Transylvanian Hunger (Dig) [Enhanced]

Darkthrone | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Peaceville UK
• ASIN: B00008ZZ41
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,929 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #23 in Music > World Music > Europe > Scandinavia > Norway

Editorial Reviews

DARKTHRONE TRANSILVANIAN HUNGER

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Minimalist Masterpiece, February 13, 2006

By 

Sean Zimmerman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Transylvanian Hunger (Dig) (Audio CD)

I approached this album somewhat skeptically. I had already purchased 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky' and 'Under a Funeral Moon' on the recommendations of others and found it hard for me to really get into those releases. That's not to say I find them bad albums, not at all, just difficult albums. Well after reading all of the mixed reviews for this album I finally decided to hear it for myself. And boy am I glad I did. Personally I didn't find the raw, underproduced sound of the album at all grating. In fact I feel that it is absolutely essential to the hazy atmosphere of the album and just as necessary a component as the music itself. The music itself as others have said is very simple and repepitive. The point of this album (I think) is not to dazzle the listener with technical multipart songs, but through the atmosphere and repepitive minimalistic quality of the music to bring the listener to a hypnotic state. I think many of the criticisms of this album are misplaced because they are expecting it to be something it has no intention of being or simply the reviewers cannot appreciate what it is the band is going for here. If you read any of my other reviews you know that I am far from a black metal elitist (I like Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir). In fact I find the whole black metal elistist mentality utterly absurd. Nevertheless this album stands on the weight of its own integrity aside from how troo, cvlt and grim it may be. Get it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grim Black Metal., February 23, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Transylvanian Hunger (Dig) (Audio CD)

This is BM in its rawest and most evil form. If you were to enter the gates of hell I'm pretty sure that Transylvanian Hunger would be the music of choice. The production is intentionally bad and the songs are just plain raw and I mean raw. When I listen to Emperor, Mayhem and Burzum I can hear melodies and song structure but this album is straightforward and lacks any melodies. It's just Euronymous-style necro-riffing with Dead-like vokills and repitition of that.

The riffs you hear within the first 10 seconds are repeated throughout the entire song and the drum beats are carried on in the same manner. It's basically the blueprint for true raw black metal. Some songs end abruptly or seem cut-off to add to the dark atmosphere. Nocturno Culto has the best black metal voice since Dead and still carries that today. The first four songs were written by Fenriz and the next four songs were written by Count Grishnackh.

If there were anything darker than black metal this album would classify for that because this is absolutely primitive and sick music. Transylvanian Hunger could very well be the darkest black metal album of all time with Mayhem's "Live In Leipzig" a close second along with Dark Funeral's "Secret Of The Black Arts" and Burzum's "Aske". This is a true black metal classic album and 10 years on it still has no darker rival.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You either get it or you don't, July 5, 2009

By 

Zachary Gamble (Jonesborough, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Transylvanian Hunger (Dig) (Audio CD)

This, my friends, is not pretty, over-produced metal. There is nothing about this album that would endear it to the public at large, no catchy choruses, obvious hooks, or even much in the way of variation. But that's the point. This is black metal played as nihilistic stream-of-consciousness ambient music, and not surprising, an album held up as a monument of the genre. Hypnotic, minimal riffs repeat and fold back upon themselves only to be quoted later, the drumming is the same punk-based blasting throughout the album, and the vocals sound like mean-spirited chain-smoking demon. There is nothing normative or pretty about the sound, everything is red-lining and raw, a refreshingly unique sound compared to the rampant digitalism and Pro-Tools of modern metal production. All of the musical elements, rudimentary though they are, add up to much more than the sum of their parts. Amidst the seemingly amateurish racket, there are leitmotifs, overarching patterns, and most importantly, a singular vision. The combination of minimalism and lo-fi creates an almost orchestral atmosphere; the albums functions as a self-contained world. Black metal thrives on convincing atmosphere, "Transilvanian Hunger" has this in spades. Darkthrone succeed here because they took the very foundations of extreme rock; namely the incoherent vocals, non-existent production, barely adept guitar and trashcan drums found in everything from garage bands to hardcore to black metal, and created a buzzing, bleak symphony. In many ways, this represents the apex, or at least one of them, or black metal. If you like your metal to be generic, uninspired or mediocre, look elsewhere. On the other hand, if you like honest, raw, real metal music, you've found it.