Under the Sign of the Black Mark by Bathory
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.
Unleashed upon a very discriminating audience in 1987, Bathory’s third album became one of the primary building blocks for the Scandinavian black metal movement of the early ‘90s. Essentially the solo project of then 21-year-old Swedish musician Tomas “Quorthon” Forsberg, the record has an uncompromising attitude, cavernous atmosphere and demonic vocal style that made Bathory one of the most extreme bands in the land. Along with the early works of Celtic Frost and Venom, it inspired the legion of corpse-painted firebrands that followed.
