Ah Death Metal, how much I like thee. I’ll fully admit I’m still not the biggest fan of the genre. The vocal style can be grating at times, and the instrumentation sometimes comes across as grating & primitive, but there’s a wealth of bands that rise above & provide some great music. As I said in my last album review, Septicflesh’s 2014 offering Titan, I’ve finally grown on the genre. Today’s album, however, might push people away from Death Metal. An album from a band that became famous later in life, but started out in a weird rut. So, bathe in the blood of the innocent, and get ready for my review of Darkthrone’s first outing, Soulside Journey. Let the review begin!
Background
It’s hard to believe for some, but the first out of Darkthrone, a band that would help shape & create Black Metal in Norway, first put out a Death Metal album. Such was the case with Soulside Journey: recorded in September of 1990 at Sunlight Studios in Stockholm (Sweden), and released in January of 1991, Soulside Journey was a release put out at an interesting time. In the early 90s, Norway was doing everything it could to shed off it’s Hair & Death Metal past, and desired to walk down a darker path.
However, Dag Nilsen, the bass guitarist, was firmly committed to staying the Death Metal course. The other 3 band members (Fenriz: Drums/Zephyrous: Rhythm Guitar/Nocturno Culto: Lead Guitar & Vocals) didn’t like the state in which they were in, and wanted to break out of the Death Metal mold to do something different. The 3 would eventually get their desire, but that’s...for another day.
Basic Description
Huh. I didn’t expect this!
I’m a bit surprised by this album. Given Darkthrone’s reputation (Well, their reputation in the 90s at least) as one of Norway’s most iconic Black Metal bands, their first outing was rather Meh. It’s not that it’s bland, because there are moments of decency. There’s some great guitar playing throughout Soulside Journey, as it come across as heavy & intense. The drumming is nice & fast, and even the vocal work on here is good, although 90s-style Death Metal vocals often sounds the same. The problem is goal & direction: Dag Nilsen wanted to keep going along with the Death Metal trend, since it was quite popular in Norway at the time. Fenriz, Zephyrous, and Nocturno Culto were actually against this. These three wanted to break away from Death Metal, and wanted to embrace the extremely budding genre of Black Metal.
This ultimately creates a bipolar album & listening experience. On the one hand it was constructed well, and the production was good for it’s time, but at the same time there are two clashing ideologies within Soulside Journey. Said ideologies create a confusing atmosphere on this record, and it hasn’t gotten better with time.
Best Song
Accumulation Of Generalization is about the only song on Soulside Journey that I even have a remote interest in listening to. The guitar work in this song is actually pretty damn strong, as it come at you in an even pace, and the drum work complements the guitars rather nicely. There’s also a portion where sound effects come into play, and while a tiny bit hokey, honestly do add a little to the atmosphere of the song.
Accumulation Of Generalization
That said, I ultimately can’t pick out a best song for Soulside Journey. Everything on this album comes across as the same, more or less. There may be variation in terms of instrumentation (Along with lyrics, perhaps sound effects), but in the end it’s kind of hard to pick out what’s what.
Worst Song
Just as there’s no real best song on Soulside Journey, there really isn’t a single song on here that can be considered the worst. What I said above can plainly be put here: all of the music on here sounds almost the same across the board. Despite some small changes in instrumentation, sound effects & lyrics, you can’t truly tell one song apart from another.
Overall Impression & Rating
For an iconic Black Metal band, Soulside Journey is an anomaly. An album that’s trying to do one thing, but some of the band members really want to do something else. This creates a bipolar record that’s not horrendous, but at the same time really isn’t great. Starting a band with a bad CD is always a bad sign, but starting your career on a “Meh” release is better. Not fantastic, but it’s better than a awful starter release.
Soulside Journey gets a 5.5 out of 10.
Well, that was Soulside Journey, the first release in Darkthrone’s storied & infamous career. Despite their first outing, they & many other bands in Norway were planting some wicked seeds into the cold, frost-covered ground. Come 1992, and the group will harvest so truly wicked fruit. However, what fruit was bourne will have to wait for another review later this year. So come back next month, when we’ll go through our first themed-period, when I’ll review some kid friendly anime & music. See you soon!
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