![]() ![]() More than anything, Transilvanian Hunger is an exercise in the power of minimalism. ![]() Rather than being dull, the results are mesmerizing, and when Darkthrone throw in a new riff or augment a passage with atmospheric trills, string scrapes or a drum fill, the album takes on an even more harrowing, enthralling vibe. ![]() Once the band locks into a riff, there are few rhythm shifts and little in the way of musical variation. Throughout the record, with the exception of the first four seconds of “Skald Au Satans Sol,” the drums maintain a rapid thrash/blast beat pattern that creates a monochromatic, jackhammer-to-the-skull effect. Unlike the band’s earlier efforts, which incorporated aspects of death metal, contained multiple tempo changes or were so tinny they sounded like bootlegs, Transilvanian Hunger, is a pure, unrefined expression of sparse black metal fury, from the repeated tremolo picked hook of the opening title track to the last 15 disjointed seconds of “En As I Dype Skogen,” when the blast beats end and the guitars trail off into a deadly, hissing cloud of hydrogen cyanide. In addition to being a sonic time capsule, the album remains emblematic of the scariest, coolest and most sinister elements of Norwegian black metal. The latter, which came out almost exactly 20 years ago, remains a template for the construction and lo-fi production of simplistic black metal. ![]()
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