Darkthrone - Soulside Journey (1991)

Darkthrone is one of the most interesting and ever changing bands within the Norwegian metal scene and in a lot of ways metal in general. Originally changing drastically after their debut and the main subject of this review, 'Soulside Journey, they literally transformed (albeit just a little in some cases) from each of their first six albums before settling on a familiar formula and then once again morphing and settling once more.

I speak of the early pioneering and highly Celtic Frost inspired sound of 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky' and then the more stripped down, 'Under a Funeral Moon' and onto the primal havoc of, 'Transilvanian Hunger,' while 'Panzerfaust' was undeniably similar it brought back some of those Hellhammer/CF riffs, and finally, 'Total Death,' which is still raw and black in character, but it welcomed something of a death and thrash metal characteristic back into their music. 'Ravishing Grimness' and the following three albums all sound very similar to me and could perhaps just simply be labeled as modern, whilst 'The Cult Is Alive' took a turn towards a more punkier and honestly dull and silly direction where the band is currently still roaming about four albums deep.

Into the abyss I fall

However, this is no career retrospective here, so let's turn the clock back to 1990 when Darkthrone was but a simple death metal band. Recorded in late 1990 (but not released until January of '91) by Tomas Skogsberg in his not yet famous Sunlight Studios, 'Soulside Journey' was Darkthrone's first album after a slew of demos in the late 80's. The album is a curious mixture of metal's various sounds at the time, specifically you can hear a little bit of Entombed's, 'Left Hand Path' as well as an American influence from Death and Autopsy and even a bit of Paradise Lost's doom/death are present, likewise some very minimal nods towards Slayer and what not from the earlier half of the 80's all turn up on this one.

This was also before the band was carved down to just Fenriz and Nocturnal Culto, here joined by bassist Dag Nilsen and rhythm guitarist Ivar Enger (who'd stick it out for two more albums before disappearing). Its also got a decent production job with (get this) audible bass, though like most records of the time the sound volume is quite low.

The album opens with, 'Cromlech,' which is one of the albums highlights as well as one of many songs re-recorded from the demo days. Opening with an ominous intro the song dives into a fast paced rhythm that's got Swedish death metal wrote all over it, as well with a dash of doom, a brief synth break and a decent solo, it makes for quite a powerful opener. 'Sunrise Over Locus Mortis' moves between a similar mid-paced direction to more of a doom-ish crawl and for whatever reason I just love it when Nocturnal Culto (credited under his real name BTW) growls the song title towards the end. The title track has a very similar vibe moving between moods, whereas 'Accumulation of Generalization' is an instrumental where the band shows off their technical prowess especially well, which is sort of odd when you consider what the band would cook up soon enough.

Collectively the album runs forty one minutes while moving through eleven different songs. During that time the band takes the listener through faster to mid-paced moments and never really reaches a state of pummeling speeds or anything rock-ish in character, likewise just about every song has some doom qualities to be found. The band also tosses in a few synthesizers here and there, which aid greatly in atmosphere, generally sounding quite dark and haunting or on a song like 'Neptune Towers' they almost sound dreamy in their delivery. There's also a few clever solos to be found, none of which really blow me away, but its just one of those traits that are generally absent from most future work. Of course Nocturnal Culto also delivers the lyrics in a gravely low tone, which are somewhat understandable and also a bit unique if I do say so myself.

'Soulside Journey' is likely one of the most misunderstood Darkthrone records due to the bands fame as a pioneering black metal band, but I can honestly admit that I enjoy this one more so than 'Transilvanian Hunger,' which is one of the most overrated albums ever created. In the end this album certainly has its flaws, I mean the riffs could be more diverse and engaging at times and the solos could plow me over a bit more, but the technicality of their playing is admirable and the fact that they could have called it quits after this album and still been considered legendary in some circles is still pretty damn rad to me.

Many people know that Darkthrone would begin work on another similarly sounding album called 'Goatlord' after this, but it was of course shelved, Dag bailed on the band and the three remaining members went onto record and set the Norwegian black metal scene in motion with, 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky' a year later.'