The Karelian Isthmus

The Karelian Isthmus
Amorphis studio album
Publication (s)	November 1, 1992
Label (s)	Relapse Records
Format (s)	CD, LP, cassette
Genre (s)	Death metal
Title (number)	10 (re-release: 14)
running time	45 min 11 s (republication: 64 min 19 s)
occupation	Guitar , vocals : Tomi Koivusaari Guitar: Esa Holopainen Drums , keyboard : Jan Rechberger Electric bass : Olli-Pekka Laine
production	Producer : Amorphis, Tomas Skogsberg Mastering : Dave Shirk
Studio (s)	Sunlight Studio
chronology - The Karelian Isthmus Tales from the Thousand Lakes (1994)

The Karelian Isthmus is the debut album by the Finnish metal band Amorphis . It was released in November 1992.

Creation and publication

The Karelian Isthmus was produced in May 1992 at Sunlight Studio in Stockholm . Jukka Kolehmainen, the former Abhorrence vocalist , appeared on the Abhorrence cover Vulgar Necrolatry as a guest vocalist .

The Karelian Isthmus was released on November 1, 1992 by Relapse Records , in Europe by Nuclear Blast and in Finland by Spinefarm Records . In 2003 The Karelian Isthmus was re-released with the tracks from the CD Privilege of Evil .

Track list

1. Karelia (Holopainen, Koivusaari) - 0:44
2. The Gathering (Holopainen, Koivusaari) - 4:13
3. Grail's Mysteries (Holopainen) - 3:02
4. Warriors Trial (Holopainen, Koivusaari) - 5:04
5. Black Embrace (Holopainen, Koivusaari, Rechberger) - 3:39
6. Exile of the Sons of Uisliu (Holopainen) - 3:44
7. The Lost Name of God (Holopainen, Koivusaari, Rechberger) - 5:32
8. The Pilgrimage (Holopainen, Koivusaari) - 4:38
9. Misery Path (Holopainen, Koivusaari, Rechberger) - 4:19
10. Sign from the North Side (Holopainen, Koivusaari, Laine) - 4:54
11. Vulgar Necrolatry (Ahlroth, Koivusaari) - 4:22
12. Pilgrimage from Darkness (bonus track) - 4:32
13. Black Embrace (bonus track) - 3:25
14. Privilege of Evil (bonus track) - 3:50
15. Misery Path (bonus track) - 4:17
16. Vulgar Necrolatry (bonus track) - 3:58
17. Excursing from Existence (bonus track) - 3:06

style

music

On The Karelian Isthmus, Amorphis played slow death metal with distinct Doom metal influences. In addition to typical Death Metal instrumentation, Amorphis also uses acoustic sections with normal and 12-string acoustic guitars and atmospheric keyboard voices played by drummer Jan Rechberger. The tracks are often described as being quite slow and clearly not influenced by the brutal and fast American Death Metal. The album is often categorized as Melodic Death Metal , although it lacks the fast polyphonic guitar melodies that are otherwise typical of the genre. The web magazine Deadtide writes in a review:

"In the middle of the heat of the American death explosion, when everyone was either a Morbid Angel , Obituary , or Suffocation clone, The Karelian Isthmus offered a slower, simpler, and more melodic sound."

- Deadtide.com reviewing The Karelian Isthmus

Texts and covers

On the demo Disment of Soul the lyrics were mainly about death, as was quite common in Death Metal, but The Karelian Isthmus lyrically developed away from these influences. The eponymous Isthmus of Karelia is the piece of land between Saint Petersburg and Finland that Finland lost to the Soviet Union in the winter war of 1939 to 1940. However, the album deals primarily with Celtic history and less with Finnish history, but does not have such a sophisticated concept as the later releases.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Nadya Vega: The Karelian Isthmus ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on WholeNote , April 8, 2004 (accessed June 16, 2007)
2. ↑ Jason Muxlow: Review: The Karelian Isthmus ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Deadtide.com (accessed June 16, 2007) 
3. ↑ Sami: Interview on Disment of Soul (PDF; 316 kB) in Hellspawn , summer 1991 (English, accessed on March 4, 2010)
4. ↑ Arnoud Helmantel: Interview with Amorphis ( Memento from February 14, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) in The Inferno Zine (accessed June 12, 2007)