CALL FROM THE GRAVE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!

Oh, wait. Woops. This is actually a New Renaissance Records press release circa 1987 and this is how news (and gossip and general shit-talking) was shared amongst metalheads before the days of "social networking". This is also fucking fantastic! I want to see the photos this Italian photographer snapped on the rooftop before the cops came. Today we celebrate the birth of one of Black Metal's founding fathers, Tomas Börje Forsberg (aka, Quorthon), who was born in Stockholm, Sweden on February 17, 1966 and departed Midgaard for the Eternal Fire on June 4, 2004 at the age of 38 due to heart failure. Needless to say, Quorthon/Bathory (the two entities are virtually indistinguishable as music was his life's work) singlehandedly guided the trajectory of heavy metal over the course of two decades, first pioneering the sound and aesthetics of Norsk Black Metal with his extreme necro-satanic stance and later pioneering what has come to be called Viking Metal with earnest (and occasionally painful) hymns to his ancestry and native land. It is difficult to overestimate the influence this visionary artist has had on generations of reverent musicians, visual artists and rabid fans. Heed the call from the grave! Happy Birthday, Quorthon!