DARKTHRONE — Transilvanian Hunger (review)

DARKTHRONE — Transilvanian Hunger album cover Album · 1994 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Vehemency
On Transilvanian Hunger, Darkthrone uses a certain code in every song. The code is monotonous black metal: the drums play almost exclusively a blast beat while the guitars are a stream of tremolo firing. Not that the music was extremely fast or anything like that, no. Instead, Transilvanian Hunger is just purely grim, cold, evil and at times melancholic, and the incessant buzz of simple, low fidelity black metal is almost a soothing experience.

Darkthrone rarely goes astray from this certain style on Transilvanian Hunger: one exception would be ”Skald Av Satans Sol” which has more diverse approach from compositional point of view. Otherwise, the monotonus buzzing is always evident, perhaps ”I En Hall Med Flesk Og Mjod” being the most hypnotic out of the 8 tracks, not to underestimate the impact of the other tracks either. When you have heard the first track - the legendary title track - and have taken a look at the front cover art, you basically know what the 39 minutes provide.

I have said it before and I say it again, there is no way I can objectively put into words why exactly some album deserves full score. What I can say, however, is that Transilvanian Hunger was one of the first black metal albums I heard along with the other evident Norwegian bands of that time. Transilvanian Hunger has always stood out as the grimmest of them all, there is no question of that. Not even when we look at any album today. My opinion is of course influenced by a heavy amount of nostalgia, but still. As stated by many others, I believe too that Transilvanian Hunger is a perfect example of essential black metal.
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