Don't Believe The Hype
Claw | UK | 10/31/2002
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Darkthrone are revered by long standing fans of the Black Metal scene as one of the movements earliest originators. They are the archetypal exponents of "true" Norwegian Black Metal. The fact is however that the quality of their recordings doesnt live up to the legend. There is nothing wrong with the material itself or the way it is performed. Indeed these recordings could have been the classics many claim they are had they been given a reasonable production. The truth is that the production on this is AWFUL and detracts greatly from any enjoyment of the songs. I know they claim the production is meant to be that way to get the "necro" feel, but just because the band intended it that way doesnt mean it was the right approach. Other reviewers here have said the production is not that bad, well I cant imagine what they would think is bad! The quality of the sound is so thin and muddy that I for one find it painful listening (and not in a good way!!) I strongly urge you to avoid this unless you dont care about any competent production value or if you want it purely for its historical significance."
For The True Black Metallers Only
Agathos Demian | FINLAND | 11/05/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"At 1st, I would like to say something for the people rewieving
UNDER A FUNERAL MOON earlier.
This is black metal like it should be.
So do not give any kind of comments or reviews if you compare
DarkThrone to the gothic rock or dark metal.Everything is like it should be in this CD, black&white covers
and photos and a short statement for those who are holding
a wrong CD: true Norwegian Black metal.
Soundscapes are cold as hell here, not single one death metal
riff anywhere. Fenriz hits his battery, creating monotony and
desperate atmosphere. Guitars are above the bitter drumming,
beautiful and always atmospheric riffs create the ultimate picture of darkness.
Nocturno Culto manages to fulfill this primitive but rich symphony with brilliant, haunting screaming.
Lyrics are the best in black metal, no doubt.
Songs like Summer of the Diabolical Holocaust, To Walk The Infernal Fields and Under a Funeral Moon are lyrically just
genius.With Transylvanian Hunger, this cold disc holds the unholy crown
of true nordic black metal."
Majestic under feral skin
death metal and black metal | Austin, TX | 01/30/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Thunderous and gratingly distorted, this album was on the date of its release nearly unlistenable by most METAL fans, much less the general public. Since then, Kurt Cobain and others took noisy to a highly visible mainstream level, making this sound in retrospect like one of the few noisy records to achieve harmony with its own distortion.Songs on this are deliberately as simple as possible and played as if unsteadily by a band inexperienced with their instruments in a blazing cloud of interchromatic distortion, filling the spectrum with an undefined loudness that resonate to the melody of each piece. The landmark drumming of Fenriz has become streamlined, feral, and primitivist in its outlook, functioning as the whip and club of a prison warden. Aesthetics are destroyed and reinvented.While this will still be too out-of-band for most perceivers, that is a sign of how successfully it cloaks its best poetry of sound in the aesthetics of the deranged, illiterate, paradoxical, and thus fulfills black metal aesthetic requirements. Artistically, it matches that extreme with melancholy and viciously alienated songs in which change and destruction are treated matter-of-factly, like a spirit impelled to adventure (outside of the shadow of the Church).If you like this, try: Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, Graveland - Thousand Swords, Bathory - The Return & Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales."
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1