Entombed A.D. - Back to the Front (2014)

It's always a shame when a long standing, relatively successful metal band like Entombed begins to unravel. Soon it gets ugly, the fans have all picked their sides, begrudge the future output by the members and fans from the 'opposition', and suddenly it feels like fucking junior high school instead of heavy metal music. Well, I already graduated from such an institution, and have no desire to return in this life, so whether I approve of the actions and/or statements of this or that member/expatriate of a band, it all comes down to the goddamn music. At the end of the day, I decide whether or not I enjoy a record based on the value of the record itself, not the questionable business ethnics, practices, politics, religion, or history of the roster. So Entombed A.D. might not be the 'real' Entombed, it might not be Clandestine II, it might be frowned upon by some of the founding members of the original band and their followers, but I'll tell you what it IS: a good fucking time. Not the best material they've written by a sizable margin, but if you've ever thrown down and enjoyed their death 'n' roll style circa Wolverine Blues, Morning Star, or Inferno, then this really hits the spot.

No, Back to the Front will not do what it's title might imply and thrust the Swedes back into the death metal spotlight, nor will it reel in those who fell out of touch with them after the first two albums, but these four guys had a collective contribution of about 45 years with Entombed, so if anyone's gonna be able to produce a relatively faithful continuity for what the original had been releasing since what I'd consider their 'slump' era (1997-99), it is this quartet. I realize there was a marginal chance we might have been getting something more akin to a successor for Left Hand Path, and perhaps that is where the other founders of the band might head, but this disc represents their strongest songwriting since 2001 and Morning Star, a blend of death, d-beat, punk, crust and thrashing rhythm guitars which affix their simplicity with reliable hooks and concise structure, but retain a lot of the ugliness of L-G Petrov's vocals and the bruising rhythm tone that they basically pioneered. But beyond just being another memorable punch in the gut, this is actually a fairly musical exhibition which is utterly unafraid to take a few chances, like introducing the strings at the intro to "Pandemic Rage", acoustic guitars, etc. Of course, it's the churning, enormous grooves, and evil winding guitar melodies that probably present the closest mirrors to the band's seminal Earache works, but I still feel like the Swedes haven't given up the idea that they can turn over a few new leaves...

Definitely a little more speed/thrash here in tunes like "The Underminer" or "Waiting for Death" that highlight the massive Slayer influence they've always operated under, but there are certainly a few of the morbid, mid-paced hooks that anchored records as widely spaced as Clandestine and Serpent Saints, although the production here is far more in the wheelhouse of the latter, a tidier mutation of their original, crushing guitar tone which plays well against the melodies and brute nihilism of Petrov's delivery, which sounds nearly as convincing to me here as anywhere else in their canon. The bass is as fat as my cholesterol levels, but somehow still manages to get lost just a little when the rhythm guitars are firing up the kiln, while you can really make out the toms, kicks and modest snare smashing in equal measure for a truly fulfilling, overall body to the sound. One of my favorite tunes on the disc, "Eternal Woe" is this slow, gloomy barbaric thrasher with some nice warped bell sounding strikes to the initial verse beats, subtle and clinical muted guitar lines and a chorus that just blows the roof off a cavern despite its lack of a really mind-boring melody or vocal line. "Digitus Medius" throws a devious, catchy melody right off the bat that probably belonged in the Hypocrisy catalog, and I particularly enjoyed how it returned for the chorus in chord form as the single most amazing riff on the whole disc.

Not all the tunes are equally interesting...for example the lead-in 'singles' that I had heard before getting the album, "Bedlam Attack" and "Vulture and the Traitor" have a few bum chord progressions that don't really excite me, but even these have at least an upswing in quality towards the choruses, and really I can't count a 'bad' track anywhere in the 11. Some might derive more than others from what they've released on prior albums, but there definitely seemed to be an enthusiasm about this material, a stripping down to the bare, brute necessities and then dressing them up with a skirt of the atmospherics, variation and even a sliver of the symphonic that they've encountered on their long road. As if after seven years of uncertainty they'd suddenly re-traced that vision which had begun on the second and third discs and decided to keep evolving it into a marginally more accessible strain, without going all mainstream or excessively 'rock' like the shitty Same Difference. It's just a solid, entirely Entombed experience, and whether you find yourself for or against L-G Petrov and these other, later members meting out the spiritual successor to what they were doing on the last record, give it a listen, it's good cruising music for that pickup with shotgun rack, crushing music for an angry soul. It doesn't do either brand a disservice.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/EntombedAD

Entombed - Wolverine Blues (1993)

After booting up their career with two massive, timeless death metal albums, it was time for Entombed to try and outperform themselves once again. There is a lot to be said of Wolverine Blues, for it was both a product of valuable inspiration and the 'beginning of the end', as its core aesthetic would be used to produce the band's two slovenly, unappealing full-lengths to follow. It was one of the two biggest albums of the Earache/CBS records partnership (alongside Carcass' Heartwork), and probably brought more new fans into the bands flock than any other single work of their career. On top of this, it is THE most immediately identifiable album when anyone should utter the expression 'death'n'roll'. Other bands like Desultory might have followed suit, but who else than Entombed could carry the crunch of their roots into this genre and not only succeed, but turn a great many heads as the potential death metal could have as a hybridized art?

Let's not even talk about how the product itself was rather a gimmick, with a comic book packed into the booklet that featured everyone's chortling, wise ass, invincible Marvel Comics anti-hero (I personally can't stand Wolverine, but I won't hold it against the album). This was a big release for Entombed, and Earache records, because enough success through CBS could guarantee a major step in extreme metal. And I'm happy to say, it was a success, though through the years my opinion of it has numbed (a few of the tracks don't fully resonate with me). Lars Göran Petrov's return to the band was a positive step, and he has remained ever since. The tones here are also suitably huge to the sound. Though they lack a little of the dark, swelling atmosphere of Left Hand Path or Clandestine, they compensate with a boxier, slamming distortion that suits the amplified rock assertions of the compositions.

Who could forget the rising feedback and Pinhead sample that announce the arrival of "Eyemaster"? I AM THE WAY. Searing grooves into chugs, and then the break ushers in a forceful, unforgettable grind riff...seriously, it's hard to believe no one had come up with that one before, but I definitely can't recall hearing it. As good of an opener as the track is, "Rotten Soil" matches it fist for fist, with a primal thundering rock fury that translates from its verse grooves to the that amazing riff at 1:00, right before the warlike breakdown. The punk rhythms later in the track are likewise phenomenal, and at one point the band clearly has not forgotten the death metal that got them here. "Wolverine Blues" had already been included with the Hollowman EP, but here you get to experience the track as intended with vocals, instead of the samples that covered it. Same choppy, lowdown riffing grit, and the track really subsists off the big blues groove guitar at about the 1:00 mark.

