The first full-length release from Finland's Amorphis not only stands out as a gem in the band's own personal music annals, but shines brightly as one of pioneer albums of the doom/black metal genre as well.

Any fan of Amorphis can tell you of the group's fluid evolution from death metal growls to clean vocals, from furious guitar riffs to keyboard laden melodies... one album never intimately resembles the next. However, regardless of which album you listen to, you'll know its Amorphis as soon as you hear the first track... this amazingly talented group has a beautiful way of weaving their soul into each and every song they write and perform.

"Karelian Isthmus" is the rawest of the Amorphis releases... this is no-holds barred epic doom/death metal from a group of guys who know how to do it right. Amorphis set themselves apart from similar artists of the time in two distinct ways: intricacy and innovation.

Yes, the guitars and percussion on this album are raw and hard, but NEVER do they come across as sloppy or forced. Each note, each chord, each second of every song is performed with an intricacy so sharp and amazingly beautiful it will absolutely numb your ears and mind.

At a time when so many people seemed to think death metal was nothing but growling and screaming in front of a blaring electric guitar and a set of drums, Amorphis shows up on the scene with keyboards, dueling guitars, and a decent amount of acoustical work on their first full-length release.

Overall, this album is somewhat similar to Tales from the Thousand Lakes, but with a little less complexity and less layering... solid, raw epic death metal coupled with impressive musical innovation truly sets this album apart from its contemporaries as well as the majority of metal releases we see (and hear) at present time.

Cut from the simplest of forms, this album shapes basic songs into intense small narratives of events in a Finnish national epic. Melodic but thunderous death metal riffing surges on the beat and transitions smoothly between passages which have to some degree musical "profundity," in that they resemble that of which they are sung with a grace and integrity. Although much of these songs show the youth of the band at the time, as a whole the achievement of this album is an insightful and intense portrayal of combat and passion as one and the same.

Some listeners who are introduced to the more popular albums of this band first are less likely to appreciate this album. I am also a listener who first heard their mid-career albums, and I still love those, but Karelian Isthmus must be heard and judged on its own merits. When you compare this album to a lot of the death metal made by a host of Norwegian bands (even bands making albums today), you'll realize that Amorphis had a better-layered sound. There are bits of melodic guitar and keyboarding that are stacked very well with the heavy staccato of the guitar riffs. You're not going to hear this as well if you're driving down the highway listening through your car stereo. This album must be heard through headphones to be fully appreciated. Every style of death metal vocals pleases a different taste, but these vocals are some of my favorite. They are as excellent as the British vocalists of the best grind bands of the early 90's. I love this album not for nostalgia--I only recently gave this one a chance. I listened to a lot of metal during the early nineties, but I missed this one somehow. How lucky I am to have heard it at last.

This cd was pretty good in my opinion but I still enjoyed tales from the thousand lakes even more.This album sounds similar to the tales album but is more rawer and faster.I would recommend this cd to any fan of this band or of doom metal in general.

I hate to use the oxymoronic term "melodic death metal", but that's the best way to describe stuff like this. A distinctly European sound that combines the low-tuned grind of death metal with the more melodic aspects of traditional metal like Iron Maiden. Most bands doing a job of this stuff are coming out of Sweden or Finland (where Amorphis hails from), and the style is pretty much unknown to most of America. Anyways, this is a good early example of the form, Amorphis being one of the first bands to actualize this style.