Customer Reviews

Soulside Journey (Dig)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this album last year, thinking it was the new Darkthrone release. It was repackaged, dated 2001. I was quite suprised to find out it was a decade old, and Darkthrone's first album. But before i knew it was an old record, after the first spin i told people, "the new darkthrone is awesome".

so i eventually figured out that this wasn't Plaguewielder. But what i did learn is that this album is truly like no other release, darkthrone or otherwise.

The band was still in their death metal beginnings, but it doesn't sound like a normal death metal record. it's very organic sounding, and the mixture of riffs and drumming works extremely well. it's not terribly technical, but it doesn't matter. when you hear it, you'll realize that this falls into some chasm between death and black metal that nobody else has ever played in.

it's a very different sounding and feeling record, and anybody who is a fan of death or black metal at all really should own this. the songs are fantastic, the playing has a wonderful natural feel, and the overall style is truly original.

very highly recommended.

p.s. the cover artwork is some of my favorite ever. also, this sounds like no other darkthrone album, so even if you don't dig their black metal, you should look into this.

So, this is Darkthrone's Death Metal album, huh? Well, it confused... me the first time I heard it as a spotty young Death Metal fan that knew nothing of the Black Metal Inner Circle. I was expecting Death Metal a la Entombed, Dismember or Unleashed. Did I find it? Nope.

The guitar sound is familiar enough, perhaps because the guitars were co-produced by someone named Uffe? But everything else just didn't sit right in terms of Death Metal. Sure, it was brutal, but the riffing seemed strange. It was fast at times, very fast, but also very simplistic. This was evident right from opener "Cromlech". The vocals were odd too. At a time when Death Metal vocalists were generally involved in vocal limbo dancing ("how low can you go?"), vocalists Zeb Skjellum and Hank Amarillo (where were the pseudo-mythical names then?) sang with a raspier tone than was normal for the time.

Compared to later Darkthrone releases, the production is sparkling, although don't expect Def Leppard style clarity. Darkthrone's famous stripped down raw sound still hadn't developed. There is actually some separation between the instruments. And wonder of wonders, it sounds like the rest of the band actually brought the bass player along to the studio this time round. The drumming is not quite as fast as later releases, but is far heavier. Solos are used sparingly, but to great effect. Also surprising now is that none of the band members were trying to look like badgers or hedgehogs- no corpse paint or spikes anywhere.

While elitist Black Metal fans may dismiss this album as Death Metal in hindsight, many Death Metal fans will have problems getting their head around a lot of this. It is a strange album, not fully fitting either genre. On the Death Metal side, there is the guitar tone, the heaviness and bottom end, and the "normal" names and look of the band. For Black Metal fans, the lyrics are purest bleakness, the riffs are blackened, and the vocals are almost there. Death Metal or Black Metal? I still don't know. It's up to the listener to decide.

A totally awesome start for the most evil of black metal bands. This was Darkthrone's debut album, while they were still playing death metal. Better than many modern death metal releases, the riffing and drumming are both tight and together. Nocturno Culto's vocals are much different than on future releases. It may not be black, but its as hateful as one would expect from darkthrone.

Quite frankly I think that this album stands as a pinnacle of creative songwriting among the early Scandinavian death and black metal bands, which is saying alot. There is so much going on in each song but you could never call it confusing, the tunes just grow organically as if you can see the band hashing em out at an all night jam session righ before your eyes. Darkthrone were all about making supremely atmospheric music that is above all memorable and full of character. I will say that Soulside Journey, Goatlord, to some extent BITNS are a bit of a clusterf*%k compositionally but that is part of their considerable charm. Soulside Journey is a classick of complex death metal.

This is Darkthrones first release and is not black metal... its more death/grunge. Overall very good album no where near as dark as their later releases but still a good CD and definetly worth buying if you enjoy Burzum they sound a bit like em. very raw and energetic very low end production quality gives this album a very gritty sound which IMO gives a band a better feel.

The first time I heard Darkthrone's debut album I felt I was "soaring through damp air", over old crypts and dolmen-studded hillsides. There was something mystical at work that distinguished it from the vast majority of death metal at the time. In the days when 'black metal' referred to lyrical content rather than a musical 'sound', Darkthrone were one of the few death metal bands with a spiritual imprint to their music. Even the song titles were mysterious and evocative: 'Sunrise Over Locus Mortis', 'Iconoclasm Sweeps Cappadocia', 'The Watchtower'. If more death metal had been of this caliber, then it might not have stagnated into the robotic technical phenomenon it later became.

