Transilvanian Hunger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Darkthrone chronology
Transilvanian Hunger

Studio album by Darkthrone
Released	February 17, 1994
Recorded	Norway, 1993
Genre	Black metal
Length	39:04
Label	Peaceville Records Fierce Records
Producer(s)	Darkthrone
Under a Funeral Moon (1993)	Transilvanian Hunger (1994)	Panzerfaust (1995)

Transilvanian Hunger is the fourth album by Norwegian black metal band, Darkthrone. It is their first album recorded without Zephyrous, their long time guitarist. Nocturno Culto picked up both guitar and bass duties from this point on in their career. The album was released in 1994, which some consider to have been the best year in terms of releases for Peaceville Records. The band however claims that this record is rather untypical for Darkthrone, since it is much faster than all other records, and the riffs are much more melodic.

This album also features Burzum mastermind and convicted murderer Varg Vikernes's lyrics on the final four tracks. Varg also makes an appearance at the end of As Flittermice as Satans Spys speaking a reversed message. When played forwards, the message says "In the name of God, let the churches burn."

Originally, pressings had the phrase Norsk Arisk Black Metal (Norwegian Aryan Black Metal) written in the booklet, but due to the negative response of many distributors around the world, that phrase was erased in later pressings. The album also had controversy for a statement originally intended to be printed on the album: "We would like to state that Transilvanian Hunger stands beyond any criticism. If any man should attempt to criticize this LP, he should be thoroughly patronized for his obviously Jewish behavior."

The album has provoked mixed reactions from black metal fans. Transilvanian Hunger is said to be the band's worst album by some Darkthrone fans due to its production; others, however, consider the guitar riffs and vocals of Nocturno Culto to be the best the band has ever produced and cite the raw production, particularly the muffled sound of the drums, as helping to contribute to the hypnotic quality of the songs, and consider it to be the definitive Darkthrone album, to date (some would even go so far as saying this is one of the best black metal albums recorded, and a milestone in how to make primitive black metal correctly). Some have speculated that the recording and production process was rushed in order to get the album out as quickly as possible, and fulfill contractual obligations to Peaceville. The sound quality has been described by many as akin to having been recorded with an answering machine from inside a dishwasher. In fact, this album's production quality may very well have contributed to the common joke about the production of Black Metal albums.