Does anyone know what drum machine(s) Quorthon used?

He didn't. He played the drums himself.

Some of his albums sound pretty machine-ish. Also, it's stated on Wikipedia that he did use drum machines until he picked up playing them.

Eh, that was his first instrument, which he started learning as a kid.

also you are checking wikipedia... usually that's terrible for anything metal related. it's filled with kids just discovering shit who think they are experts on the subjects.

Usually the mods on Wikipedia require edits to be cited at the bottom of the page. So I'd say it's more reliable than your statement implies, but I don't disagree completely.

when the mods on there are as clueless as the people editing how will they know any decent cited source over a bullshit one? I say it's the same.

Touche. Plus I can't find the statement anymore that says anything about a drum machine, so there goes that little birdy.

I do have a book called Blod, Eld, Död where is father tells the story on how he got him his first drums, and how he would carry them out to the woods behind the house, piece by piece to practice and then in the evening carry them back.

Bathory was pretty much a one man band, although Quorthon had other musicians in the bands early days.

Damn.... His parents must have been strict!

Kidding, but I do understand the need for isolation. I find it mentally straining to experiment with guitarwork in front of staring or wandering eyes. That book in English?

It wasn't his parents, it was the neighbours

No, the book is in Swedish. I have no idea if it has been translated and published in any other language.

Neighbors....

Like they say, my neighbors listen to metal.... whether they like it or not.

Based on the sound of the drums on most of Bathory's albums I highly doubt it was a live drum performance that's on the records. At the very least it must have been looped or resampled (was that even possible then?). The drums just sound too fake and too monotone to be a live drumkit. And Quorthon was a notorious bullshitter, and it seems quite likely Boss would play along with that, so I have a hard time believing most of his claims.

I noticed last night while listening to Summoning's Minas Morgul that the drum machine on that album actually sounds a fair bit like the drums on a lot of Bathory's albums. Might have been the same machine, or at least a similar one.

Or like nowadays since summoning is more in the digital age now.. .you can literally sample some other band's kit and use it to program or sound replace your drums.

Yeah, apparently he used drum machines, but it doesn't say to what extent. He probably did a bit of both.

Man, don't spoil Bathory for me!

If he did use drum machines, I only see it happening on Blood Fire Death, Hammerheart, and maybe Twilight of the Gods. The rest of his drums sound pretty natural to me. But this is only IF he did.

I've heard that only parts of the kit were drum machines. Something about how he only had one bass drum mic or something so couldn't record double bass, so the bass drums are programmed or something while the rest of the kit is real. Could just be that he couldn't play the bass drum parts consistently or in time so went the programmed route.

None of this stuff really ruins Bathory for me. I mean, the albums sound cool, and if he had to do something ghetto like program half the kit I find that more charming/amusing than reprehensible.

just about everything quorthon ever said was bullshit. but as far as i can tell, he used actual musicians on most of the early albums. you can tell none of it is a drum machine because of the performance, most of them are sloppy as fuck. he used different people on all the early albums, and just used the same stage names for them to make it seem like a real band, or at least a consistant band. i know on under the sign of the black mark, he claimed that he used an early shitty sounding digital drum machine because he couldn't get a good drum sound, so he miked the drums, and replaced the sounds with the drum machine. whether that's true or not (or even possibly on the shitty 8 track he was recording on) is anyone's guess. he definitely used a drum machine on requiem and octagon

I know it says he used real drummers in his lineup for a lot of his albums, and maybe he did to some extent to help write, program, or add an occasional real drum sample now and then (cymbal hit here, tom hit there). I've only really listened to Bathory, The Return, Under the Sign, Blood Fire Death, Hammerheart, Nordland I & II. There is no doubt in my mind that all of those albums use drum machines. I promise to not get butthurt if I am proved wrong becase I really hope I am wrong!