Bathory’s Hammerheart turns 20 today. The band’s move from black to Viking metal yielded hit-or-miss material, but parts of Hammerheart indeed hammer hard. “One Rode to Asa Bay” garnered Bathory’s only music video. According to Wikipedia, it was somewhat of a botched job, and was the longest video ever played on MTV. I can’t imagine MTV being eager to play this nine minute-plus video, so I missed out on it at the time. But it’s still powerful and relevant. Its imagery and lyrics express a passionate resistance to the Christianization of Scandinavia. They could apply, unfortunately, to many other parts of the world.
