Credited as being one of the first Black Metal bands, Bathory was formed by Quorthon. Early albums include "Under The Sign of the Black Mark," "Requiem," "Hammerheart," and others. Bathory owns you. Early in 2004, Quorthon died from heart failure.

Along with Venom, Bathory are the highly respected pioneers of Black Metal. Bathory's name is the last name of the evil woman Elizabeth Bathory who lived sometime around the 1500s-1600s. some even go as far as calling her a vampire because of her vampiric crimes.

About Black Metal: Bathory's "Quorthon" took metal to a new level when he added high-pitched demon-like vocals screaming out lyrics focusing on evey aspect of evil to aggressive thrash. The genre then evolved into a more symphonic sound with lots and i mean LOTS of tremelo picking and blastbeats.

Quorthon, who died in 2004 from a heart related problem, also pioneered yet another great genre, Viking Metal, with albums like "Hammerheart" and "Twilight of the Gods" and the latest "Nordland" series. Viking Metal is characterized by mixing heavy metal, lots of choirs in the back chanting to the main riff of the song, and sometimes a bit of a folk influence straight out of the streets of Northern European countries such as Finland or Iceland. (Therefore you will probably hear alot of flutes and maybe even some bag-pipes!) But what mainly characterizes it are the lyrics about Norse Mythology and Asatru beliefs.

From "bátor", meaning "valiant".

A long-gone but once powerful family of Hungary. The height of the Báthory clan was in the 1500s and 1600s. Thought to be closely inbred, as most royalty and nobility in those days, brighter family members like King Stephan Báthory of Poland were eclipsed by more brutal members. Devil worshippers, perverts, sadists, witches, and mentally unstable characters.

Countess Klara Báthory, aunt of Elizabeth Báthory, was bisexual and sadistic towards her female servants. An uncle of Elizabeth was a schizophrenic Devil worshipper.

Countess Elizabeth (Erzébet) Báthory (1560-1614) was the worst of the Báthory clan. Raven-haired, pale-skinned, voluptuous, she was concidered a beauty... but she bore the personality of a pit bull.

Mentally ill, promiscuous, vain, narcissistic

One of the first black metal bands. A one man outfit with Quorthon who died at the age of 38 last year of a heart problem.

Erzebet Bathory was a 16th century Hungarian countess who killed between 20 and 600 peasant girls and virgins in her land and bathed in their blood to look more beautiful.

A long-gone but once powerful family in Hungary. The height of the Báthory clan was in the 1500s and 1600s. Thought to be closely inbred, as most royalty and nobility in those days, brighter family members like King Stephan Báthory of Poland were eclipsed by more brutal members. Devil worshippers, perverts, sadists, witches, and mentally unstable characters.

Countess Elizabeth (Erzébet) Báthory (1560-1614) was the worst of them. Mentally ill, promiscuous, vain, narcissistic and highly sadistic, Elizabeth was the inspirationn behind Count Dracula.

Elizabeth enjoyed torturing servants, especially if they were young women and attractive. As she grew older, she feared losing her youth and her so-called "beauty"... according to folklore a servant girl accidently pulled her hair while styling it and Elizabeth struck the girl across the face so hard that she drew blood, which got onto her hands. When she'd washed the blood off, in her twisted mind, she thought that her skin had regained its freshness and youthful suppleness where the blood had splashed. And the rest is history.

Scores of peasan...