For some people BATHORY means much more than just a musical band. BATHORY and specific Quorthon manage to do the unbelievable. He started by creating a whole sonic cosmos of darkness and evil with the three first albums building a kern of lunatic fans around him and the change of style that appeared next gathered not only the previous one but many, many more and all these without loosing none previous follower, at least those who where seriously into his music. This by creating something complete new, playing a perfect amalgam of epic, really Heavy Metal music and creating once again a new sub - genre. And without a live appearances promotion. This and only this reveals the majestic aura that BATHORY explodes making them complete unique.
Now, why this entire introduction? These Swedish masters are some of the very few bands that happens to sound so close to Quorthon's band but also total persuading not only by their fantastic sounds but 'cause of the whole vibe and feel that their music reflects. Few, very few have catch this epic muse that enlightened them with real inspiration. ZEMIAL with In Monumentum or the Russian SCALD are coming to my mind right now. Who are these EREB ALTOR? Two individuals, with one of them being Daniel Bryntse from ISOLE. Basically it was more than obvious, even in his main band the major impact that Quorthon's thrilling vocal melodies had upon his throat. These are more than obvious here, together with tracks or ideas close to ISOLE, check the Dark Nymph. The music here is so close to albums like Twilight Of The Gods, the two Nordland and a little to Blood On Ice and Hammerheart that on the one probably some will make a wry face but on the other you can not ignore the passion inside By Honour and please remember that you cannot find easily passion in modern time releases.
Everything looks to me perfect here. So strong is the dynamics of By Honour, so powerful the emotions offered that after its listening I'm remaining speechless for a few minutes. I don't have anything else to say. I'm dying to see them live, there is an announcement in the Up The Hammers Festival and I hope I will hear something new from them soon, a little difficult maybe since they have created this band in the beginning of 90ies and now they release the debut, (they had also recorded a demo that you can download for free via their site). Hails to the band for what they created and also hails to the label that they discovered them and gave us the opportunity of hearing this jewel. BATHORY forever.