I'm a misanthropical breed
insatiable in my need to feed

What follows is perhaps my favorite track on the album, the super-grooves of "Demon", which simply crush below the vocals. In one of Petrov's more memorable recordings, his voice taunts off itself like a petrified parishioner trying to warn his townsfolk of some oncoming evil. I admit, when I first heard this song I was about ready to grab a torch and pitchfork and lose my mind, and the series of crushing thrash rhythms that remain are all brilliantly executed, including the leering lead. I don't think 'death'n'roll' gets much better than this one. "Contempt" commences with a vile weaving of melody before a solid hard rock breakdown, and the track moves along at the same relative speed as its predecessor, spinning even more little webs of evil in the melody between verses. "Full of Hell" is perhaps the most rockin' track on the album, with another of those huge, memorable hooks that I was surprised no grunge band had already written.

Speaking of grunge, the next track "Blood Song" is a vile morass of filth which stalks like some hillbilly vampire from True Blood, with a lyrical delivery that borders on both hilarious and frightening, or at the least very convincing. The shift into the thunder-punk is delicious, with some harrowing leads that feel being drunk off vitae and ready to kill. After this, the album actually trails off a little. "Hollowman" certainly isn't a bad song, but as someone who found it one of the weaker tracks on its own EP release, it's not a favorite here, though certainly above the rank of filler for the bluesy bluster of its bridge (about 2:00 in). The rock riff in the verse for "Heavens Die" burns with a lot of soul, and there's another little basic punk rhythm in there over which the guitars launch into a psychotropic lead, but again, just not a favorite. That being said, both of these tracks are superior to the bonus track "Out of Hand", which is included with some versions of the album, and not all memorable.

Wolverine Blues may be the London bridge between the band's creative impetus, expanding senses and the sullen heap of mediocrity they would next produce (To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth) within three years, but it certainly has few flaws of its own, and remains one of the band's better albums today. The influences that poked their heads through the ominous awnings of Clandestine are extracted and given new life to flit about and write themselves into the core songwriting, and the result was far more refreshing than the majority of death metal being produced in 1993. Entombed continued to prove here that they were innovators rather than simply followers. It's just unfortunate that same motivation wound up steering them into such a sinkhole later.

Highlights: Eyemaster, Rotten Soil, Demon, Full of Hell, Blood Song

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (emotionally disqualified)

http://www.entombed.org/

Entombed - Clandestine (1991)

One of the dangers of producing an astoundingly awesome debut album is the amount of expectations you carry into the followup: how do you possibly improve upon perfection, in this case the Left Hand Path? The answer is that you probably can't, so try and write the best songs you can and let the legacy speak for itself. In the case of Entombed, the style and sound on the debut were so fresh in the minds of an emerging genre of metal fans that it would have been foolish to let the reins loose. Clandestine is honestly pretty close in tone to its masterful predecessor, but there are a few minor differences. It's more accessible simply through its predilection towards building monumental grooves that had a massive appeal across the metal boundary (and into the emerging mosh scene, which I call a scene because a great many people were brought into extreme metal because of their attraction to the physical side of the concert experience...blame "Raining Blood").

Clandestine also had a little more of a rock injection, something the band would continue to flesh out for the remainder of their career, but here it is in its infancy, hanging at the very edge of perception, and cycling fresh blood through the band's rotted death metal heart. The guitar tone and oppressive atmosphere of Left Hand Path is retained here, but cleaned up ever so slightly. Lars-Goran Petrov had left the band in 1991 due to some personal problems (he would return), so the band had been trying a few new vocalists. Orvar Säfström of Nirvana 2002 fronted the Crawl EP, and Johnny Dordevic of Carnage was supposedly going to do the vocals here, but it was drummer Nicke Andersson's vocals which made the cut, not a huge surprise, since the man was also responsible for much of the songwriting.

"Living Dead" tears straight from the grave like the titular risen corpse, given a new lease on brains and mayhem, the caustic guitar salvo derived straight from the grinding morass of Left Hand Path. The album's first massive breakdown occurs right at about a minute here, a chunky thrashing rhythm glazed in some samples for effect, and it's not difficult to visualize the violence this kind of riff could cause at a concert. But oh, it is only the first of several. "Sinners Bleed" starts at a rolling tank pace ala Bolt Thrower before the great pause at around 1:00 where the keyboard strike builds sufficient b-horror flick tension and the guitars get to rocking out (the first real trace of the band's groove rock imperative). But perhaps the very best part of this track is the grinding rhythm at around 2:30, thick like a thousand fists beating your door down, as the creatures attached to them seek your blood for sustenance. "Evilyn" kicks directly into another of the album's most memorable moments, a snappy thrash/death rhythm which bounces along, teasing in that 'you can't touch this' manner in which yours truly may have felt about Skeletor's co-conspiratorial concubine in the 80s. The song includes a creepy, repetitious acoustic guitar dowsed in chorus while the rhythm transforms into a morose, mortuary blues. Also, I'd be remiss to not mention the necro-smutty lyrics, which I love.

She's gone down below
but I'm no longer at her side
and I'm drunk with the love
of the dead who is my bride

"Blessed Be" grinds off with a choppy d-beat energy pulsing through its veins, mad splatters of confused leads weave through its depths. A wall of chords at 2:30 announces a tempo change towards a dirge-like doom rhythm smothered in multi-tracked vocals, and then another lead offsets a punk thrust to the climax death riffing. Not my favorite track on the album, but for Clandestine, even the lesser offering like this is pretty damned good. "Stranger Aeons" begins like an otherworldly lurch into darkness, before it becomes the most insane rocking mosh-off festival Entombed have ever written, with a Slayer-like feel to its descending guitar fill, and then another bruising mid-paced chugger rhythm cut through by a very catchy sub-riff. Oh, but wait, at 1:50 it offers yet ANOTHER insane breakdown, and if anyone on the dance floor was left uninjured, well, that status was about to change before the wild leads scathed off into a bog of reeking corpses. It's an undeniably excellent tune, regardless of how many steak headed mosh posses you had to shake off your back in the live setting. "Chaos Breed" is more of a surge of catchy rock rhythms basted in the band's punishing tone, blasted apart by a savage deathgrind cannon, but here the band pulls out yet another big breakdown, this time with a more direct influence from "Raining Blood".

