One Rode to Asa Bay
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[edit] The Song
"One rode to Asa Bay" is a song by Bathory about the introduction of Christianity to Scandinavia and appears on the 1990 album Hammerheart. The lyrics begin "One man rode the way through the woods down to Asa bay" and continued to tell the story that "and the bold man carrying cross had told all one of Asa bay" to "And to thank Lord of Heaven" and "One should build to God a house." The operatic music continues and several minutes later the song concludes "Now this house of a foreign God does stand now must they leave us alone" and ends with "people of Asa land, it's only just begun."
Italian metal band Opera IX have made a cover version of this song as well as German metal band Mystic Circle.
[edit] Music Video
A music video was filmed in Norway to complement the story idea of the song. The video contains scenes of the band performing and a back story of settlers bringing a new religion to the land. The singer/guitar player for Bathory, Quorthon, paid $5,000 out of his own pocket to a man to film the music video. Quorthon explained, "I have never seen it and I didn’t get to see any of the 60 hours of film we had worked on for several weeks." He elaborated, "the guy who was responsible for the whole filming just went on holiday once the last shot was made and he was unheard from and impossible to reach." After several months later "he eventually did send us something," but it was 18 minutes of the 60 hours that were filmed. Meanwhile, it was assumed "the rest of the material is probably erased" and the final product was to remain the edited video that did not represent Quorthon's song idea. Ultimately, it became the first and last video Bathory would make. Even so, the video received play of MTV's Headbanger's Ball, which got Quorthon interviewed on MTV and introduced the band to American audiences. The video has only been available as a bootleg until 2006, when Black Mark Records released a tribute to Quorthon which contains a DVD with Quorthon footage and the video itself.
| Bathory |
| Line up |
|---|
| Quorthon |
| Former members:
Freddan | Jonas Åkerlund | Vvornth | Kothaar | The Animal |
| Discography |
| Studio albums:
Bathory | The Return | Under the Sign of the Black Mark | Blood Fire Death | Hammerheart | Twilight of the Gods | Requiem | Octagon | Blood On Ice | Destroyer of Worlds | Nordland I | Nordland II |
| Compilations:
Jubileum Volume I | Jubileum Volume II | Jubileum Volume III | Katalog | In Memory of Quorthon |
| Bootlegs: The True Black Essence |
| Music videos: One Rode to Asa Bay |
