Well, I guess I could try and hope to explain slightly.

The chords underlying the main riff of the song are A minor, followed by F major, which is the classic progression commonly used to create a sorrowful, or epic sound. However, the notes in the main riff are D, C, B, C, C, B, C, B. The only note out of these that is a note in either of the chords is C. The ther notes are not part of the chord, and where this would usually sound bad because they are held on to for a significant amount of time, sounds good because it seems to sort of slip, but still very sorrowful. This sort of thing is common in lament style songs. Example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lD-DVG6HYg

By the way, I kind of doubt Darkthrone knew this, but they still write fantastic songs nonetheless.

When does the song go to F major? I can see the A minor.

The main riff is 16 beats; it drops to F at beat 9.

For those interested - I looked up both "Transilvanian Hunger" and "Transylvanian Hunger" on the archives. When you subtract all the Darkthrone results, the rest is covers; for "Transilvanian Hunger", there are 106 results, 2 are Darkthrone themselves. The results for "Transylvanian Hunger" number 31. Some bands have a cover on more than one release. To get quite specific, it's 135 cover versions by 127 different bands. In other words, holy fucking shitballs.

False. The main riff goes from A to E. En As I Dype Skogen does this progression however (albeit from E flat to B).

It doesn't change key, until the second riff, but the chords in the main riff switch between A minor and F major.

You have a point. Totally true.

apparently i'm one of the few that seem to think this album and particularly song, sucks ass. i LOVE Darkthrones minimalist approach but i though TH was just were they took it too far and it's just a thrown together hunk of trash, i've never even got through the whole album cause i just get bored as all hell.

i'd say 'To Walk the Infernal Fields' is more along the lines of what i'd consider a beautiful, sorrowful, and/or completely badass Black Metal song. or 'Where the Cold Wind Blows' on that note

though i'm not the biggest Black Metal person anyway, least 2nd wave, so ignore me all ya want

In Albert Mudrian's new book Precious Metal there is a chapter devoted to the album which offers some interesting insight on recording, inspiration, lyrics, etc.

The riff switches between A minor and E (possibly minor too, there's no way to tell, but the presence of C instead of C# in the melody suggests it should be interpreted as minor). The middle break in the song DOES prominently feature F, though, as it just repeats E-F-E-F until they go back to the main riff.

Holy mother of god, thanks for bringing this up. I loved Choosing Death, had no idea this new one existed, and have an unhealthy obsession with "behind the scenes"-type stuff. I am ordering this yesterday.

so cold..... so pure!

Oh my god, I`ve never heard that song, but my god, those lyrics make me laugh my ass off.

I really like Transylvanian Hunger, but I find it`s not as amazing once you learn how simple it is on guitar. Still a great song though. My personal favorite album is Under A Funeral Moon, though.

Oh my god, I`ve never heard that song, but my god, those lyrics make me laugh my ass off.

I really like Transylvanian Hunger, but I find it`s not as amazing once you learn how simple it is on guitar. Still a great song though. My personal favorite album is Under A Funeral Moon, though.

Oh my god, I`ve never heard that song, but my god, those lyrics make me laugh my ass off.

I really like Transylvanian Hunger, but I find it`s not as amazing once you learn how simple it is on guitar. Still a great song though. My personal favorite album is Under A Funeral Moon, though.