"Crawl" is essentially the same track we heard from the teaser EP, only with the vocals transmitted through Nicke Andersson's testorone choked throat and a brighter, bloodier tone that matches the remainder of the album. It's network of creepy corridor-like rhythms sounds as lurid and inviting today as it did in 1992, and it's no joke why it was chosen as the advance peek at Clandestine's content. To follow this, the fist fighting mosh pattern that initiates "Severed Burns", soon to morph into eerie spikes of doom in the pre-verse, and then the grinding force of the verse itself. Dominant and crushing, but it's also one of my least favorites on this effort, which is saying quite a lot for the album. The final, track "Through the Colonnades", suffers no such distinction; a carefully crafted journey through haunting, clean tones offset by a flowing river of sanguine bass and background fuzz, a mounting horror that eventually caves in to the bands fierce rocking outbursts.

So in terms of following up Left Hand Path, this felt like a crisis inverted. In fact, while I don't find the album quite so flawless in comparison, it does have a more dynamic range created through the big breakdowns and carnal rock infusion. Plus, it would be a lie to say it didn't possess that same, morbid atmosphere that is so rarely found outside of the late 80s/early 90s European death metal scene, and truly, the band's first two albums are a clear demonstration of just how much they were one of its dominant forces. How many bands have come along in the past 20 years to ape the sound of Entombed? Countless fucking numbers. It's so commonplace to bite off Nihilist/Entombed (and a few of their less successful peers like Dismember) that it's almost come full circle...with a lot of hipster grind/d-beat fans thinking their favorite bands of today are somehow original.

Left Hand Path remains the better of these two monstrous offerings to my own ears, but even I have to admit that Clandestine has probably a larger influence on both metal and hardcore music, and those bands who would later join the two. Whether that has been a positive in the long run might be up for debate, but in 1991, this album could only be considered a titan of its time.

Highlights: the many stars you'll discover as this album continues to plant its undead foot in your face. But will you be alive long enough to name them?

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (beneath these walls of power)

http://www.entombed.org/

Entombed - Serpent Saints: The Ten Amendments (2007)

The first time I put this album on and the spooky acoustics and piano parted ways like virgin lips for the full on, refreshing blast of Sweden's favorite death metal pastime, I had nothing but a hideous, fat smile across my pasty face. This was the Entombed that I had known and loved in the early 90s, one of the first true breakout bands in the entire death metal genre. And yet, this was still the Entombed that loved its rock & roll, hardcore and punk rock music. But of all their work post Wolverine Blues, this must be the album that I most closely associate with a 'return to the roots' that made the band such a force to begin with. It also arrived about four years after its predecessor, not the first of these seeming pauses in the band's discography. But this album had the benefit of a 'preview' the year before through the When in Sodom EP, which was excellent. And while To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth was an underwhelming evolution for the band, which by this point even the more steadfast of the band's fans have largely forgotten, Serpent Saints - The Ten Amendments is a celebration of their entire history, smothered across 10 tight tracks of darkly comic mayhem.

Yes, the lyrics to this album are just as tongue in cheek as the past few efforts, if not more so, and for this reason, homophobes and curmudgeons might squawk at some of the delivery, especially since L-G Petrov is also having a go with his vocals here. But I assure you, this is all intentional, in the same bitter, dried wit of Morning Star and Inferno. Other changes here are to the tone, which is far cleaner than Inferno, possibly one of the more professional jobs they've had done with their work, yet still dense and atmospheric like their debut Left Hand Path. Other change-ups occur here within the band's lineup: Olle Dahlstedt of Misery Loves Co. takes over Peter Stjärnvind long-standing drumkit, and Nico Elgstrand of Terra Firma replaces Jörgen Sandström on the bass. Also, Uffe Cederlund had departed, so Alex Hellid was alone here on the guitars. But fear not, the integration here is quite seamless. Maybe the drums are a little tighter, but that's all I could notice.

The title track is a great choice for kicking off this beast, as it sprays a wave of loving nostalgia across your soul like a skunk excretion...you'll be wearing that smile long after the song ends, and your friends will be curious as to weather you're high or simply had a great sexual experience. They also might hesitate to shake your hand, you naughty sinner. There is still a hardcore/grind inflection to the guitar work that drives the tune forward, but then, this has always been the case, as far back as their formative years as Nihilist. Everything here is superb, from the verses to the crushing breakdown complete with Petrov's mouth full of angst, compounded here by the addition of 'snarling', black metal style vocals which we really haven't heard before from this source. "Masters of Death" opens with a salvo of 80s thrash guitars, recalling the fuzzy tone of Indestroy or Venom before moving towards a crossover rhythm strewn in death metal icing. "Amok" begins with all the subtlety of a late night slasher flick, building tension through ambiance and tolling before the deep groove of the guitars can be felt, and I mean groove. If Jimmy Page had been a serial killer, he might have written something like this before he went out on his final spree. The lyrics are blunt and a little strange, but they seem to fit the profile.

You wanna see me dead and buried
You better think again
I am the one your daughter married
And I don't play pretend

"Thy Kingdom Koma" digs down for another thrash riff, and Petrov uses one of his classic grand entrances, as the vocals echo into existence over the forward termination ala "Eyemaster". The track is a lot of fun, though the crunchy breakdown riff would hardly be effective without the atmosphere created by the vocals. We'd already been introduced to "When in Sodom" with the EP, but it fits in snugly here with its batshit dorky sexualizations, hinting at a larger social political perspective (as always). The use of the female backups in the bridge adds another level to the track, like the eerie biblical transgressions they conjure. Next is the slamming "In the Blood", with opens with a wall of groove every bit as massive as that you might find in "Demon" off Wolverine Blues, but grows ever creepier, as Petrov reaches into the gut and emerges with some of the most guttural vox he has used in forever. "Ministry" is a strange, percussive, choppy rhythmic piece which actually conjured up the BAND Ministry, at least during the verse, so I doubt the title is a coincidence. The chorus is driving and melodic, but otherwise it's probably the worst song on the album.

