Darkthrone

Transylvanian Hunger (Fierce/Peaceville)
by Joshua Brown

If one could drink malevolence, or mainline pure hatred, it would be about equivalent to hearing the new LP by Norwegian Black Metal screamers, Darkthrone. Not only is the music aurally cataclysmic, but the atmosphere embedded within the eerie chords, back-from-the-dead vocals, and cymbal-laden hyperspeed drumming (hidden low in the mix) is not as cheesy as you have come to expect, but genuinely frightening. One of the reasons this album is so creepy is that it’s not just violent fantasies played out within a musical format like most death/black metal bands. There’s some reality in there as well.

Darkthrone are members of the Norwegian Nationalist Satanic Inner Circle, which have been responsible for numerous church burnings and a couple of murders. The most notorious murder has been the inside job done on Inner Circle head and leader of the band Mayhem, Euronymous, by Count Grishnackh, leader of black metal band Burzum, who is now serving a 21 year jail sentence for the crime. We’ve got to be careful not to endorse this type of behavior, lest black metal become another version of gangsta rap.

Anyhow, if you’re like me, you long for the good ol’ days of black/death metal, the early to mid-’80s, which gave us great bands like early Celtic Frost, Venom, Possessed, etc. Transylvanian Hunger will take you on a pleasant (or pleasantly unpleasant) journey back to those times, reminiscent of Under the Sign of the Black Mark-era Bathory. Next out on Fierce Recordings will be the new LP by Burzum.