•
Rating: I am about to fill one of the gaps in the Bathory album reviews on DeBaser: that of the album "Requiem." The seventh for the Swedish group. Although in this case, we could talk about a one-man band since the loyal companions hired by the brilliant Quorthon to play the bass and drums are shrouded in mystery and credited with names of demons from Norse mythology. The legitimate doubt that all the music played and composed on this record might have been created solely by Quorthon and his drum machine is reasonable.
But let's go back three years before the album in question, when the anthem-song "Hammerheart" gloriously closed an epochal record like "Twilight of the Gods" (with a majestic cover included!). The years pass, and Mr. Forsberg surprises everyone by releasing "Requiem," an album that had nothing to do with the two predecessors and which disappointed a multitude of metal fans who still today rank this and the subsequent "Octragon" among the worst albums of the Swedish band. Had I personally experienced this stylistic upheaval, I too would surely have been shocked, but since at the time I was only a couple of years old, in hindsight, and with the conviction that it could have gone worse (who said Morbid Angel version 2011?), I feel inclined to not fail this record.
I mentioned an upheaval: in fact, "Requiem" sounds to most like a return to the origins, to that ferocious black/thrash of the first three albums. But those records had internal vibrations - Quorthon knew well - that could not be recreated. We immediately notice that the drums (drum machine?) have a very dry and clear sound, at first, it seems "detached" from the other instruments, anchored to thrash tempos but tedious when it persists relentlessly on the bursts of double pedal. Clinging to the drums, there is an edgy bass, which I personally like a lot, which only worries about keeping up with the guitars. This last element is a continuity with the remote past of Our Own, recorded a bit worse than the drums, as well as Quorthon's raspy voice that recalls the early Kreator. "Requiem" is in every way a thrash album with hints of black, especially in some harsh screams, suffering from poor rhythmic inventiveness (the song "Sacrifice" above all) and riffs that are not exactly unforgettable, on the contrary, will lead the most experienced in the field into the tunnel of déjà-vu.
Let me explain better. Over rhythmic patterns as monotonous as possible, Darkthrone wrote at least two masterpieces, but in those cases, there were very valid guitar lines. The mid-nineties Bathory (after numerous masterpieces) float without praise and without blame, but saving themselves from disgrace. This is an album to have only if you own all its predecessors and particularly love the old school 80s and, of course, the character Quorthon.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Requiem (05:00)
Watch me, I bleed now no more
My wounds one thousand and crisp
as life itself it drips away
a smile upon my lips
Cutting, slicing, carving
the blade slides deep in me
running warm blood
leaving my corps to be
Convulsions shatters my carved limbs
I now begin to feel the chill
the smile remains upon my lips
because likewise I die I kill
Crimson vision, inspiration
now it is time to ink my pen
and to summon my last strenght
to write my requiem
Covered in my own blood
words and music comes to me
now more dead than living
I compose in harmony
My blood forms notes on paper
splattered up and down the lines
creative even in death
I still smile as I die
02 Crosstitution (03:16)
The crucifix in flames
The house of God burned down to the ground
A symbolic action of defiance
Brought palace of lies down
Refusal to acknowledge the authority
Of faith of liars
Has cleansed this world somewhat
By purifying lovely fire
Crosstitution
Crosstitution
Crosstitution
Holy writtings, hokus pokus
Magic incense, blood and tears
Impeccable the ways of Heaven
To inflict terror and fear
All are born of woman
And the female is of sin
So we are all drenched soaky wet in sin
When our life begins
And for the rest of our days
To reach his kingdom full of bliss
We seek forgiveness
For something we didn't do
To someone who does not and never has
And never will exist
Crosstitution
Crosstitution
Crosstitution
Cross of lies, no one up high
Gayhood of priests and spartan fiests
Pathetic faith, your wine and bread
All will be well once we're all dead
He might have died for
Somebody's sins but sure not mine
If all you want is to him follow
And die too then I say fine
But don't you baptise one more
Generation in some fuckin' shame
