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Rating: It is quite unlikely that metal enthusiasts have never heard of Thomas Forsberg; and if we add the name Quorthon, the concept of "never heard" becomes impossible to conceive.
Multi-instrumentalist, author, and composer, Quorthon gave body and soul to Bathory, his most famous musical project, now one of the most important acts in Scandinavian music. He was among the pioneers of extreme metal and the founding father of a genre based on the fusion of epic and black metal: viking. With Bathory, Quorthon was able to demonstrate to the world his multifaceted artistic skills: from possessed poet to raging viking, to becoming a pagan ascetic during the period when he composed his deepest works, before his lamented passing, which etched him into history as a modern and memorable bard of Scandinavian tradition.
Let's now analyze the most discussed work of the Swedish musician, the ambiguous Destroyer of Worlds from which emerged some of the most boisterous, sarcastic, grotesque (and sometimes even ecstatic) thoughts ever conceived by critics and fans, after the release of an album with the Bathory logo on the cover.
Released in 2001, Destroyer of Worlds was born after a troubled production process during which Quorthon was pressured by the record executives of Black Mark who kept asking about the progress of the composition, thus preventing the musician from gaining the peace of mind that would have allowed him to compose more clearly. As if that weren't enough, Quorthon also faced pressure from fans who couldn’t accept the stylistic choices of the new Bathory project. In a press release, the musician stated that for Destroyer of Worlds, he was preparing pieces more prog-oriented, aiming to revolutionize his musical proposal. But the idea was rejected by the audience, which collectively clamored for a return to the past glories of black and viking, so Quorthon was forced to shelve the project to prepare a series of pieces that alternatively included all facets of his music. This resulted in a disorganized and confusing album, with stylistic jumps so abrupt it seemed more like a compilation than a collection of unreleased tracks.
Sung and played by Quorthon alone (Bathory had not been a band for several years), Destroyer of Worlds recycles material from the anonymous Requiem and Octagon (the most thrash albums of the Scandinavian one-man-band), but also proposes some pieces inspired by the viking period, resulting in alternating emotions: moments of musical brilliance and refined Nordic lyricism alternate with poor episodes of metallic inelasticity with ineffective fervor, combining the whole with some isolated episodes of curious sound experimentation. The record is thus capable of simultaneously showing the best/worst Thomas Forsberg you can imagine.
Leaving aside the useless tracks (among which the decent and "flashy" heavy/thrash of Death from Above stands out), the album hides a series of truly remarkable songs. This is the case with the opener Lake of Fire or the poignant Ode (both reminiscent of the immortal Twilight of the Gods), the latter being something inconceivable from an emotional perspective, with Quorthon choosing clean singing with a grand and desperate tone that explodes in a climactic final, where the acoustic guitar (constantly alongside the electric riffs), weaves a harmony that seems to reproduce the sound of a mournful music box. Excellent alsoPestilence, built on powerful doom-colored verses, enriched by sublime epic breaks and a gentle acoustic outro. The title track, on the other hand, is a piece that brings a certain freshness to Quorthon's music: it opens with massive riffs and thundering drumming, then a bridge with oriental melody, and a refrain that explodes in all its epic rawness. The same goes for the powerful thrash of White Bones, a track inflamed by dirty vocals, then softened in a prog-tinged choral outro. It all closes with the suite Day of Wrath, a viking track that seems to evoke the Nordic darkness of Blood Fire Death.
Destroyer of Worlds offers at least forty minutes of excellent material on which to reflect. But the bad tracks are there, and they certainly cannot be ignored. A record of unprecedented strangeness, capable of alternating mighty masterpieces with incredible ugliness. After this daring step, in October 2001, Quorthon presented between 2002/2003 the Nordland saga, his invaluable musical testament, before a myocardial infarction forever ended his extraordinary existence.
