10 Great 80s Black Metal Songs Not About Satan

8. "Cirlce Of Tyrants" by Celtic Frost, 1985

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvPY5BH38B8 Switzerland€™s Celtic Frost saw its beginnings as Hellhammer, a band labeled at the time as €˜extreme metal€™ in €˜82. Both bands, led by Thomas Gabriel Warrior (!), are considered major influences to the development of black and death metal with Celtic Frost continuing in one form or another from €™84 to as recently as 2008. €œCircles Of Tyrants€ is among the better recorded entries on our list from a production standpoint and a ripper of a tune. This selection is from the band€™s 2nd album, To Mega Therion which incidentally, is the inspiration behind the name of Swedish symphonic metal band, Therion.

7. "Raise The Dead" by Bathory, 1984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYxT7zkwSSY Sources disagree as to whether Bathory was named after the notorious Countess or the Venom song. Bathory€™s debut album from €™84 stands as another classic influence. Out of Sweden and led by Quorthon (Thomas Forsberg) the band€™s satanic imagery was specifically chosen to provoke religious sorts. A couple of albums later however he is reported to have rejected Satanism as part of the flawed system of €˜religious hocus pocus€™, Christianity. €œRaise The Dead€ seems to be a tribute to the Venom song €œBuried Alive€ although Quorthon disputed that, saying that he hadn't heard of Venom until after the recording of €œBathory€. Quorthon died in unexpectedly in 2004 from heart failure.
 
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Ross Ingall is a 52 year old ordained Canadian baptist minister who has been listening to hard rock and metal quite literally since each was invented. A second career pastor who attended seminary in his 40's, the Rev hosts Too Metal For Church on Metal Nation Radio. Writing both under his own name as well as the psuedonym/nickname Reverend Rock, Ross has been writing music articles on the web since 1999.