DARKTHRONE — Soulside Journey (review)

DARKTHRONE — Soulside Journey album cover Album · 1991 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Vim Fuego
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, and it was recorded at Sunlight Studio. 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.
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