So we decided to do this 'epic' thing once more, a bit more in the soundtrack direction. That became "Twilight of the Gods".
Quorthon / Bathory interview, Slayer #10, 1994
The sixth BATHORY epic was released on this day in 1991!
After "Hammerheart" we felt like playing a bit more brtual again. So we recorded an album which sounds like "Reign in Blood" on 45 rpm. I think there were 8 or 10 tracks on it. So we have two BATHORY albums which were never released and the 2nd one was totally brutal. The reason why we didn't release the brutal album was that people would be to confused if we jumped around so much musically. So we decided to do this 'epic' thing once more, a bit more in the soundtrack direction. That became "Twilight of the Gods". So we knew this was going to be the last BATHORY LP unless we come up with any fresh, new ideas. Then we decided to take a long break. Pålle, who played drums in BATHORY back and forth since '86 had played in Stockholm's youth symphony orchestra since he was 15-16 years old. And he was really into this epic thing. He went to the music academy and received some sort of diploma. He moved to Arvik and is now playing in the Arvik symphony orchestra. So I haven't seen him since "Twilight of the Gods" was recorded. That's the way BATHORY has been since the start, I wrote about 25-50 tracks and then called up a bunch of people who should help with the recording of the album, but it always ended up with Pålle and me doing the recording anyway. I do bass, guitar and vocals and then he does the drums. Then he goes home to his place when everything is ready. So I am left, mixing, doing some solo's etc.
Quorthon / Bathory interview, Slayer #10, 1994
The song "Hammerheart" is a based on Gustav Holst's hymn tune, "Thaxted"; itself an adaptation of a section from the Jupiter movement of The Planets. Holst adapted his piece in 1921 as a musical setting for Sir Cecil Spring Rice's poem Urbs Dei or The Two Fatherlands. This combination has, since its publication in 1925, become known as the patriotic hymn "I Vow to Thee, My Country".
"I Vow To Thee My Country", Silver Jubilee Thanksgiving Service, St. Paul's Cathedral, 1935:
We have decided, that we should take an enormously long break... We already have since the "Twilight Of The Gods" album, but it's very difficult to come up with something new right now. If you've released an album like "Twilight", you can't go back and write some simple Speed Metal tracks, you know. So we really painted ourselves into a corner and we can't get out of that anymore... But I have a project, that I'm working on right now, that'll feature some music which won't fit under the BATHORY umbrella, so to speak. It'll be released under the name QUORTHON!
Quorthon / Bathory interview, Voices from the Darkside #3, 1994