The Return……
The Return…… (full title The Return of the Darkness and Evil) is the second studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Bathory. It was released on vinyl on 27 May 1985, through Combat Records in the US. The Return…… had a significant influence on developing the black metal and death metal genres.[1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 5/10[3] |
| The Return…… | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 27 May 1985 | |||
| Recorded | February 1985 | |||
| Studio | Electra Studios in Stockholm, Sweden | |||
| Genre | Black metal | |||
| Length | 36:41 | |||
| Label | Black Mark/Tyfon (Sweden) Combat (US) | |||
| Producer | Quorthon, The Boss | |||
| Bathory chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
Quorthon explained the album title as such: "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".[4]
Reception
In various interviews, Fenriz of Darkthrone praised the album and defined it as "the essence of black metal".[5][6][7]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Quorthon.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Revelation of Doom" | 3:27 |
| 2. | "Total Destruction" | 3:50 |
| 3. | "Born for Burning" | 5:13 |
| 4. | "The Wind of Mayhem" | 3:13 |
| 5. | "Bestial Lust (Bitch)" | 2:41 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Possessed" | 2:42 |
| 7. | "The Rite of Darkness" | 2:05 |
| 8. | "Reap of Evil" | 3:28 |
| 9. | "Son of the Damned" | 2:48 |
| 10. | "Sadist (Tormentor)" | 3:00 |
| 11. | "The Return of the Darkness and Evil" | 3:49 |
| 12. | "Outro" | 0:25 |
| Total length: | 36:41 | |
The 2003 remastered edition combines tracks 1 and 2, and tracks 7 and 8, as well as adds the final Outro track.
Personnel
- Bathory
- Quorthon (Thomas Börje Forsberg) – guitars, vocals, additional bass guitar, production, recording, mixing, album cover design, album back and front cover photography,
- Andreas Johansson – bass guitar, album back and front cover photography
- Stefan Larsson – drums, album back and front cover photography
- Production
- The Boss (Börje Forsberg) – engineering, production
- Gunnar Silins – album back and front cover photography
References
- Ekeroth, Daniel (29 July 2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points Books. p. 33. ISBN 978-0979616310. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
- Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Bathory - The Return of the Darkness and Evil review". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
- Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 38. ISBN 978-1894959315.
- Quorthon. "The Return of the Darkness and Evil". Bathory Official Website. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- "Interview: Darkthrone (Fenriz)". Isolation Grind.com. 5 September 2013. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
- Zebub, Bill. "Darkthrone". The Grimoire.com. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
- Cook, Toby (19 March 2013). "Underground Attitude: Fenriz Of Darkthrone Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
