A Transylvanian Funeral - Gorgos Goetia

A Transylvanian Funeral is a band that takes it back to the old days, and as soon as you put this disc in and press play you'll understand why. "Cold Blood and Darkness" starts off with a classic, under produced, muddy sound that joins you on your trip down metal memory lane. The sound here is very isolated and desolate and reminds me of the extremely obscure Perdition Hearse "Mala Fide" cassette EP put out by the Wild Rags label years ago. To go along with this music are some equally isolated and desolate vocals. Kind of reminds me of early Immortal combined with Sodom and Kreator. This track is definitely a good one, however, the level of the vocals was a bit too low for my liking.

"Burning Astral Hunger" is more of the same type of sound as the first track with the exception of a little Moonblood, Mutiilation and Darkthrone vibe added for that little something extra. There is a bit of a death/thrash element here that really sticks out and gives the tune a rather unnecessary boost. All in all, it's like this tune is nothing more than a jam session caught on tape and I'm liking the way everything is staying true to form. "Light Cast Out" reminds mea lot of really old Emperor. The atmosphere of this track is amazing and it's one of those that you just have to sit back and breathe deep and take it all in and the emptiness that comes with it.

"The Supreme Rite of Transmutation" Throws me off a bit. Now in the previous tracks the drumming has been constant with little variation, but on this track it sticks out like a sore thumb. There's just not enough going on around it for it to blend in with its musical surroundings. A little more thought could have gone into this track. Nothing more to say on this one. However, "Fear" makes a nice rebound and gets things back on track. Typical black metal riffing and "hollow-sounding" vocals make this track a blueprint to the way this type of music should be played as well as constructed. It would have been nice to have a lyric sheet with this, but you can pretty much "feel" something with this tune. Could it be the fear being spoke of ?

"Mars Exalted in Capricorn" just rips the shit out of everything. The tempo and riffing fit together perfectly and the rhythm knocks it out of the park. This would be a most awesome mosh pit tune. Complete, yet controlled chaos here. Mixing in a death metal element to this tune sets it apart from the others. The guitars on "Moonchild" are a bit fuzzier and are reminiscent of the sound on Ulver's "Nattens Madrigal". This tune is nothing but cluster fucked chaos. Usually I like tunes like this but something about this one doesn't sit right. It seems as if it was just thrown together with no obvious structure for the sake of noise and nonsense it turns out to be. Did not like this track at all. Too much going on with no direction.

Now, "Night Hags" tones back on the noise factor and proceeds on the path it was on before that last track nearly derailed it. This tune is nothing more than a straight-forward march into hell. Musically this reminds me of "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" and so far, with the exception of 2 tracks, this cd rates right up there with that classic album. "Percival in Black Armor", "Ten of Swords", "Hymn to a Gorgon" and "Goliath Resurrected" are the last 4 tunes that finish up this rather enjoyable disc and are equally awesome in their own rights. At the end of the day there is nothing new here, yet this album is done extremely well and you can feel secure in the sense that A Transylvanian Hunger know how to do it and, for the most part, do it right. This albums was released on the Forbidden Records label (www.forbidden-records.com). Also, 1 last note here. After listening to this cd, I looked at the credits and realized this band is a 1 man project.


1. Cold Blood And Darkness
2. Burning Astral Hunger
3. Light Cast Out
4. The Supreme Rite Of Transmutation
5. Fear
6. Mars Exalted In Capricorn
7. Moonchild
8. Night Hags
9. Percival In Black Armour
10. Ten Of Swords
11. Hymn To A Gorgon
12. Goliath Resurrected


Reviewer: twansibon
Apr 2, 2013

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