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 27 May 1985, through Black Mark in Sweden and Combat Records in the US. The Return…… had a significant influence on developing the black metal and death metal genres.^[1]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	5/10[3]

The Return……
Studio album by Bathory
Released	27 May 1985
Recorded	February 1985
Studio	Electra Studios, Stockholm, Sweden
Genre	Black metal
Length	36:41
Label	Black Mark
Producer	Quorthon, Boss
Bathory chronology
Bathory (1984) The Return…… (1985) Under the Sign of the Black Mark (1987)

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

Side 'Darkness'

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

All tracks are written by Quorthon

Side 'Evil'

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, production, cover design, back cover photography
• Andreas Johansson – bass, back cover photography
• Stefan Larsson – drums, back cover photography

Production

• Boss (Börje Forsberg) – production, recording, mixing
• Gunnar Silins – front cover photography

References

1. Ekeroth, Daniel (29 July 2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points Books. p. 33. ISBN 978-0979616310. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
2. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Bathory - The Return of the Darkness and Evil review". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
3. 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.
4. Quorthon. "The Return of the Darkness and Evil". Bathory Official Website. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
5. "Interview: Darkthrone (Fenriz)". Isolation Grind.com. 5 September 2013. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
6. Zebub, Bill. "Darkthrone". The Grimoire.com. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
7. Cook, Toby (19 March 2013). "Underground Attitude: Fenriz of Darkthrone Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved 17 February 2017.

External links

• The Return…… at Discogs (list of releases)