Customer Reviews

The Karelian Isthmus

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased this Amorphis album thinking it was going to be like their later, more progressive and diverse releases. I was quite shocked to find out that it was a dark death metal album, although I was pleasantly surprised! This is a very dark and heavy metal album that is both simple and talented. I am quite pleased with this early style that Amorphis had. The guitar riffs are definitely the highlight of the album, having a dark and heavy tone reminiscent of Celtic Frost. After the great atmospheric acoustic track "Karelia", there is no let up on the relentless death metal attack. The album also diverts into more of a doomy and slow sound, although the elements of early death metal - complete with the low growls of Tomi Kivusaari - remain. It is a concept album of some sort of war - I believe it is a Finnish folk tale although it sounds like a tale of the Crusades. My favorite song is "Vulgar Necrolatry", a fast paced canticle praising necromance. The bonus tracks are pretty good but I would be just as happy without them.

Overall I recommend "The Karelian Isthmus" to anyone who is looking for a dark death metal album, but isn't seeking anything excessively brutal.

Cut from the simplest of forms, this album shapes basic songs into intense small narratives of events in a Finnish national epic. Melodic but thunderous death metal riffing surges on the beat and transitions smoothly between passages which have to some degree musical "profundity," in that they resemble that of which they are sung with a grace and integrity. Although much of these songs show the youth of the band at the time, as a whole the achievement of this album is an insightful and intense portrayal of combat and passion as one and the same.

Some listeners who are introduced to the more popular albums of this band first are less likely to appreciate this album. I am also a listener who first heard their mid-career albums, and I still love those, but Karelian Isthmus must be heard and judged on its own merits. When you compare this album to a lot of the death metal made by a host of Norwegian bands (even bands making albums today), you'll realize that Amorphis had a better-layered sound. There are bits of melodic guitar and keyboarding that are stacked very well with the heavy staccato of the guitar riffs. You're not going to hear this as well if you're driving down the highway listening through your car stereo. This album must be heard through headphones to be fully appreciated. Every style of death metal vocals pleases a different taste, but these vocals are some of my favorite. They are as excellent as the British vocalists of the best grind bands of the early 90's. I love this album not for nostalgia--I only recently gave this one a chance. I listened to a lot of metal during the early nineties, but I missed this one somehow. How lucky I am to have heard it at last.

The debut release from Amorphis is pure death metal. This band has evolved into a mass of talent and style changes, but this release has them at the roots of brutality!

Originally released in 1992, the Karelian Isthmus was the debut album from Amorphis, a band whose innovative blend of death, gothic, and progressive metal would make them one of the most renowned names in extreme metal. In 1992 however, Amorphis was a straightforward death metal band. You won't find any unique instrumental experimentation or clean vocals here, just fast, heavy, and brutal death metal. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the band drew inspiration for this album from Finnish folk tales, you'd be hard pressed to tell it was Amorphis in the first place.

I'm not knocking this album. As death metal albums go, it's pretty good, but it's also very much a product of its time, before bands like At the Gates, Opeth, and yes Amorphis would go on to push the boundaries of the genre and create such impressive new sounds. Taken in context with the rest of the band's impressive output, the Karelian Isthmus seems pretty basic, and doesn't serve much purpose other than to say "this is where it all started."

The bottom line is this: If you're a serious old school death metal fan, you're going to love the Karelian Isthmus. If you're a serious Amorphis fan, you're probably going to pick this up just to complete your collection, and will rarely take it off the shelf.

NOTE: The 2003 reissue of the Karelian Isthmus features the complete 6-song Privilege of Evil EP as bonus tracks. These tracks are, if anything, even more raw and brutal than those on the Karelian Isthmus, and have a much darker, more patently sinister approach.

Yes..a CONCEPT album..based on the KARELIAN ISTHMUS..a russian book of tale's of old!!

This is flat out..BEAUTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it sound's like the earth is inside your house when this is on!!! I mean this is something so personal for me..I cant beleive I am gonna review this album!!! BUT IT MUST BE DONE!!!

EACH SONG IS IT's OWN ALBUM..MUCH TIME WAS PUT INTO THESE!!!

THE GUITAR''s WEEP..THEY SLICE..THEY CUT..THEY BURN..THEY MOVE..THEY..EVERYTHING!! and the druming /bass playing is TOP NOTCH!! and the VOKILL's do NOT crap out..these are rough as hell for MELODIC DEATH METAL!!! but this was the first of that gerne so of course everything here is PERFECT!!

This has a brother..and that is SENTENCED's ''NORTH FROM HERE'' which will get a review by me soon!! also this could be comapred to DEMILICH another FINNISH DEATH METAL band..whom I reviewed as well! but this sound's like no other at the end of the day!! and ARGHOLSENT can be a compariosn to this!!! one of the best band's ever..a band that has not SOLD OUT like AMORPHIS..SO DO CHECK THEM OUT!!

Now the re-release here is worth getting because it has the track's from the ''privilage of evil'' ep added on the end of it..which make's a nice combo!!

THIS IS WHEN AMORPHIS WAS GOD!! THEY NOW SUCK..IGNORE THEIR CURRENT FECES!! WHY DO THE BEST BAND's ALWAYS DIE OUT?? PARADISE LOST..KATATONIA..ANATHEMA..they all died!! SKREW THEM!! but buy their early album's!!!!!!

JUST ANOTHER ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVE's...BUY THIS IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW IT FELT TO LIVE IN ANCIENT TIME's..JUST TIMELESS PEREFECTION!!!

''IN THIS LAND OF HATRED..THE NAME OF GOD IS LOST''