DARKTHRONE — Transilvanian Hunger (review)

DARKTHRONE — Transilvanian Hunger album cover

Album · 1994 · Black Metal

2/5 · 2011-01-27
The Angry Scotsman

One of the absolute essentials of pure black metal.

If that sounds good to you, than this is a must. If it does not, there is no need to ever listen to this album.

I personally, fall into the latter. Now, if you do not know what black metal is... than I will tell you what this album is about. Musically, this album is almost entirely tremolo picking, blast beats, and a tortured growling.

The guitar work is high register, and almost nothing but long chains of tremolo picking, changing infrequently throughout. The drumming is purely blast beats (except for the rare fill and rarer break) there is no bass to be heard and the vocals are incomprehensible. While the vocal style is more important than the lyrics, there are lyrics which are anti-Christian and generally paint a bleak, hopeless picture. Some lyrics were written by the famous, (or infamous) Varg Vikernes.

The production is extremely low fi. Sometime the drumming sounds like nothing more than a lot of cymbal hits, sometimes can barely be heard amongst the guitar buzz. If this sounds boring and/or disturbing to you I will present the album in another way, for all fairness.

This was all done purposely, to create an atmosphere. An atmosphere that is cold. The extreme, minimalist songs and vocals do create a hypnotic quality. The raw production adds to the cold atmosphere. One that is also brimming with angst. Maybe surprising, but this album is really very emotional when you think about it. Musically, lyrically, aesthetically pushing hatred, loneliness, depression and isolation to the max.

The song "Skald av Satans Sol" is actually a bit different, featuring a real riff and more movement. There's even a guitar solo! Albeit a minimal one. Contrasting the albums slow moving pace, this song is very frenetic and has a pretty cool riff they use a lot. I can say I actually enjoy this song.

So take it for what it is, a total purposeful sacrifice of musicianship for aesthetics. One that is not lost on me but just a bit difficult and tiresome. Thanks to that one song, and the rest not being too lengthy I can appreciate this album a bit more than most traditional black metal.

Two Stars Only if you let this album immerse you, rather than "listening"

more than 2 years ago
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666sharon666 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Each to their own, though I was more pointing out that their newer work isn't exactly a carbon copy of A Blaze in the Northern Sky.

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I've tried. Even less to my liking than this.

666sharon666 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

That's not actually true. Listen to the more recent ones.

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Everything after Soulside Journey sounds the same anyway, so you only need to get one more album after that.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I bought A Blaze in the Northern Sky but although I have listened to quite a few other Darkthrone albums I've never felt inclined to buy any others. They were an important band in the development of black metal, but they just don't interest me overly much.