Bathory - Requiem (1994)

Having mastered epic, heavily layered metal with Twilight of the Gods, Quorthon scaled down his vision for Requiem, an album of evil, raw, ripping blackened thrash. It's not groundbreaking, but -- and maybe it's because I was high on a cocktail of alcohol, pills, and weed the first time I heard it -- the riffs and solos have this hypnotic, spectral quality to them, even as they're playing what ostensively is moshy thrash. Plus, at this point bro had already played a crucial role in the formation of both black and viking metal, so he had earned an album of pure rage.

Track listing:
1. Requiem
2. Crosstitution
3. Necroticus
4. War Machine
5. Blood and Soil
6. Pax Vobiscum
7. Suffocate
8. Distinguish to Kill
9. Apocalypse

The house of God burned down to the ground