Sunday 12 August 2007

Darkthrone - Soulside Journey (1991)


When these Norwegian guys hit the racks, they were considered one of the more promising death metal acts. ‘Soulside…’, despite being a very good record, was not to be the bands musical journey as they become enshrouded in the sinister Norwegian black metal scene, and very much part of the Inner Circle, a whole different story altogether which can be reflected in the bands next batch of albums, on which they would completely shed any death metal leanings and opt for a raw, very evil sound. However, ‘Soulside…’ is still a death metal record worth checking out, one of the finest European albums from the genre if you ask me, combining an Entombed style atmosphere, only colder and far more bleak.
The musicianship is tight, the vocals harsh and obscure, so there are certain black metal influences already showing here, but what was to come made even a majority of metal’s fans cower with fear as black metal took its hold and the early ‘90s became a pitch blanket of necro-metal not for the faint hearted.
As it stands, ‘Soulside…’ and its eleven tracks, remains a solid death metal album that shouldn’t slip by any fan just because the band disowned it in favour of murkier depths.
8/10

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