...the new songs are so fast and violent, I guess we have to record the next one in Hell itself... I have about 8-9 new tracks, "Total Destruction" is the fastest so far and sounds like "Fight Fire With Fire" only five times faster, then I have a track called "The Rite of Darkness" and that is the slowest one, in the same speed as ... say ... "To Hell and Back" (VENOM). The other tracks go in the middle between total hell-paced and say "War". I don't have the lyrics to all of them, but the tunes are all finished.
Quorthon / Bathory interview, Brain Damage #2, 1985
The second BATHORY album, The Return... of the Darkness and Evil, was released on this day in 1985 through Black Mark.
The new album "The Return..." contains eleven tracks : "Total Destruction", "Reap of Evil", "The Rite of Darkness", "Possessed", "Bestial Lust (bitch)", "The Winds of Mayhem", "The Return of the Darkness and Evil", "Son of the Damned", "Sadist (Tormentor)", "Born for Burning" and a BATHORY sound track that I haven't titled yet.
Quorthon / Bathory interview, Blackthorn #2, 1985
It is really fast and the sound is better than the last album, then it took 68 hours to record the album this time took a week, so I guess it will get A MUCH BETTER respons than the first album...
To me, our first album had been all and all out Death Oi-punk, but with dark lyrics. This time we wanted more than just picking up from the Motörhead and GBH backyard. I think we succeeded in our effort to show some evolution from the debut six months earlier. THE RETURN OF THE DARKNESS AND EVIL would proove to have a very different atmosphere and beat than for instance the stuff that Kreator, Destruction or Possessed produced at the same time.
Quorthon / Bathory interview, Bathory.nu
We wanted people to just read out "The return..." - as in a second album or a follow-up - and then flip the album over to look for a tracking list. Not finding one, what they got was this apocalyptic poem with the song titles woven into it. Only after listening through the album to the end would you get the full title of the album; THE RETURN OF THE DARKNESS AND EVIL.
Quorthon / Bathory interview, Bathory.nu
When the sacred oath is broken
and the lie is spoken out loud
when the angel is POSSESSED
and the virgin is stolen her pride
When the flame of love and pureness
have turned to BESTIAL LUST
when the walls of gold in heaven
close in and turn to dust
When THE WIND OF MAYHEM whispers
through the vale of tears and death
when the golden river is empty
and the SADIST tear the angels flesh
When the SON OF THE DAMNED strides the earth
and THE RITE OF DARKNESS is done
when the REVELATION OF DOOM comes closer
and the battle just begun
When the beauty is BORN FOR BURNING
and the TOTAL DESTRUCTION draws near
when the disciples under the sign of the black mark gathers
and the REAP OF EVIL is here
Then the clouds of death shall gather
then the night shall always burn
then the ancient prediction comes true
and the bells of fate chaime
THE RETURN......