Nocternal Obeisance     01:28     
A2. Massacre     02:39     
A3. Woman of Dark Desires     04:06   
A4. Call from the Grave     04:53     
A5. Equimanthorn     03:42
     
Side B - Evil:
B1. Enter the Eternal Fire     06:57   
B2. Chariots of Fire     02:47     
B3. 13 Candles     05:17   
B4. Of Doom......     03:45

B5. Outro     00:25

 

 

-Line up:

• Quorthon (R.I.P. 2004): Vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, songwriting, lyrics
• Paul Lundburg: Drums.

 

 

Label: Black Mark Production.

 Recorded at Heavenshore Studio, Stockholm, Sweden in September 1986.
Mixed at Heavenshore Studio, Stockholm, Sweden.

180g vinyl and insert.

Track B5 not listed on album jacket or label.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In order to make The Beast more noticeable on the album cover, the center piece of the shot had to be enlarged to quite such an extent vast parts of the set had to be left out of the album cover.