"So pure, so cold, Transilvanian Hunger" Darkthrone are one of the most respected black metal bands in existence. Along with bands like Mayhem,
Burzum and
Immortal they helped spearhead the 2
nd wave of black metal in
Norway in the early 90's.
While their peers spent their time burning churches, killing themselves and killing each other,
Darkthrone kept themselves on the (relative) straight and narrow. Delivering their classic "Peaceville trilogy" of A
Blaze In The Northern Sky, Under A Funeral Moon and this chilling classic, Transilvanian Hunger.
Darkthrone's sound on previous records was always primal and raw, recorded as they would say in "utter grimness". But Transilvanian Hunger seems to strip things back even further. This is music to lose yourself in, to listen to in a darkened room just on the edge of sleep and be transported into a world of shadow, where corpse painted demons run freely through frozen woods picking off innocents one by one.
From the very first note of the title track you can tell the band have one intent, to be as bleak as possible. The guitars sound like dull blades sawing and hacking cruelly through the flesh rather than the normal searing tone of the death metal that was the rage at the time of release. The drone of the bass is hypnotic; no notes can really be picked out clearly, buried as they are in the murk of the music. The dull thud of the drums seems to burrow down deep into the pit of the stomach and gives a very unsettling feeling to the music.
By the time of release
Darkthrone were functioning as a two-piece, with Nocturno Culto handling the guitars, bass and vocals and Fenriz channelling all his fury into the drums. The only other input on the album is from a certain Mr Varg Vikernes of
Burzum who penned the lyrics for the final four tracks on the record, three of these are in Norwegian and one in English.
Nocturno Culto puts in the performance of his career on this record, never has he sounded so bestial, so devoid of any human emotion other than disgust and anger. A highlight is
I En Hall Med Flesk Og Mjød. He spits out the lyrics in guttural fashion (not the usual high pitched BM shriek favoured by others) as if the very taste of them makes him sick. It's especially effective for those not fluent in the Norwegian tongue as he really does make it sound like some long-forgotten language being spoken from the depths of the earth. On this track as with every other he is perfectly backed by the sawing fierceness of the guitars and Fenriz's metronome drumming
It's can't be overstated how important Ferniz's drums are to the sound of the album. Despite the purposefully poor production they are as tight as any other drummer you care to mention, with plenty of accomplished rhythmic shifts that really add to the churning feeling of the music. It's as if the drums are sucking you further into a mire from which there is no escape.
Each track on the album is utterly perfect in what it sets out to achieve, so perfect in fact that this is one of those releases that simply has to be consumed as a whole. Sure, dipping into one or two tracks on your Ipod while waiting on a bus may be ok but it misses the point. It's the unrelenting and overwhelming lack of emotion on this release that gives it the classic status it deserves. As one song ends there are a few second of silence before the next wave of negativity hits you. The songs seem to meld into one another in the best way possible due to the singular focus of the artists. By the end of the album you are left feeling oddly relaxed as if it has beaten you into a state of blank submission.
Transilvanian Hunger is pretty much as classic as black metal gets, it's pure misanthropic intent imprinted on CD and soon to be imprinted on your soul. In my opinion
Darkthrone have never bettered this in terms of unadulterated black metal. Indeed, the style they play now is more akin to crust punk than the orthodox sound of their earlier releases. I would urge any of you uninitiated in the ways of BM to track a copy of this down find out for yourselves.
Written by
Stuart Wednesday, April 13, 2011
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