Not that there is any shortage of technical skill to be found on 'Soulside Journey', where Fenriz's drumming in particular changes pattern nearly every second bar. But technicality in itself means nothing without atmosphere or emotional intensity, and the atmospheres of 'Soulside Journey' are still enticing today. Haunting, impressionist lyrics and cold, autumnal guitar elevates this far above the herd of 90s death metal, and points the way to the revolutionary black metal of their next album 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky'.

This is the first Darkthrone album and it is a killer. If you are expecting Black metal, you won't be getting it. This is straight forward Scandinavian Death metal, the way it is supposed to be. Songs such as Cromlech, Sunrise Over Locus Mortis, Neptune Towers, and Eon are great examples of how well Darkthrone played in their early days, before they got even better. The production is better compared to their Black metal releases, but Black metal is supposed to have [bad] production. If you are new to Darkthrone or are a diehard fan and don't have this album yet, do yourself a huge favor and pick this up. You won't regret it, I sure didn't.

I just don't see why this album isn't liked all that much. I think it's one of the better Death Metal albums ever released. This was also my first Death Metal album.

The level of musicianship on this album is amazing, especially compared to Darkthrone's later releases, which were very primitive and minimalistic in songwriting (not a bad thing; I also love their later stuff as well). This album shows a lot of promise, and I've been wondering for awhile how Darkthrone would be today if they'd stayed in the Death Metal path. This reminds me of some other bands, like Entombed or Slipknot for example, who played Death Metal in the beginning (check Entombed's Left Hand Path and Clandestine, and Slipknot's Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.), but have changed their style around a bit (Entombed adding Rock influences, Slipknot becoming Nu Metal).

Every song here is great, but if I had to pick a favorite, it'd probably be Sempiternal Sepulchrality. Other good songs include every song here. In fact, I'm FAR from being a big fan of instrumentals (on Metallica's first four albums, the only instrumental I can enjoy is Anesthesia - Pulling Teeth from Kill 'Em All), but the two instrumentals present here (Track 4, Accumulation of Generalization, and track 11, Eon) are great songs, which aren't pretentious and dragged-out, and they actually enhance the mood of the album as a whole.

Every song here except for the instrumental tracks has at least one guitar solo. Nocturno Culto's solos are some of the best I've ever heard. I honestly can't tell who's singing on this album though. No one in the lineup is listed as a singer, but Fenriz is listed as lyricist. In the interviews on this digipak version, from what I remember, neither Fenriz nor Nocturno Culto say who sings on this album. Although I have a feeling it's Fenriz, because I know he sings on Darkthrone's early demoes, yet the vocals here sound different. Oh well.

Overall, like the title of this review says, this is a true Death Metal classic. Few other Death Metal albums I've heard measure up to this (one album that is just as good, if not better, is Nile's Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka). The music is very technical, yet very atmospheric (the keyboards in certain parts remind me of a combo of Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness and Nocturnus' Ethereal Tomb), and envokes unique moods just like Under A Funeral Moon or Transilvanian Hunger. If you find this in a store near you, or on Ebay or whatever, I highly reccomend this album.

This CD's amazing. It's a powerhouse! A tour de force, if you will. Definitely buy it, guy who's sitting at his computer wondering if he should buy it or not. So do it! Make the change today! Call 1800- get-slim(1800-438-7546) no seriously, I own other Darkthrone albums and this is by far their best! You should listen to your fellow man, buyer

The first time I heard Darkthrone's debut album I felt I was "soaring through damp air", over old crypts and dolmen-studded hillsides. There was something mystical at work that distinguished it from the vast majority of death metal at the time. In the days when 'black metal' referred to lyrical content rather than a musical 'sound', Darkthrone were one of the few death metal bands with a spiritual imprint to their music. Even the song titles were mysterious and evocative: 'Sunrise Over Locus Mortis', 'Iconoclasm Sweeps Cappadocia', 'The Watchtower'. If more death metal had been of this caliber, then it might not have stagnated into the robotic technical phenomenon it later became.

Not that there is any shortage of technical skill to be found on 'Soulside Journey', where Fenriz's drumming in particular changes pattern nearly every second bar. But technicality in itself means nothing without atmosphere or emotional intensity, and the atmospheres of 'Soulside Journey' are still enticing today. Haunting, impressionist lyrics and cold, autumnal guitar elevates this far above the herd of 90s death metal, and points the way to the revolutionary black metal of their next album 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky'.