Even Peaceville Records is getting in on the compact cassette revival. While Soulside Journey is far from stereotypical for Darkthrone, and furthermore already saw a cassette re-release in 1996, this is still a fine addition to your collection in its various forms for the strength of its content. Prior to creating several genre-defining works of black metal, Soulside Journey showcases the band performing a musically literate and melodramatic variant of death metal. It’s an admittedly sparse and atmospheric take on the genre that takes some acclimation to fully understand, but one that rewards attentive listeners. Funnily enough, this dodges the convenient upcoming 25th anniversaries of Darkthrone’s upcoming material, but those are likely too obvious for the record labels to ignore in the coming years. In the meantime, Darkthrone will probably see a great deal of reissues – the questionable Black, Death, and Beyond compilation, for instance, was recently reprinted on compact discs.
Tags: 1990, darkthrone, death metal, rerelease, soulside journey
Can someone explain the cassette angle to me? I mean, I have some cool ones from the 90s (my favorite being a Penetralia cassette I found in a used bin at a gas station). But they were only useful for car stereos or portable blasters back when…am I missing something? Is it cost effective? Is there some secret fidelity I never knew about? Just for collectors? Or is it trendy bullshit?
The only thing I recall liking about them was that it was fairly easy to trade a lot of them through the mail because they were often more durable than jewel cases. But now I have my little sister asking me for my old boom boxes so she can listen to her shitty boyfriends lame, LIMITED TO 50!!!! “blackened-crust” bands cassette.
You forgot the most important piece in the equation, the holy grail that is the Walkman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hcVFdRaGMg
I hope this one has one of those commentary discs. Those are usually amusing/informative.
Soulside Journey is a fucking masterpiece.
drunk Fenriz commentary lols
Great album, haven’t listened to that album in forever. I have the digipak re-issue I bought like 10 years, I think it’s the 2003 re-issues or some shit like that. Panzerfaust and A Blaze in the Northern Sky are my personal favs, first 5 Darkthrone albums are essential though.
Not a bad’n, but I really can’t abide by the “SLSD JRNEY IS DARKTHRONE’S BEST ALBUM” revisionists. They really found their own personality on the next one.
Personally, I think Under A Funeral Moon was where Darkthrone peaked, although that’s probably because my taste for dissonance waxed strongest about the time I was first exposed to it.
They’re right up there with the “Fuck Norway! Hellenic Black Metal and War Metal 4 Lyfe” NWN assholes.
“War Metal 4 Lyfe” is the new “YOLO.”
what is questionable about black, death, and beyond?
It seems like one of those record label induced compilations that doesn’t really have much reason to exist beyond “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if you could purchase a sample pack of Darkthrone and see what’s best?”. In this day and age, people are far more likely to conduct their first investigation of Darkthrone by streaming their tracks online (the legality of such depending on how with the times Peaceville is). You can compare it to something like Preparing for War or the Frostland Tapes, which both have much rarer material and some exclusive stuff you probably won’t find elsewhere.