Under a Funeral Moon

Darkthrone's previous album, A Blaze in the Northern Sky, is regarded as their first black metal album, although some have noted death metal traits[4] and Fenriz stated that after the abrupt style change, if A Blaze in the Northern Sky "would be PURE black metal, it would only have 3 songs".[5] He claimed that they began writing Under a Funeral Moon in late 1991 with the goal of creating a "pure black metal album".[6]

The album was recorded at Creative Studios in Kolbotn during June 1992. The studio production was toned down to achieve a sound that was more "cold" and "grim".[6] AllMusic journalist Eduardo Rivadavia described the album's sound: "The record's songs—already shorter and more focused than those of its epic-filled predecessor—were absolutely buried under disfiguring cobwebs of fuzzy amp distortion that effectively made them sound and feel like third-generation cassette copies".[1] Deathmetal.org notes that the album represented an "aesthetic shift" in the genre, making Darkthrone the first black metal band to have distortion define the entirety of the studio production rather than just that of guitars.[7]

Under a Funeral Moon was released by Peaceville on 24 June 1993. The cover artwork featured vocalist Nocturno Culto, who regards the writing and recording of the album as the foundation for Darkthrone's later work.[6]

The album was remastered and reissued by Peaceville in 2003, repackaged in a cardboard digipak. It was also released by Back on Black in the form of a limited edition (2,000 copies) picture disc LP. The third chapter of a four-part video interview with Fenriz and Nocturno Culto (spanning the first four albums) was included as bonus material.

All tracks are written by Fenriz, except where noted.

• Fenriz – drums, lyrics
• Nocturno Culto – bass guitar, vocals
• Zephyrous – lead guitar