Transilvanian Hunger is the fourth studio album by Norwegian black metal band Darkthrone. It was released in February 1994 by Peaceville Records.
All lyrics written by Fenriz (tracks 1–4) and Varg Vikernes (tracks 5–8); all music composed by Darkthrone.
1."Transilvanian Hunger"
2."Over fjell og gjennom torner"
3."Skald av Satans sol"
4."Slottet i det fjerne"
5."Graven tåkeheimens saler"
6."I en hall med flesk og mjød"
7."As Flittermice as Satans Spys"
8."En ås i dype skogen"
Transilvanian Hunger was the band's first album to be recorded with just two members, Nocturno Culto and Fenriz, following the departure of Zephyrous. The band remains a duo to this day.
Lyrics for four of the album's songs were written by the infamous Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes, who performed solo as Burzum. Fenriz handled all instruments on this album, as confirmed in at least two interviews.
The album was released on 17 February 1994. The cover art was a black-and-white photograph of Fenriz with a candelabrum, which bore a likeness to the cover of Mayhem's 1993 live album Live in Leipzig. The back cover stated that "Darkthrone is for all the evil in man" and listed the slogan "True Norwegian Black Metal".
Originally, the back cover also bore the words "Norsk Arisk Black Metal" ("Norwegian Aryan black metal"). Due to negative feedback from many distributors, however, the phrase was removed. The band also intended to issue another controversial statement to mark the album's release: "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." In a press release, Peaceville Records issued both this statement and their own response, berating the sentiment but acknowledging that they could not censor their artists. Darkthrone issued a formal apology at Peaceville's behest. They said they had used "Arisk" to mean "true" or "pure" and that "Jewish" was Norwegian youth slang for "idiotic". Darkthrone included the following statement with their next album, Panzerfaust, the following year: "Darkthrone is certainly not a Nazi band nor a political band. Those of you who still might think so, you can lick Mother Mary's asshole in eternity." More recently, Fenriz disowned these past statements, describing them as "disgusting."
The ending of the song "As Flittermice as Satans Spys" contained a backmasked message; when the voice is played backwards, it utters the phrase "In the name of God, let the churches burn".
In 2003, the album was remastered and reissued by Peaceville, as well as being repackaged in a cardboard digipak. The fourth and final chapter of a four-part video interview (spanning the first four albums) with Fenriz and Nocturno Culto was also included as bonus material.
Under the Sign of Hell is the third studio album by Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth. Recorded in 1996 and released in 1997, it was the first album to feature Ares on bass (on one track) and the only one to feature Grim on drums.
Panzer Division Marduk is the sixth studio album by Swedish black metal band Marduk. It was recorded and mixed at The Abyss in January 1999 and released in June 1999 by Osmose Productions. The theme of the album is war, as Nightwing was blood, and La Grande Danse Macabre (the band's next studio album) would be death, forming a trilogy of "Blood, War and Death", Marduk's vision of what black metal is, unending grimness. Panzer Division Marduk was the last Marduk release by Osmose Productions.
The original album cover features a photo of the Swedish version (Stridsvagn 104) of the British Centurion tank. The 2008 reissue of the album featured a Panzer VI E "Tiger" on its cover, reinforcing the Germanic World War II theme of the album.
The internal sleeve pictures a tank column triumphant across a city in ruin: this is the Red Army across a destroyed Berlin in 1945.
The concept of World War II in every track initially led many proponents of National Socialist black metal to consider the band akin to them, notwithstanding the fact that vocalist Legion and guitarist/composer Morgan publicly debunked this rumor, saying that Marduk has no political point in their lyrics, and the band has nothing to do with Nazi views.
