 The roots of Viking metal proper are generally cited to be later in the Scandinavian metal scene , particularly the death and black metal scenes of the late 1980s . Inspired by the Viking themes used by Manowar , some bands identified with the Vikings with far more totality than Manowar . At the forefront of this movement stood the Swedish band Bathory . Its first album Bathory was released in 1984 and is " regarded by many as the first black metal record " . The band 's fourth album Blood Fire Death , released in 1988 , includes two early examples of Viking metal – the songs " A Fine Day to Die " and " Blood Fire Death " . Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic describes this as " possibly the first true example " of Viking metal . The cover to Blood Fire Death even features <unk> , a painting by Norwegian artist Peter Nicolai <unk> which depicts Norse god Odin on a Wild Hunt . Bathory followed up on this Viking theme in 1990 with the release of Hammerheart , a concept album fully devoted to Vikings . Like its predecessor , this album also features a Viking @-@ themed painting , this time The Funeral of a Viking by Sir Frank <unk> . Following up this release were 1991 's Twilight of the Gods , titled after Wagner 's opera of the same name , and Blood on Ice , recorded in 1988 – 1989 but released in 1996 . Rivadavia cites Hammerheart as a landmark album that " formally introduced " to the metal world the " archetypical Viking metal album " . Through this album , writes <unk> , Quorthon , the band 's founder , " became a standard @-@ bearer for an entire generation of disenfranchised Norse @-@ descended teens " , and the album 's " well @-@ thought @-@ out words and overall scope and vision engendered a deep @-@ seated anti @-@ Christian sentiment within the region 's extreme metal scene " that culminated in the violence and hate crimes committed by members of the Norwegian black metal community in the early 1990s . Quorthon later explained , in the liner notes to Blood on Ice , that his shift to Viking themes was an intentional move away from Satanism : 
