Bathory was a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Vällingby in March 1983. Frontman and sole songwriter Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg was the sole constant member, and was at times responsible for all instruments.

Named after Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory, Bathory is considered a pioneer of black metal (alongside Venom, Hellhammer and Mercyful Fate) and Viking metal. The book Lords of Chaos described Bathory's first four albums as "the blueprint for Scandinavian black metal."

The band stopped performing live early on in its career and never toured. Bathory dissolved when Quorthon died from heart failure at the age of 38 in June 2004.

Bathory formed in Vällingby in March 1983. Quorthon, a 17-year-old guitarist (then known as "Ace Shoot", a name inspired by sex jokes, two Motörhead songs – "Ace of Spades" and "Sharpshooter" – and Ace Frehley of Kiss), was joined by bass guitarist Frederick Melander ("Hanoi") and drummer Jonas Åkerlund ("Vans McBurger"). Åkerlund has stated that he and Melander, his cousin, were the original members of Bathory and that Ace, as he was known at the time, joined later on, when they were looking for a new vocalist/guitarist.

Quorthon mentioned in a 1994 interview that other early band names, before using the Bathory name, included Satan, Death and Nosferatu. According to Quorthon, he settled on the name 'Bathory' after a visit to the London Dungeon, although Åkerlund says that it was also inspired and taken from the Venom song "Countess Bathory". The Venom song was based on the life of Elizabeth Báthory who is believed to be one of the most prolific female murderesses.

The other band members hired a new singer in the winter of 1983-1984, as the drummer at the time was unsatisfied with Quorthon's vocals. Quorthon compared the new singer's vocals to a mix between Ian Gillan and Ronnie James Dio. The singer was interviewed in 2001, where his nickname was revealed as The Animal.

Quorthon worked part-time at the small record label Tyfon Grammofon, which was owned by his father, Börje "Boss" Forsberg (1944-2017). In late 1983, the label was putting together a compilation of songs by Scandinavian metal bands. However, at the last minute, one of the bands backed out. Tyfon agreed to let Bathory appear on the record as a replacement. The album, called Scandinavian Metal Attack, was released in March 1984 and was Bathory's first appearance on record. Unexpectedly, the two Bathory tracks, "Sacrifice" and "The Return of Darkness and Evil", drew a great deal of fan mail. Bob Muldowney gave the band a positive review in a July 1984 issue of Kick Ass magazine, saying the bands tracks showed "a very heavy sound [and] killer vocals."

Soon afterward, Tyfon asked Quorthon to record a full-length album. His bandmates having moved away, Quorthon recruited Rickard Bergman from his former oi-punk band Stridskuk as bassist and Stefan Larsson from punk band Obsklass as drummer. On 22 May 1984, they had their first and only rehearsal together before recording the album. Two songs, "Witchcraft" and "Satan My Master", were recorded at the 22 May rehearsal and marked the first recording by the debut album line-up. The two tracks were later released on the Jubileum Volume III album. The debut album, Bathory, was recorded in June at Heavenshore Studio (a converted garage) in Stockholm and released in October that year. The band worked on recording an EP in early November, under the working titles Necronomicon and Maleficarum, though the release of the four-track album, which included "Children of the Beast", "Crown of Thorns one the Golden Throne", "Crucifix" and "Necronomicon", was cancelled because it didn't show enough progress from their earlier material, and the release date of December would have been difficult to meet.