Are all Graveland albums viking metal or are some of them reminiscent of early Bathory?

It's all viking metal.

The early albums and The Celtic Winter are plain 'ole scandinavian black metal. Heavily influenced by Bathory; only because everyone is influenced by early Bathory.

They were more Bathory influenced than your standard black metal. Some of their riffs were straight-up first-wave melodies. Definitely a second wave band in overall sound but with huge first-wave influences, most of that being Bathory.

Yep, much like the first Immortal album.

Morrigan are great, Iuvenes is also a good Bathory influenced band. Towards Sources Of Honour And Pride was an obvious Hammerheart rip off but a good one.

And "A Blaze..."; but just replace Bathory with Celtic Frost.

And Panzerfaust. We'd be here all day if we started naming bands that are influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost.

There was one thing I forgot to mention and it's something that really bothered me. Even though I found Hammerheart to be his best album, the song 'Home of Once Brave' ends almost EXACTLY like the song 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' by Metallica. 'Home of Once Brave' was a really good song, but that part really bothered me. Is there reason for this, or is it just 'coincidence'?

This never occurred to me until now but now that you mention it, it really does but Bathory's song sounds much, much , much better. I always hated For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Did you like the thrash metal albums at all? And yeah it is a shame he died seeing as how the next Nordland album was in production. Nordland III's album artwork was used for the In Memory of Quorthon boxset though, if your interested. Sadly that is all that remains of the album seeing as how Quorthon hadn't recorded anything for it and I think he might've wrote some stuff down but, obviously we don't know about it..

Honestly, I didn't listen to the thrash metal albums. I'm not really into thrash, in fact I don't really enjoy the majority of thrash metal bands, so I just skipped those albums. After listening to the thrash metal tracks from 'Destroyer of Worlds', I'm kinda glad that I skipped those albums. I hate to admit that since it's such a cliche to hate the Bathory thrash metal albums, but I'm just not interested.

I prefer Blood, Fire, Death to all other Bathroy albums. Although it sounds more polished and refined, there were a few immature moments. Still, it was a great blend of the raw energy and the epic sounds.

Hammerheart is my second favorite. Baptised in Fire and Ice is just awesome. At times, I find his vocals very annoying; very off key, weak and in some cases it distracts from the feeling of the songs.

Under the Sign of the Black Mark was pretty innovative for the time, and it has been ripped off by just about every black metal band in existence. It's probably my third favorite.

I also like Blood on Ice. It's been a while since I've listened to it, but I found that it was quite well done. I also liked Twilight of the Gods, though it is a much more accoustic affair.

I'm not a huge fan of the earlier stuff, nor the thrash albums. They are good, but nothing that special. In general, I always thought Bathory was a bit overrated, and copied way too much. He had shitty production because it was basically just him in an actual garage, with no money. Crap production does not equal "kultness" in my opinion. It adds to the charm, but does not define atmosphere for me.

I need to get the Nordland albums, though.

i'm gonna have to listen to the later Viking albums + Nordland albums again pretty soon. Blood, Fire, Death is the current Bathory favorite from me.

I do think the solos in the Bathory songs destroy the epic mood.

What? The solo in Shores In Flames is the most epic solo I've ever heard.

Damn straight. I can't imagine that song existing without the solo, and how it transitions back.

The solos have always been a great part about every Bathory album. I don't know why you would think that; any reason why?

WHAT!? Have you never listened to Under the Sign of the Black Mark!? Epic leads abound on that album, hell it's one of my favorite parts of the album.

Maybe I'm so used to listening to the non-solo black metal bands.

Epic mood flows then a jet of frantic solo jump in,I'm just feeling uncomfortable...

I really enjoy the epic high-pitched wailing guitar solos in Bathory.... not my favorite solos, but I think it fits the music perfectly....