"The Dead, The Dying and the Dying to Be Dead", which wins an award here for best song title, starts off with a rock hook which might mislead you to think this is some tripe like what the band shat out on Same Difference, but it does escalate into a violent hybrid of punk and thrash, with some charging footwork breaks and a pretty amusing lyrical passage:

They fuck you standing up, they fuck you when you're down
And if you get to be the king, they will shit on your crown
And when you're dead, you won't be forgotten
They will dig you up, and they will fuck you rotten

Despite its wild cavorting and the crazy King Diamond-like laughter which hangs off in the distance during the groove, ghoulish breakdown, this too was not one of the better songs here, though superior to "Ministry" at least and lyrically entertaining. I was a little worried that "Warfare, Plague, Famine, Death" might follow suit, since it also brings back a lot of the band's hardcore influence, but the chorus here is fantastic, with little samples that break out behind the vocal line and a brutal thrash charge in there which alternates with a wailing old school Entombed deadline melody. "Love Song for Lucifer" is truly unique, like the closing cut "Amen" off the When in Sodom EP. A clean male/female vocal duet soothes over bristling acoustic guitars and turbulent background noise, as if they were being directed at you from a lone radio in an apocalyptic wasteland, the batteries soon to run dry. These are joined by some distorted barks before the track closes out the album with a series of cranking noises. Though strange, the track is sufficiently unsettling, and the pseudo-sexuality of lyrics that open with a repetition of "Come inside of me" is not lost upon its blasphemous veneer.

As you can tell, I'm pretty fond of Serpent Saints, an extremely solid album #9 for a band almost 20 years into their career. This is obviously not at the Left Hand Path level, or even Clandestine quality, but I'm not sure they will ever reach that again, so this sits confidently along with Wolverine Blues and Morning Star across the band's second tier of material. "Ministry" is probably the one song here I didn't care for, though "The Dead, The Dying and the Dying to Be Dead" has its weaknesses. To be honest, the trajectory of Serpent Saints falls slightly beneath the plane I had anticipated after hearing the 2006 EP, which featured some superb non-album tracks that are better than some of the songs here. Either way, this is money well spent. It's old but new, sleek and polished, and dripping with both humor and bitter humility.

Highlights: Serpent Saints, Masters of Death, In the Blood, When in Sodom, Love Song for Lucifer

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (sick at it may seem)

http://www.entombed.org

Entombed - Inferno (2003)

The 8th full-length from Entombed sees the band strike out on a plateau after their surprisingly great Morning Star. Inferno is a moody album which falls between that and Uprising. A grimy tone permeates this recording like a thick, toxic membrane, a riotous unrest ready to erupt at any second. The band brings back their rock, punk and hardcore influences here a little more than the previous album, and they've continued to write some clever lyrics here while emphasizing their conceptual bridge between social relevance and a spot or two of good old fashioned blasphemy. In all, it's a strong effort, with a long track list (13 songs plus a few more if you've got the Candlelight release with the bonus Averno disc), though on a few, brief occasions it does flirt with mediocrity.

The first track "Retaliation" is a slow if effective march which functions purely on the immense, cold crunch of its guitars, like an war party of neanderthals stalking a torchlit night out of desperation to find some shelter. The track gets pretty fuzzy and atmospheric in its closing climes, as it catapults into the churning two-fisted slugger "The Fix is In", a thick slice of hardcore punk which simmers in the juices of its wailing guitars and dour mood, with more of the band's entertaining, pseudo-Satanic lyrics, of which my favorite line was the repetition of "Heretic at the stake/Let the motherfucker bake" in the bridge. "Incinerator" is a choppy, mud-spattered thrasher which rekindles a bit of that Slayer influence the band ever been high off, with a great energy and some killer lyrics:

Children of black coffins
Awaiting to be sincerely torn
Bones are crushed by machinery
Their dust will be spread by the storm

"Children of the Underworld" follows, one of the best tracks on the album, a dire and slowly flowing roast of regrets and sorrow, guitar atmospherics fluttering about the gray winds of force the central rhythm emits, and an excellent breakdown with a massive chuggernaut riff that is almost impossible not to slowly worship with a steady, subtle nodding of the skull. "That's When I Became a Satanist" rips out more of the thrash breaks, with a grooving hardcore thrust and more of the band's dark sense of humor inherent in the lyrics. The chorus to this is a total dark punk headbanger. The quirky titled "Nobodaddy" celebrates good old fashion family values with a big, splashing groove that cedes to subtle mute picked rhythms that swerve with the bass to the inevitable climax. Another of the best on the album, followed by a catchy 2 minute piano "Intermission" which may remind you of how "DCLXVI" was used on To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth, only this is better.

With the exception of maybe the more pronounced vocals, "Young & Dead" is a pretty close facsimile to the material of the first two albums, with steadily grinding guitars that storm ever forward, here layered in a few keyboard strikes to create a pretty horrific atmosphere. The breakdown in this one is all gloom and doom, like drowning yourself in tar. "Descent Into Inferno" breeds some nice, slow grooves with tremulous guitar effects in the verse, sliding across the land like a serpent bloated on lust and lies. However, I found the latter half of the track somewhat lackluster, in particular the slow crushing stoner grooves which conjured nothing but apathy. "Public Burning" is another of the band's socially charged anthems towards castigation of the oppressor, with some half decent, if forgettable punk riffs that morph into a grooving rockslide.

Which leads us into the twilight minutes of Inferno, beginning with the bouncing, carnal gait that chugs under "Flexing Muscles", an indictment of our far too image conscious Western civilization, kind of an attempt to trim the fat out the shallower end of masculinity, like Fight Club only more metal. I dig the fuzzy moldering of the guitars in the bridge, but the breakdown leaves a little to be desired. "Skeleton of Steel" is a slow, petulant thrasher which is suitable for a calm and controlled moshing, a cute little Slayer-like rhythm woven between its more brutal verses. "Night for Day" is the finale of the core album, a great track which recalls "Chief Rebel Angel" but truly crushing and depressing, making good use of atmospheric elements like a tolling belltower and subtle sweep of orchestration. This is another of Inferno's best, and I found it interesting as the following album Serpent Saints would go this route often with tracks like "When in Sodom".

If you have access to the edition with the bonus Averno disc, then I'd truly recommend you splurge on this instead of just the single CD, since it has some worthwhile non-album cuts. "When Humanity's Gone" is a burning, rollicking old school Entombed death metal track with a sludgy bridge, followed by the more hardcore infused "There Are Horrors of 1000 Nightmares". The chuggy "Random Guitar" is possibly the strongest track on the bonus EP, with a fun feel to its, some edge harmonic riffs and a solid groove. After these, there are 'video edit' version of the band's cover of Stillborn's "Albino Flogged in Black" and "Retaliation" from this very album. Neither could be considered important, unless you haven't heard the cover, and there are also videos included here for both of these.

