Spectral Lore inspired me to embrace working as a solo artist. Gnosis takes its time to envelop you. Let the songs unfold into multiple layers of death metal melodies that wash over you.
Every album Bolt Thrower ever put out was a sure buy, but this is one of the albums that laid the foundation of what I think death metal is about - sturdy, steady, aggressive, confronting, captivating
Where Amorphis' Tales from the Thousand Lakes taught me how much room there can be for melody in death metal, it was their The Karelian Isthmus album that showed me how unpolished that beauty can be.