Quorthon

Thomas Börje Forsberg (17 February 1966 – 3 June 2004),^[4] better known by the stage name Quorthon, was a Swedish musician. He was one of the founders, as well as the sole songwriter, of the band Bathory, which pioneered the black metal genre and is credited with creating the Viking metal style.^[5] A multi-instrumentalist, Quorthon wrote the music and lyrics on all of Bathory's albums and performed vocals and guitars.

Quorthon formed Bathory in 1983 when he was 17 years old, after briefly playing in the Oi! band Stridskuk, which also featured drummer Johan "Jolle" Elvén and bass player Rickard "Ribban" Bergman, who later played on early Bathory demos and, in Bergman's case, albums.^[6][7] He recorded his early albums together with the help of his father Börje Forsberg (1944 - 2017) who was also the head of the Swedish record label Tyfon Grammofon that would go on to release most of Bathory's albums through the subsidiary Black Mark Production. The first album was recorded in the garage of schlager writer Peter Himmelstrand, dubbed Studio Heavenshore.^[5]

During the mid-to-late 1980s, live performances by Bathory were rare, and in 1988, Bathory quit doing live appearances entirely. Albums from this period contributed to the then-burgeoning black metal subgenre, and rare photographs of the band helped in part to define its image. Beginning in the 1990s, Quorthon took full control of Bathory, still choosing to avoid performing live in order to spend more time recording music with hired musicians, as well changing style from the black metal of the 1980s to a slower, heavier style which eventually became the founding of the Viking metal genre, due to its lyrics being focused on Norse mythology.^[7][8]

Quorthon also personally paid for the production of Bathory's only music video, for the song "One Rode to Asa Bay", taken from their fifth studio album, Hammerheart. The video was shown on MTV's Headbangers Ball, though Quorthon had not yet seen it at the time he was interviewed for the program.^[9]

In 1993 Quorthon set Bathory aside and recorded and released two albums under the name "Quorthon". The first, called Album, was released in 1994. The final two solo releases emerged in 1997, Purity of Essence and the EP When Our Day Is Through.^[10][11]

The albums released under the Quorthon moniker drew more influence from alternative rock than Bathory's black/Viking metal style. While working on these albums he found new inspiration to continue composing music for Bathory. Bathory's next albums were in a retro-thrash metal style, before he veered towards his Viking metal style once again, especially on the Nordland saga.

On 3 June 2004, Quorthon was found dead in his apartment in Stockholm. The cause of his death was a congenital heart defect. He was 38 years old.^[12]

The month following his death, several members of the Norwegian black metal scene gathered to perform Bathory songs in a set titled A Tribute to Quorthon at the Hole in the Sky festival in Bergen, Norway. The lineup included Abbath (Immortal), Apollyon (Aura Noir), Faust and Samoth (Emperor and Zyklon), Gaahl (Gorgoroth), Grutle Kjellson and Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved), Nocturno Culto (Darkthrone) and Satyr (Satyricon).^[13][14]

The black metal supergroup I featuring Abbath, Ice Dale of Enslaved, King ov Hell of Gorgoroth and former-Immortal drummer Armagedda dedicated the song "Far Beyond the Quiet" from their 2006 album Between Two Worlds to Quorthon.^[15]

Blood Fire Death – A Tribute to Quorthon and the music of Bathory is a music project dedicated to honouring the music of Quorthon and Bathory. The project started in 2024 for the 20th anniversary of Quorthon's death.^[8][16][17] The project has been appearing live since the start, having played at a variety of festivals, the largest being Beyond the Gates and Brutal Assault.^[8][16][18] They are also set to play at Tons of Rock in 2026.^[19]

In 2015, Alex Distefano of OC Weekly referred to him as "one of the most mysterious figures in extreme metal."^[20] In 2023, Andy O'Connor of Spin wrote: "Though other acts have gone on to more visible success, no one still looms quite as large in Swedish metal as Quorthon, the man behind Bathory. He was not only partially responsible for inventing black metal, he reinvented it a few times prior to black metal’s explosion in the early to mid-’90s."^[21]

• Bathory (1984)^[22]
• The Return...... (1985)
• Under the Sign of the Black Mark (1987)^[23]
• Blood Fire Death (1988)^[24]
• Hammerheart (1990)^[25]
• Twilight of the Gods (1991)
• Jubileum Volume I (1992)
• Jubileum Volume II (1993)
• Requiem (1994)
• Octagon (1995)
• Blood on Ice (1996)
• Jubileum Volume III (1998)
• Destroyer of Worlds (2001)
• Nordland I (2002)
• Nordland II (2003)

• Album (1994)
• When Our Day Is Through EP (1997)
• Purity of Essence (1997)

• Quorthon discography at Discogs
• Quorthon discography at MusicBrainz