Hammerheart

Last updated
Hammerheart
Hammerheart.jpg
Studio album by
Released23 April 1990 [1]
RecordedJune – August 1989
StudioHeavenshore Studio in Stockholm, Sweden
Genre Viking metal
Length55:46
Label Noise
Producer Boss Forsberg and Quorthon
Bathory chronology
Blood Fire Death
(1988)
Hammerheart
(1990)
Twilight of the Gods
(1991)

Hammerheart is the fifth studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Bathory. It continued the previous album Blood Fire Death 's transition away from black metal to what became recognized as Viking metal, and is considered a cornerstone work of the genre. [2] A music video was made for "One Rode to Asa Bay."

Contents

Background and composition

Quorthon dedicated the song "One Rode to Asa Bay", about the Christianization of Scandinavia, to C. Dean Andersson, who had earlier sent some of his books to Quorthon. The village's name in the song, Asa Bay, comes from the pseudonym Asa Drake which Andersson used in some of his books. [3]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Quorthon.

No.TitleLength
1."Shores in Flames"11:07
2."Valhalla"9:33
3."Baptised in Fire and Ice"7:57
4."Father to Son"6:28
5."Song to Hall Up High"2:30
6."Home of Once Brave"6:43
7."One Rode to Asa Bay"9:09
8."Outro"0:23

The 2003 remastered edition combines tracks 5 and 6.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 8/10 [4]

AllMusic called the album an "unqualified triumph for the pioneering Swedish act." [2]

Personnel

Bathory

The credited names "Kothaar" and "Vvornth" are pseudonyms used by various guest studio musicians, who played anonymously on several Bathory albums from 1988–1996.

Production

Cultural impact

HammerHeart Brewing Co. is a brewery located in Lino Lakes, Minnesota whose name and branding was influenced by the album. According to co-founder Nathaniel Chapman, “All of our beer names are inspired by Norwegian lore and we want to keep that attitude.” [5] The themes of the brewery and its beer are focused on Norse and Celtic mythology, and heavy metal music. [6]

References

  1. Music Week New Albums- 21 April issue
  2. 1 2 3 Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Hammerheart - Bathory : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  3. Frantz-E. Petiteau, Heroic Fantasy & Metal, Volume 1, Camion Blanc, 2014, pp. 447–452.
  4. Popoff, Martin (August 1, 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 42. ISBN   978-1-894959-62-9.
  5. Nick Backus, "By the hammer of Thor: New brewery lands in Lino", Quad Community Press, August 7th, 2012
  6. Zach McCormick, "Norwegian Nights: HammerHeart Brewing Company is an oasis of heavy beers and heavier metal in Lino Lakes" Archived 2021-12-19 at the Wayback Machine , The Growler, March 26th 2019