Bathory was a Swedish black metal/viking metal/thrash metal band formed in Vällingby in 1983 and named after the infamous Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory. The band's frontman and main songwriter was Quorthon (Tomas Forsberg). Bathory's first four albums were "the blueprint for Scandinavian black metal". The band departed from this style on their fifth album, Hammerheart (1990), which is often cited as the first Viking metal album. Bathory continued in the Viking metal style throughout the 1990s and early 2000s