Federico “Dragonstar” Passarella.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Destroyer of Worlds (04:51)
A flash like the birth of a sun
A pillar of virgin fire
Now glowing a ruby cloud
The finger of death reaching higher
Radiant dust a chimney rise
Desert floor dissolved wide ablaze
Golden plum against the midnight sky
Burning eyes in death clouds ashgrey face
I have harnessed the stars
Now unleashed upon the earth
I am become death
The Destroyer Of Worlds
Encased in lead and steel
The end and infinity
The eight moon the sixth day the year death
The heatwave to grasp and consume your last breath
Brought high on R marked silver wing
Afar in cold thin morning air
Below as the day begins
The burning eyes in deaths face greedily stares
I have harnessed the stars
Now unleashed upon the earth
I am become death
The Destroyer Of Worlds
03 Ode (06:27)
When I'm gone and my time had come to shut these eyes of mine
No stones must be erected I will leave but ash behind
Tell no tales about me when you gather around your fire
I'll be one with mother earth not dining in no hall up high
I have no master I swear no oath
The gods may pass me by
I steer the horse I choose to mount
When the storm draws near and the blood rain from the sky
One life hardly a notch made in the bark of tree of time
One death hardly a drop of blood on the reapers shiny scythe
I take not a thing with me where I will go on the day I die
When my star has ceased to shine, but in a shallow hole I'll lie I'll lie
Nobody died for my sins
No faith tied to my name
The path I choose to walk is mine
When the clouds turn red and the horizon as in flames
My blood my heart my soul my hands my feet
My hair and eyes my head my lips and teeth
My arms my legs my cock my choice and life
My loungs my mind till the day I die
04 Bleeding (03:55)
Blood Blood Blood
Voltures soaring high above me waiting to descend
To sink their claws into my fucking flesh and to rip myself apart
Leeches slimy creatures drain me bone dry and leave me to die
On my knees and sliced to pieces badly beaten cut and bleeding
It's not for you that I'm bleeding
It's not for you that I'm bleeding
It's not for you that I'm bleeding
It's not for you it's not for you that I bleed
Swollen the vein your pleasure my pain
The blade to the skin and the sapping begins
So powerful red and soon I'll be dead
The smell makes you high and blood is life
Bleedin' Bleedin' Bleedin' Bleedin'
Break my fucking bones and squeeze my head you want me dead
Crush my fingers tear my flesh leave me laying waiting for death
Parasiting vermin biting ugly features faceless creatures
Rob me of my very soul and try to push me down your hole
It's not for you that I'm bleeding
It's not for you that I'm bleeding
It's not for you that I'm bleeding
It's not for you it's not for you that I bleed
Swollen the vein your pleasure my pain
The blade to the skin and the sapping begins
So powerful red and soon I'll be dead
The smell makes you high and blood is life
Bleedin' Bleedin' Bleedin' Bleedin'
Blood
05 Pestilence (06:50)
Death once walked this relic land
He came while all would sleep
Death held up his bony hand
And with it death did sweep
Across all land and water
With one gesture he did take
The lives of all man woman child
And deafening silence followed in his wake
Like stub before a shiny blade
All man fell by his scythe
Once the fever got you in its grasp
There is but one more day left of your life
Black Death
Pestilence
Black Death
Pestilence
The Lord has all forsaken
All must cleanse themsleves from sin
Then rid oneself from lust
And take the holy spirit in
To redeem your pity selves
You all must flog your filth away
With nightfall cometh the shadows
Gather all the children of the Lord and pray
The shadow heavy upon this land
And still the stale air sway
In great numbers all around
The fallen lie as they fell to rot away
Black Death
Pestilence
Black Death
Pestilence
06 109 (03:36)
Augsburg eagle 109
Mottled battle dress
Lifting-off climbing up high
Der scwarm lined up abreast
Cutting through the ice cold air
On wings burdened with fuel and led
I'll fly and fight my rest will come
At wars end or when I am dead
The word Frei Jagd is given
Arm your guns and set the trim
Watch out for the escort
Now let the hunt begin
Where eagles fly eternal sky
The battlefield up high
Twist and strike my mount of knights
My faithful Augsburg eagle 109
White contrails across the sky
Target sighted 2'o clock high
Steadily on giant wings in a box formation
Now the killing begins
I comence a run-in from astern
Six barrel's of mind sound
Trailing smoke the bomber tuble
Spinning nose down first towards the ground
Out of ammunition
Low on fuel I break away
To whell down refuel and rearm
To intercept their second wave
Hanging by your prop I climb
Again in the sky
Way above those blooded fields
My faithful Augsburg eagle 109
08 Krom (02:50)
Waxed up, shining fat and clean
Double big shot pipes from hell
Air cleaner cover gleam
A vibe you can not buy or sell
The sparks ignite the oxygen and fuel blend
Gentle right-hand turn
Listen to the sound of thunder
Al 666 cubic inches burn
Fringes leather pistons throbbing
Mightt thunder now unleashed
The pipes begin to glow still I'm too slow
I thottle-up my beaast
I'm freeway mad I'm speedfreak glad
I smile against the wind I fly
A shooting star the road is far
I ride to live and I live to ride
10 Kill Kill Kill (03:09)
Industrialised abortions
The organs lined up on the shelves
Coloured pills guaranteed to keep you at peace
With your pitful fucking selves
So full of nothing behind the closed doors
Of your very own misery
You're getting your share of weird fucking pleasure
Watching humiliation TV
You're all fucking nothing but bricks on a board
Pawns in a game moved and owned by faceless high lords
Useful a cog in the moneymachine
Disposable sellable obedient slaves to extort industry
That's why you Kill
Why you want to Kill
Why you should Kill
And so you Kill
Beauty pagants for the five year old
Pay-per-view Christ for your souls
The lottery of mammon will provide for you
When you are back broken useless and old
But once you are dead and they'll showed
You into the forgiving flames
They'll refer to you only by a social security number
And not your name
Life is no welfare circus you're all born to work and to give
Do not even dare to believe in an alternative way which to live
So shut up and swallow the pain that keeps eating you up from inside
And continue to timely pay your fucking taxes until you all fucking dies
That's why you Kill
Why you want to Kill
Why you should Kill
And so you Kill
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