Formed in March 1983 by Quorthon, the ex-guitarist of a punk band, with fellow members Hanoi, bass, and Vans, drums, Bathory started for fun and underwent several name changes (Nosferatu, Natas) before finally settling on Bathory. Quorthon knew the head of a record company, Black Mark, whom he persuaded to record 2 tracks for a Scandinavian Metal Compilation LP. At this point he also started to call himself Quorthon, found from a list of Demons names.
Destroyer of Worlds is the tenth studio album in a row for Bathory, and this is an album that many have been anxiously awaiting for quite some time now. I am sad to say that many will be disappointed from the album. I could say that the new studio album is mostly uninspired and boring.
The brutal thrash metal with the clean vocals is bastard-ized with influences from many other genres and styles, and the result is not the one expected. The album features 13 songs and lasts more than 60 minutes. The first three tracks continue the guaranteed Viking saga of which Bathory is known for on HammerHeart and Twilight of The Gods. The rest is just boring.
What's more, the production seems stuck in the 80s and the sound is not as good as we hoped it would be. But at least it is better than the two amazingly crappy thrash albums Octagon and Requiem. After Twilight Of The Gods, the godfather of the death/black metal, I was expecting more tunes of the same kind, but the rest of the stuff totally surprised me, more or less unpleasantly.
Personally, I wanted to hear more tracks based on the epic Viking approach, with great chorus behind, and I am sure many of you wanted to hear this too. But Mr. Quorthon has a different opinion about it. I also think that Bathory have already done greater albums by now, so you better stick to the older albums and forget their new one. I would only recommend this release to Bathory fans.