Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger
Peaceville Records
Pure Black Metal
8 songs (39:04)
Release year: 1994
Peaceville Records
Reviewed by Daniel

The mid/early Nineties, the whole Extreme Metal world turns its head to Norway as masterpiece after masterpiece of Black Metal is unleashed unto the world like a storm of darkness. With bands like Ulver, Emperor, Burzum and Mayhem releasing groundbreaking albums, we can say without a doubt that 1994 is one of the best, if not the best, year in Black Metal history.

One of the most treasured albums released that unholy year was Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger. And why is that? Well, basically because that album could be considered one of the purest examples of Black Metal.

Transilvanian Hunger includes all the elements that compose Black Metal. The riffs in the album are some of the darkest most evil riffs in Black Metal history, simple and minimal, yet extremely effective. Nocturno Culto’s vocals sound as dark, evil and black as Black Metal itself, the drumming in the album is, to quote Fenriz himself, just there and the production is more grim and cold than anything released in the middle nineties, including one of the best guitar tones ever. One can only wonder how Darkthrone managed to obtain such an amazing sound when recording on a fourtrack.

Most of the lyrics in the album are in Norwegian adding a sense of national pride very present in Black Metal bands at that time. Adding to that the fact that The Count, Varg Vikernes wrote the lyrics for the four last tracks of the album and did the infamous recording at the end of As Flittermice As Satans Spys in which you can hear a backwards recorded message where The Count himself can be heard saying: "In the name of God, let the churches burn.", thing that adds an important historical sense to the album; by this I mean that the album isn’t only a musical monolith but also a historical document that reflects the situation that was happening in Norway at the time. Add to all of this one of the most amazing covers ever and you’ve got yourself a classic in all the sense of the word.

Proof to this album’s (and band’s) greatness is the fact that I could say, without a doubt, that this is the most influential album in all Black Metal history. This album has inspired all Black Metal bands, spawned thousands of clones and moved millions of Black Metal fans all over the world. Transilvanian Hunger is one of those albums I play every week and I still get the same chilling feeling I got the first time I listened to it. So, it’s as simple as this: If you don’t like Transilvanian Hunger, you don’t like Black Metal.

So pure…evil, cold. Transilvanian Hunger!!!!

Killing Songs :
All.
Daniel quoted CLASSIC
Other albums by Darkthrone that we have reviewed:
Darkthrone - Astral Fortress reviewed by Goat and quoted 70 / 100
Darkthrone - Eternal Hails...... reviewed by Goat and quoted 90 / 100
Darkthrone - Old Star reviewed by Goat and quoted 80 / 100
Darkthrone - Arctic Thunder reviewed by Goat and quoted 70 / 100
Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance reviewed by Goat and quoted 75 / 100
To see all 21 reviews click here
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