How Countess Bathory Influenced Early Black Metal: Did Bathory Copy Venom?

It’s widely accepted within the metal genre that Venom’s Black Metal record (1982) and Bathory’s self-titled debut (1984) spawned a new metal subgenre, black metal, which would go on to include some of the fiercest and rawest music ever heard. However, have you ever noticed all of the similarities between the two records? Well, the mirrored album art/colour scheme, multiple identical song titles, and identical lyrics didn’t fool anyone back in 1984 either, with Bathory being called a “Venom clone” from the onset of their career.

An aspect that contributed heavily to the bands’ similarity was their inspiration taken from the murderous Countess Bathory, one of the first female serial killers. Both Venom frontman Cronos and Bathory frontman Quorthon (Thomas Forsberg) discovered Elizabeth Bathory’s tale early in their lives, learning about how she allegedly murdered 650 women and young girls, bathing in their blood to preserve her youth. Funnily enough, both Cronos and Quorthon’s fascination with the legend is central to why Bathory was called a “Venom clone,” accused of ripping off many aspects from Venom’s influential sophomore cut.

Let’s take a deep dive into the controversy, guided by the tale of the murderous Elizabeth Bathory, who is surprisingly central to the first band controversy in black metal history.

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