Inferno is certainly a strong value, and belongs as a check in the positive category when examining the peaks and valleys the seminal Swedish outfit's roller coaster career. The majority of the tracks are great, even if they may feel a little more subdued than the previous album. The dark tone in general of this effort is very much appreciated, adding a cohesion to its many tracks and the ominous implications of its lyrical matter. I could definitely skip out on "Public Burning", and parts of "Flexing Muscles" or "Descent Into Inferno" and feel like I've lost nothing, but that's not a bad price to pay when you consider the quality of the difference left over. This is of course a stopgap between two better albums, but there are numerous tracks to which I return often.

Highlights: Children of the Underworld, Nobodaddy, Young & Dead, Night for Day

Verdict: Win [8/10] (we repent nothing)

http://www.entombed.org/

Entombed - Morning Star (2001)

After greasing up their long-dead engines with Uprising in 2000, there was really only one path Entombed could be hiking...the one that would lead them back to the grave. Yes, Morning Star is the most metal release the band had written since Clandestine, with even less of a rock infusion than 1993's Wolverine Blues. That is not to say the band has abandoned the blues and punk influence of their past few albums, for it remains an 'option' here, used only in a few tracks and often to better effect than when it was the norm. There's also an increased attention here for the occult and religious themes which would persist through the albums following this (Inferno and Serpent Saints).

Morning Star is not death metal in the sense that the band's classics Left Hand Path and Clandestine were, though. This is more of a slowed-down barbaric crunch metal Entombed, with a huge production, crushing grooves, and an element of thrash. The Swedes have always given me impressions of Slayer when they write their faster evil breakdowns, and perhaps more on this album than any other. This is an album Tom Araya and company might have written, but with the obvious differences in guitar tone and L-G Petrov's vocals. It also has a step 'forward' in production value from the very brash, dirty Uprising the previous year, but it makes sense, as this is a very different type of record. And most notably, the lyrics here are an enormous leap above the last three albums, weaving heavy handed sacrilege into relevant, cautionary tales that involve our modern lives.

"Chief Rebel Angel" begins with the pulse of a 'heart', the dull smack of a few acoustic notes awash in sprightly pianos, before a tour de force in chords grinds your soul into chopped liver, like facing down leviathan at 20 paces. The sequence of notes is rather familiar, but given a vibrant infusion of aggression that works as quick concrete below Petrov's vocals. The chorus alone is the best thing the band has done in years, breeding much anticipation for the tracks to come, and when the band hits that doomed sequence at 3:10, it's simply ON. "I For An Eye" rocks out with all the crunch of a Clandestine track re-mastered for the modern era, a huge groove akin to more modern Slayer, but better, flowing forward like a set of brass knuckles to the chin of God. When the band hits the bridge, it's almost pure oldschool Entombed! Bang thy fucking head I exclaim. "Bringer of Light" evolves about its central, sluglike grace, a thundering groove that erupts beneath some faintly audible atmospheric guitars. The track also has some of the best Entombed lyrics I've yet read, in particular the clever chorus:

At the head of all tables, bringer of light, here I am...I'm your man!
I will kill you if I must, I will help you if I can, I'm your man!
At the head of all tables, here I am, I'm your man!
I will help you if I must I will kill you if I can!

That's pretty bad ass right there, not to mention the rest of the lyrics in the song. I truly enjoy the Satanic undertones implied through a few of the songs here. "Ensemble of the Restless" starts with a meaty grooving grunge rock tone which wouldn't sound out of place from the band Gruntruck, save for the the uptempo thrash beat that explodes into the hardcore punk of the chorus. "Out of Heaven" builds a nice, rock groove to a steady beat, and for some reason I am again reminded of something Slayer might write, the vocals just have that bitter edge to them. "Young Man Nihilist" belts out another thick rhythm, a crushing use of the band's distinct guitar tones with an energetic sprinkle of liberating lyrics, and a kickass death/thrash bridge. "Year One Now" is the type of track I'd expect to hear more from Sick of It All than Entombed, a big political hardcore kick in the stomach that breaks for chugging aggression and wailing blues leads.

"Fractures" is a giant, grooving rock saga which hits you like a tank at 15mph. Sure, it might take awhile, but bones WILL be broken. "When it Hits Home" starts with a roughshod mix akin to the entire Uprising album, but it eventually picks up into the production of the rest of the record, a hard rocker with southern swagger which is honestly my least favorite of the album, though it has some of the more entertaining, humorous lyrics on the album.

You fist-fucked the planet and smiled, and licked your fingers clean
As gods come and go, you did not make the winning team

"City of Ghosts" is a a street fighting, barebones brawler which ranges from a crunching mid paced thrash rhythm to some great evocations of Sabbath-like evil doom in the bridge, and one of the more memorable tracks on the latter half of the record. "About to Die" is the band's last foray into bruising speed here, its great riffing made even stronger by the full bodied tone of the guitars and a nice, violent hardcore breakdown. "Mental Twin" is one of the more unusual tracks on Morning Star, a fusion of say...the Melvins and Fugazi, a post-hardcore sheen to the flowing thud of the bass and streaming octave chords that graze off across the skyline like industrial smokestacks.

Although the majority of the songs are well written and even given some rapt lyrical attention, I can't stress enough how the star half of Morning Star should be awarded to the mix. It's deep and overpowering, easily clobbering anything else in the band's career from a technical standpoint (though I have a soft spot for the dark atmosphere of the first two albums). Pouring forth from your speakers, it has an almost soothing, warm effect, despite the inherent hostility of the music itself.

In retrospect, I feel that Morning Star is just as good as Wolverine Blues. It may lack the utter savagery of that album or the novelty of its death & roll image, but it makes up for that with its huge tones and the dark humor of its lyrics. It's no masterpiece, and I don't really care for the music to "When It Hits Home", but it was very exciting to hear the band release another album at this level of quality, after so many years of regress. Uprising was a promising return from the void, but this album is the promise kept and expanded upon.

