Essentially a one-man operation, Sweden's Bathory cast a disproportionately long shadow of influence. Thomas “Quorthon” Forsberg founded the band in '84; soon enough, he could plausibly lay claim on foundational roles in the development of both black metal and Viking metal. His first three albums weren't the first on the black metal scene—Venom, among others, has an earlier claim—but they helped set the template for the nascent genre. In later years, Bathory began to incorporate symphonic grandeur on his archetypal fifth album, Hammerheart, which single-handedly launched Viking rock.