Can't really say. I've only listened to a couple songs by them. They sounded decent at least, if not necessarily groundbreaking. I seem to remember a few good riffs, but nothing that set my world on fire right off the bat.

Its that one of the metal sites I often look at, had their debut album "Wolfheart" as one of the very best metal albums of 1995!!!! I mean when people think of metal, they`re never going to think of Portugal.

all I can say about black metal is that the more albums of this sub-genre that I get, the more I'm enjoying it

Just finished listening to the Moonspell album Wolfheart and man its a great album, doesnt belong in black metal as its a gothic metal album with folk metal influences and some extreme metal influences especially in the vocals. Basically I`d say its one of the best gothic metal albums I`ve heard but I appreciate its probably not going to be to everybodys taste.

I actually do like Bathory, but the "tr00" "kvlt" elite (aka metalhead elitist morons on metal-archives) hardly count them as black metal, because they sound too much like thrash. Haven't really listened to them in a while though.

I don't think that it's fair to call them morons, seeing that every person into music is an elitist, more or less. You won't go to the shop and buy an album you absolutely hate, and then proceed to listen to it over and over.
Besides if it sounds more like thrash than black metal, then it's fair to call it thrash metal even if it had a huge influence on black metal, I mean you don't call NWOBHM thrash metal even if it had a huge influence on it.
Of course I haven't listened to all of the albums by Bathory, but the early albums sure sound more thrash than black metal.

^^genre Nazi!

^ Believe me, I am far from that. ;D

I've never really understood why people like black metal so much. Songs sound pretty good when the opening riffs are being played, but then someone starts hollering stuff like "BHLAAAAAH THE BEAST SHALL RISE AAARGH" and I can't stop myself laughing.

I think it's pretty stupid to say that Bathory aren't a black metal band just cause they don't sound like Darkthrone. Bathory, probably more than any other band, built the whole black metal template before any of the second wave of black metal bands ever even existed. Of course they don't sound like the second wave of black metal (the Norwegian scene) because they were too busy setting the groundwork for those bands to not just be a third rate version of the Swedish death metal scene.