Highlights: Chief Rebel Angel, Bringer of Light, City of Ghosts, About to Die

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (a modern hell is an enterprise)

http://www.entombed.org/

Entombed - Uprising (2000)

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Entombed - Same Difference (1998)

The cover for the previous Entombed might have been a little unusual, but at the least it was visually appealing enough to intrigue you as to the album's contents. The cover for Same Difference is the same lackadaisical photography I might expect from some 90s alt rock or alt metal band like Clutch or Paw, but from fucking Entombed? But this is really only the first of many complaints for what is easily the most loathsome direction the band would take in their career, the sodden pits of quality which don't even function properly in their intended context: a full on heavy blues rock & roll album with a dash of punk and only the faintest trace of the mighty Swedes that once were.

Perhaps Clutch of Paw are good references, because this is the same type of blues/alt metal that those bands spun off into (though Clutch did a damn fine job of it, and the existence of an album like Elephant Riders only renders this one that much more irrelevant). I'm also reminded of how Corrosion of Conformity went from their excellent spastic crossover roots to a tamer thrash metal, and then to their gelded, polished stoner rock. While I'm no natural enemy towards change, I would ask you, should this album ever darken your day by crossing your path, to do a point by point comparison with Left Hand Path. Hear what Entombed had been, and then check out what Entombed had become. It is truly fucking sad. All that being said, had Same Difference possessed a catchy song or three, hell, even a catchy pop song, there might be something to forgive. But this the worst kind of experiment...the antithesis of 'progression', because it makes even the bland To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth seem mildly exciting by comparison.

"Addiction King" opens with a guitar melody that feeds off the pummeling bass below, and then a rolling chug rhythm and driving punk sequence which sadly represents the best the album will have to offer. Yes, Same Difference blows its wad within the first 3 minutes, with a track on the level of the previous album, decent but not enough so that it beckons a replay. Still, it almost gives an impression that this album might be an improvement over the prior, until "The Supreme Good" rolls across like some lost jam session between Soundgarden and the Snapcase vocalist, straight through your hearing pipes into the bargain bin. "Clauses" is a crashing heavy metal blues, and though the chorus attempts to build power, it simply lapses back into the bluesy rhythm with ringing melody which you've already grown tired of. "Kick in the Head" is more bouncy, forgettable alt rock, and for the title track they break out another of their Zeppelin/Hendrix inspired groove rhythms with a very "Albatross" verse riff and vocals (again, I refer you to Corrosion of Conformity who performed a similar castration to their career).

Surely, there is a diamond in the rough somewhere within the bowels of this album! It's not "Close But Nowhere Near", another Zeppelin groove with a semi-memorable chorus. "What You Need" slams pretty hard, like a chugging post hardcore that breaks into a filthy punk rock bridge rhythm, and it might just rival "Addiction King" for the best song on the album, due to big bass chord anchors. "High Waters" is reasonably atmospheric, with the lurching swamp bass, but offers no punchline, and "20/20" also wants hard to be a winner, but aside from the catchy notes played alongside the chorus, and the big bass strikes during the breakdown, it's just not that good.

By this point, at least the band are writing songs that don't put you immediately to sleep; they simply do not capitalize on their potential strengths. "The Day, The Earth" is fairly fluent as it stalks through the verse, with a big bass line grooving through, but all you've got to look forward to is a repetition of this same rhythm, with a chug thrown in for pacing. "Smart Aleck" and "Jack Worm" are dirty and aggressive, and both might have fit in with To Ride, To Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth, with the latter the more promising of the two, and the noisy, thumping rocker "Wolf Tickets" elongates its muddy blues into a mannerism that might have Monster Magnet fans' hands in their pants, but again, 30-60 seconds into the track, and you've heard al you need, with no important escalation or surprise awaiting you.

Same Difference reeks, but if I have to give it some credit, it at least tries to save face later on. The entire latter half of the album seems more strongly crafted than the first, but not strong enough to pitch the remaining salt water from the hull, to save the sailors from drowning. There is enough dark and brooding to subtly identify it with the Entombed of the past two albums, but it feels like the sort of 'filler' album which might have been better faced with a rejection notice. Still, the Swedes had enough punch and pull to do whatever amused them by this point, and never a band to recoil at change, this cartload of poo is now forever besmeared across their discography. Like a bad hangover, it lingers on, crushing at your patience. My advice would be to listen to the tracks in reverse, at least that way you'll only be bored to tears by the time you shut it off, and not livid with anger and confusion.

Highlights: knowing where to turn when you next run dry of firewood.

Verdict: Fail [3.75/10] (nature found a way today)

http://www.entombed.org/

Entombed - To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth (1997)

Sometimes a great idea can go south pretty quickly, but in the case of To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth, we had to wait about four years for it to go south. Whereas the previous album Wolverine Blues injected more of the band's punk, blues and rock & roll influence successfully into their death metal foundation, this 4th album pretty much leeches all the life and potential out of the hybrid of styles, with about 10-11 entirely boring songs that I can remember skipping over as early as the second listen through the album. Wolverine Blues may have stretched the patience of some fans, who were very disappointed to hear Entombed take a step away from their classic albums Left Hand Path and Clandestine, but at least that was a song built on a promising principle and some fine songwriting, with memorable hooks galore and feeling extremely original for what it was.

To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth lacks all that skilled writing, all of that inspiration, and to be honest, much of the raw energy of its predecessor. So much of this should have just been left on the cutting room floor until it could have been developed into a decent set of songs. I'm not much of a fisherman these days, but I can recall expeditions in my youth in which I'd reel in fish that were simply too small to be considered for dinner. So I'd throw them back in the pond, hoping in a few months or years I'd return for them in their full volume and fighting spirit. Entombed might have done the same with To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth, rather than underwhelm us so after four eager years. This album may not be the equivalent to Metallica's St. Anger level of crushing disappointment, but it certainly qualifies as a Load, or Re-Load. Unfortunately, even at its most aroused state, this album is firing a load of blanks.

The title track feels like an attempt to build some sort of tension for a far more energetic track to follow, but it's really just a hustling, shuffling blues rock rhythm with a few dull boogie downs, even when L-G Petrov howls his angst over the melodic guitars in the bridge, it's still about as exciting getting to your mailbox and finding nothing but spam. "Like This with the Devil" might have saved the album's suffering, but the grooving riff that opens it feels like the same thing any lowbrow nu-metal Ozzfest opener might have performed, and the slightly punk shift to the bridge does nothing for it. "Lights Out" sounds like a track from Wolverine Blues being castrated, with a meaty guitar tone but a lazy chord sequence that does very little, nor does the chorus. "Wound" is a little noisier, like a Melvins take on Entombed, but once more, the very dull writing kills it quickly, and "They" is very high on the rock and roll and low on the memorable scale. "Somewhat Peculiar" might have been the first song on the album I never felt I really had to skip, with huge grungy bends and a half decent bridge melody on the guitar, but I probably wouldn't include it on an Entombed mix tape even if I had to choose songs from every album.

