I purchased this Amorphis album thinking it was going to be like their later, more progressive and diverse releases. I was quite shocked to find out that it was a dark death metal album, although I was pleasantly surprised! This is a very dark and heavy metal album that is both simple and talented. I am quite pleased with this early style that Amorphis had. The guitar riffs are definitely the highlight of the album, having a dark and heavy tone reminiscent of Celtic Frost. After the great atmospheric acoustic track "Karelia", there is no let up on the relentless death metal attack. The album also diverts into more of a doomy and slow sound, although the elements of early death metal - complete with the low growls of Tomi Kivusaari - remain. It is a concept album of some sort of war - I believe it is a Finnish folk tale although it sounds like a tale of the Crusades. My favorite song is "Vulgar Necrolatry", a fast paced canticle praising necromance. The bonus tracks are pretty good but I would be just as happy without them.

Overall I recommend "The Karelian Isthmus" to anyone who is looking for a dark death metal album, but isn't seeking anything excessively brutal.

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.