Supported by that damned religion
Of yours I now watch in flames
Crosstitution
Crosstitution
Crosstitution
I will always defy your damn faith
As I've lived I'll die free
You'll never have me crosstitute myself
Or on my fuckin' knees
03 Necroticus (03:19)
Trembling soft skin wrapping
shuddering warm flesh
blood pulsating through the veins
Tool insertion
science not perversion
the end result justifies the pain
Twisted human flesh
lovely smell of death
the sight of naked skin
the treasures deep within
The colour of the blood
every curve and cavity
morbid fuckin' lust
smell of death is what I need
Don't you mind the never ending
fucking killing aich
just you think of what a damned
good looking corpse you'll make
Substances injected
glands and blood infected
gasolin and peroxide
Sharp cold steel cuts through the skin
revealed is the within
the chest is open wide
Twisted human flesh
lovely smell of death
the sight of naked skin
the treasures deep within
The colour of the blood
every curve and cavity
morbid fuckin' lust
smell of death is what I need
Sliced down into the finest
see-through shiny meat red leafs
you have proven how damn beautyfull
a corps can be
Clitoris, liver and brain
desict, sliver and maim
pincer and razorblade
Samples, jars, neat labels
plastic bags and containers
photographs of every slain
Twisted human flesh
lovely smell of death
the sight of naked skin
the treasures deep within
The colour of the blood
every curve and cavity
morbid fuckin' lust
smell of death is what I need
To wash the blood off
of my damned hands
to get them realy clean
I'd need to fuckin' wash them endlessly
06 Pax Vobiscum (04:13)
Holy Jesus, fuckin' Christ
Forgive my fuckin' head
It's full of doubts and questions
Did you really raise the dead?
Are you really so pathetic
That you can't be critisised?
Is it so hard to accept
That I may wonder why?
Out of nothing, born by no one
Wonders you create
Almighty fuckin' God
You super bluff, you mega-fake
They say you've said for you only
We all shall live and die
Tell me who needs Stalin
With a fascist in the sky?
Conquering the western hemisphere
With threats and lies
Spreading its holy terror
As another culture dies
It baptised and it burned and tortured
Its way through my land
And wielded above all
The crucifix by God's command
Pax Vobiscum
Pax Vobiscum
Pax Vobiscum
Pax Vobiscum
Imposing on the tribes of Europe
One faith built on lies and dreams
One religion so false
Always loose at every seam
Through wars and emigration
Soon a world faith took its form
As world saviour and almighty
The cross all world adorned
Computerised confessions
TV-preachers and very soon
The Christian man stood firm
And in '69 prayed on the moon
07 Suffocate (03:36)
Kill me!
I am but a fuckin' livin' dead
Help me!
I am goin' outta this damn head
Crazy!
I can't stand the agony and aich
A helpless fuckin' vegetable
I feel I suffocate
Suffocate
Suffocate
Suffocate
Suffocate
By and by I tighten the loop
laid around my neck
stretching that damn rope some more
like some damn fuckin' pet
I am like a book
that never will be read
this damn body's outside live
but inside I am dead
Karma!
I don't give a fuck for what will be
I shit upon what will come
when the lights gone out for me
Suffocate
Suffocate
Suffocate
Suffocate
I chew my fuckin' limbs
frustration fills all cavitys
living brings me closer
to hardcore insanity
Just one fuckin' step
all'll be fuckin' over and done
I've been taking this one step
since my damn life fuckin' begun
Seeing this whole fuckin' life
like some damn fuckin' trap
I'll be laughin' 'till I hear
that final fuckin' snap
09 Apocalypse (03:49)
Now that the virgin bitch
breastfeads death
and the winds smell strong
of the dragons breath
And all the stars fall down
like fuckin' rain of fire
there will be souls for sale
but only one damned buyer
Hey, is this the planet of apes?
Endless chewing on sour grapes
Or the age of eclipse?
The coming of the Apocalypse?
Drugs and pills
there's no oil in Vucovar
when a one night stand kill's
no matter who you are
When the Earth cries loud
but not a damn thing is heard
and a pussy is an asset
in this fuckin' world
When the blood runs down
mother Nature's thighs
and the TV-preacher is caught
while jerking off before Christ
And an audience pay's
just to fuckin' gloat
how the bitch is cut wide open
from her cunt to her throat
Hey, is this the planet of apes?
Endless chewing on sour grapes
Or the age of eclipse?
The coming of the Apocalypse?
Hey, is this the planet of apes?
Endless chewing on sour grapes
Or the age of eclipse?
The coming of the Apocalypse?
Loading comments slowly