The piano piece "DCLXVI" serves as an intermission, and surprisingly it is one of the better composed pieces of music on the album, which would have been served wisely as the intro with a truly ass kicking song to follow. Here it's in the middle, and followed by "Parasight", which is another of the album's better tracks, especially when it builds up the crazy ass chorus around :45, but still choked with a throwaway riff or two. "Damn Deal Done" is like your feel good, hillbilly stoner rock meets grunge, with a riff inspired by the usual suspects (Zeppelin, Sabbath, Hendrix, etc), which sadly remains interesting for about as long as it takes for you to reach the SKIP button on your CD player. "Put Me Out" has a pretty cool Uncle Fester rockabilly, creepy vocal intro, infused with freakish laughter that sounds like the band might be about to bust out "The Monster Mash", but once the novelty ends, so does the interest level.

"Just as Sad" would almost be good, only the band have done far better songs of this nature on the previous Wolverine Blues (like "Eyemaster") or the Hollowman EP ("Serpent Speech"). "Boats" has a kinda cool blues swagger to it, like a Danzig/Melvins hybrid, but after the wah spin to the original hook, nothing exciting manifests. "Uffe's Horroshow" is a turbulent jammer with a few vocals, but simply serves as a minute or so of undeveloped potenial, bruising rhythms and howling. Interestingly, the song "Wreckage" is the final cut on the album, after seeing an EP release earlier alongside some cover tracks. I'd have to say it's the best song on this whole album, with a pissed off, filthy punch to the guitars and a nice little guitar fill in the chorus. But considering what it has here to compete with...that's just not saying much.

I guess if you'd had your fingers crossed that Entombed would move into an even more punkish blues rock direction post-Wolverine Blues, you might have found yourself briefly amused by this album, but it arrived and departed, nobody really cared, and people at their live gigs were still craving to old school butchery of their first two full-lengths. But clearly, judging by the album to follow, Entombed had yet to fully wash the mediocrity out of their systems. My opinions on this album may closely resemble the flat-lining signal on a heart monitor, but at least it's not Same Difference.

Highlights: Parasight, Wreckage

Verdict: Indifference [5/10] (sinking by the minute)

http://www.entombed.org/

Entombed - Unreal Estate (2005)

Unreal Estate is the 2nd live album from Sweden's Entombed, and a far more interesting product than its predecessor Monkey Puss (Live in London). If not only for the superior sound and interesting track list, which features mostly newer material, it was recording during the band's 2002 performances at the Royal Opera Hall in Stockholm, where the band was accompanied by 30 dancers of the Swedish Royal Ballet, translating the band's death metal rock & roll to a visual medium. Yes, a death metal ballet. And this must be the only flaw with Unreal Estate...because this simply should not have been released with only the audio component. The booklet does feature some great pictures of the events, but it's simply not the same as seeing them in motion to the music.

But, alas, this is an audio product, and as such, it's certainly impressive. The guitars are chunky but clean, and being that this was not your average rock hall concert, you don't get any loud jeering or hissing applause between tracks, lending the material a certain, stilled degree of darkness which increases the effect. The band is also spot on here, with pretty accurate, and largely unfiltered performances, none of the messy bootleg feeling of Monkey Puss. L-G Petrov sounds ominous on this recording, like a prophet of the end times, relating his bitter rock & roll violence to a surely fascinated crowd of both Entombed dopeheads playing dress-up and ballet fans who must have been blown away. The thought of some shut-in ballet/opera snob purchasing a death metal album after one of these performances is more than enough to lube my chassis.

The performance opens with "DCLXVI" from To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth, an adequate piano piece which might have seemed a relief to any showgoers who weren't expecting the aggression to follow. "Chief Rebel Angel" is one of two tracks here to represent the Morning Star album, which was the most recent full-length out in shops at this time. It sounds really good, backing vocals included, and a perfect chugging gait to the guitars which must have been hugely resonant in such a performance venue. The other Morning Star track here is "Mental Twin", with its ominous, sailing octave chords and pummeling bass undertow. A larger chunk of the live is devoted towards material from Uprising. The plodding bass of "Say It In Slugs" is great to ease the audience into the bands harder material. The impossibly thick chugging that opens "Returning to Madness" is a vibrant molasses, and this is another bass heavy offering which must have been a sight with all the ballet dancers. "In the Flesh" is likewise great, eerie organs transforming into the track's dark, murderous blues, and "Something Out of Nothing" fits like a missing jigsaw piece with its Slayer-ific intro rhythm and balls deep rocking edge.

"Unreal Estate" is a fast paced, deathgrind track under a minute long which was included in the performance, and another unique piece is "It is Later Than You Think", an unnerving ambient sequence with voice loops, bells and noise samples. The band also performs their cover of Rory Ericksson's "Night of the Vampire" here, which meshes in very well with the originals they've chosen to include, and I honestly prefer this live version to their studio takes. Closing out Unreal Estate is the sole track from their old days, the extended instrumental bridge of "Left Hand Path", which sounds amazing in this dark, theatric atmosphere, possessing more gravity than most of the rest combined.

It's a little regretful that they did not incorporate more early material to this release, since that one track sounds so brilliant here, and though the remaining songs are good, they simply don't compare in compositional skill. This is only one of the performances, there were several, so it is possible there could be other set lists recorded, but unlikely, as that would have required the ballet dancers to rehearse a lot more material. At least there is a good cross offering of material, and they don't include any of the rock tracks from their two worst albums (Same Difference and To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth). Unreal Estate is a great experience, and I'd be a fool not to be jealous of those who got to participate in it. This is another successful experiment for a band unafraid to cross lines, but it would have been far better had it included the full video, shot in a quality rivaling the audio. I can't imagine having one without the other, but sadly, you'll have to stare at the pictures and use your own imagination.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.entombed.org/

Entombed - Sons of Satan Praise the Lord (2002)

Entombed have recorded a LOT of cover tunes over their career, the majority of which they have distributed through an array of short play releases, like EPs, singles and splits, with a few having appeared as bonus tracks on various version of their full-length albums. As a sane person, you probably would never have been bothered to track down and squander coin on all of these various items, thus your own exposure to these songs has been limited to internet downloads or possibly live performances. Well, the time was right in 2002 for Entombed to gather a whole pile of these things into one place, the Sons of Satan Praise the Lord compilation, and release it through Music for Nations.

