GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! This is one of my favorite Darkthrone albums. This is their third album (their second in the Black Metal field), and it owns. It was made in 1993, and rereleased in 2003 in digipak format with bonus interviews with the remaining two members of the band (Fenriz and Nocturno Culto). Let me provide a song by song review, like I've done for the last few reviews.
2. Summer Of The Diabolical Holocaust: This song is about some guy who stands up to Jesus and God with the power of Satan. Or something. It starts off similarly to Natassja..., but the riffs are a bit more plentiful. The riff beginning at the 0:25 mark is one of my favorite riffs of all time. You have to hear it to believe it. In fact, this entire album makes me daydream a whole lot. If I were to be stuck on a desert island, all I'd need is this album to keep me occupied. At the 1:45 mark, all instruments stop, going into a bass-only breakdown, and then the other instruments come back in. This is one of the most evil-sounding riffs of all time. Again, you have to hear it to believe it. Black Metal tends to have really good riffs. Then after some more vocals, comes the guitar solo. I think there're only two or three on this album. That's another thing about Black Metal. There're almost no guitar solos. Anyways, after the guitar solo is done, the same evil riff plays a couple more times, then a guitar breakdown happens, and then the instruments are playing another riff. Then they go back to the main riff of the song, and it plays out until it's over.
3. The Dance Of Eternal Shadows: This starts off with a slow, plodding riff, reminiscient of Hellhammer or Celtic Frost. After one verse, a guitar breakdown happens, and then the instruments are playing a really fast riff. Then it goes to the similar cycle of similar, but still different fast riffs. Then it slows down a bit with just guitar, and picks up in speed again, with drums again. Then another guitar breakdown at the 2:26 mark. This new riff sounds like a weird dancy melody. Like a folk circus from hell or something. Then the drums come in, and do another folk dancy beat underneath the riff. This part of the song in my opinion doesn't last long enough, as after another minute, it goes into another slow riff like the beginning, then the song ends. Other than the dancy part not lasting long enough, this is a very kvlt song. The song is about some guy raping whores in blasphemy, thinking evil stuff. All these songs seem to be about a guy. I think this is a concept album about a guy who becomes evil.
4. Unholy Black Metal: FUCK YEAH! This song is one of the greatest songs ever written. Just a couple of cycling riffs going over and over really really fast. There's also a couple of guitar solos to help stop the monotony. This is a good song to blast real loud if there's some poser bothering you who just won't go away. The lyrics are about when everything holy has been desecrated. This song earns Darkthrone extra blasphemy points in my eyes.
5. To Walk The Infernal Fields: This song is slow the entire time. When I first heard it, I was immediately in love. This song is the definition of atmosphere. The lyrics involve... probably Darkthrone themselves. I get this from the line "With my art I am the fist, In the face of God". I think a big source of inspiration for this song came from Bathory's song Enter The Eternal Fire, which is on the album Under The Sign Of The Black Mark (another must-buy) from 1986! They're both slower than normal, and extremely atmospheric with very good riffs. Anyways, the song fades out at the end, which helps add to the atmosphere.
6. Under A Funeral Moon: Here comes the title track! Here, the speed picks up again, and damn, this is a fast song! Starts off with a short guitar-only part, then the drums and vocals come in really fast. Then at the 0:37 mark, the drums slow down slightly (not much though) and the guitars go into another slower riff. Then at the 1:03 mark, it goes back to the guitar-only part at the beginning. Another cycle-through, then when it goes to the 0:37-esque part again and that part ends, the song gets kind of slow, and then a guitar solo comes in. I think this is the last guitar solo on the whole album. The instruments stay slow, then go to the intro guitar-only part again. The next cycle. The lyrics deal with a sacrifice. The song ends with that ending-like thing that everyone has used in every song (where the instruments all wind down and then stop). During this ending, the bass becomes louder than normal.
7. Inn I de Dype Skogers Favn: This song's main riff is just two notes, the first playing for a really long time, thus creating a wall of noise kinda thing. This is a fast song, like usual. The lyrics are sung in Darkthrone's native Norwegian tongue, so I have no idea what they're singing about. Every now and then, there's a breakdown into a slower riff that's similar to Celtic Frost. Not much to say about this song. Probably the least good song on here, but that isn't too bad, as even this song is pretty good, once you get over the wall of noise. Pretty nice atmosphere. I could fall asleep to a loop of this song playing over and over, and I mean that in a good way. Near the very end, it slows down in tempo a bit, and gets slower and slower until it stops.
8. Crossing The Triangle Of Flames: Here's the final song. We go back to the English language again, and actual riffs this time! :p For some reason, the guitars seem to sound even more like chainsaws than normal. Not anything bad though. This song is like half-slow, half fast. Not really either one. Yet not mid-paced either. It's hard to describe. Probably like a mix of all three. After the usual riff-cycling for a few minutes, a breakdown into a really slow and evil guitar riff happens at the 3:39 point. The guitar is playing by itself, then is joined drums and bass, then the vocals come in once the drums start playing a slow beat. After the vocals stop, an eerie-sounding bell chimes, and the instruments slowly fade away under the bell. Eventually, all that's left is the bell and the creepy moans of the unholy and undead...then......nothing..... Ah, what a great song. :) The lyrics seem to conclude the concept of this album, with the guy coming to full power, and proclaiming "I am Lucifer, I bring you light and pride". So basically, this guy is Satan himself. It's less cheesy than it sounds.