Now, as an insane person, i.e. a collector (yours truly once fell into this category, sadly), the value of this 2-disc, 27-track compilation might diminish. If you've collected the band's many EPs and singles, and own the self-titled compilation from 1997, you've already got a large portion of this material. Sons of Satan Praise the Lord is still a great way to have them all under one roof, since you can just bring the two discs to your car or snowmobile and rock the hell out through the collective decades of music that have influenced your favorite death metal-gone-rock'n'roll band. As I go through this, I'm going to focus more tightly on the tracks I haven't already covered on another of the band's releases.

Disc 1 begins with Repulsion's "Black Breath", from the Out of Hand EP (and Entombed compilation), which is an average take on the song that doesn't really live up to the original, but it harmless nonetheless. "Albino Flogged in Black" is a strong cover of the doomlike track that appeared on Stillborn's debut Necrospirituals, and I rather liked it, also the fact that Entombed has come up on a lot of their country's good, obscure acts like this one. It's naught but a few chords given a dank, bluesy atmosphere, but it rocks. After this, Entombed cover both "March of the S.O.D." and "Sergeant D and the S.O.D" from Speak English or Die. The former is alright, but lacks those pure NY thrash tones of the original, so I prefer the vocal cover, which sounds great with Petrov's vocals. "Some Velvet Morning" is quite an asskicking cover of the Lee Hazlewood original, dowsed in the huge fuzzy guitars and vocals which I'd argue trump the original, including the lines insertions which do justice to Nancy Sinatra's originals. A very successful experiment here. Nobody does Motörhead quite like Motörhead, but Entombed try damn hard with "One Track Mind"; I just don't care much for the vocals, a little too blunt, though the guitar riffs sound great with this tone.

Next up, a pretty dense and powerful chugging take on the Misfits "Hollywood Babylon", which crushes in the hands of the Swedes, given new life and an even wilder abandon that perhaps the old Static Age version (okay who am I kidding). Rory Erickson's "Night of the Vampire" is a decent cover, already having appeared on Entombed's split with the New Bomb Turks and then the 1997 compilation, as did the rendition of KISS's "God of Thunder", which I never much cared for when I first heard it. I was very surprised to find a treatment of Hüsker Dü's "Something I Learnt Today" here, but despite the added 'darkness' of the bands ripping, thick tone, it just doesn't compare...though it does offer further proof that these boys have some taste in who they choose to pay tribute. "21st Century Schizoid Man", on the other hand, sounds perfectly deviant in their care, a brutastic offering to the King Crimson original, heavy as fuck and probably something they've offered on their live bills more than once. The remainder of this disc includes the band's cool cover of Alice Cooper's "Black Juju" which they released as an EP in 1999, and a punk "Amazing Grace" which went straight through the noggin.

Disc 2 starts with the ripping cover of the Dwarves' "Satan", which appeared on the Wreckage EP, and then their very creative spin on the "Hellraiser" theme, which is taken from the excellent Hollowman EP back in '93. When, in an altered tone, the expression "Kick out the Jams Motherfucker" erupts, you know what is next, and Entombed have got themselves a pretty fun use of the MC5 classic. The cover of the Bad Brains "You't Juice" was another surprise, not that they are fans of the reggae-core legends but that they wouldn't pick something earlier that better fit the punk aesthetic. This version is honestly quite weak, losing all of what makes the original special, but it's kind of cool that it can be found at all. Venom's "Bursting Out" rages in the gruff Swedish tones, as L-G Petrov seems a natural replacement for Cronos' filthy vocal spew. Stiff Little Fingers' "State of Emergency" was already on the Full of Hell single and the Entombed compilation, but I hadn't heard their cover of Sabbath's "Under the Sun", which is pretty cruising, in particular the great bluesy lead licks.

We've got the quality cover of Unsane's "Vandal X" next, also from the Entombed compilation, and then Twisted Sister's "Tear it Loose" which the band previous released on the Wreckage EP, a fun if forgettable adaptation. The cover of Dead Horse's "Scottish Hell" is another surprise, a good band and good song, sounding fairly natural through Entombed. Unfortunately, most of the rest are covers we've already heard: Bob Dylan's "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" and Jerry Kids "Lost" from the Wreckage EP, and Captain Beyond's "Mesmerization Eclipse" which they released on the Black Juju EP. The cover of "Sentimental Funeral" from Black Juju is missing here, and the album closes with another rendition of "Amazing Grace" with different vocals...the 'mellow drunk' version, and once again skippable.

Sons of Satan Praise the Lord is pretty interesting due to the eclectic selection of songs included, but only about half the covers actually sound good enough that I'd ever want to listen to them. The biggest attractions are those I hadn't previously heard, in particular the songs taken from digipacks or overseas editions of albums that featured them as bonus content. Probably the best of the bunch are the covers of Venom, Dead Horse, Stillborn, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Dwarves, King Crimson, Lee Hazlewood, and Unsane, but this selection takes into account the fact I'm not a fan of some of the other bands' work. It's a decent idea for a release, considering how many covers Entombed had floating out there already, and other bands like Napalm Death, Overkill and Exhumed have released similar albums, though the 2 discs and 27 total tracks are a nice selling point.

Highlights: Bursting Out, Satan, Vandal X, Scottish Hell, Black Juju, Under the Sun, Albino Flogged in Black, 21st Century Schizoid Man, Some Velvet Morning

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.entombed.org/

Entombed - Monkey Puss: Live in London (1999)

This would be the 'other' Entombed release of note after the band departed from Earache Records, with a rather interesting story behind it. In short, this was a bootleg floating about the scene which Earache snapped up and decided to give an 'official' release, padding their pockets and filling out a residual obligation they had with the Swedish tyrants, who were at this point already a pair of albums deep into their Threeman Recordings/Music for Nations deal. The performances captured here were taken from a 1992 London tour, so at least you were getting the amazing Entombed of their first two albums, and not the forgettable death rock & roll the band were in the process of puking out of their systems.

One of the reasons it was chosen for release (on both album and VHS formats) was the purported quality of the sound, which I guess is basically true here. This sounds like any vibrant Entombed live performance of the day, with the chunky guitars even chunkier than their studio album counterparts, and Lars-Goran Petrov sounding a lot sloppier, like he's drunk on something he shouldn't have mixed with his medications. It's definitely not bad, but I'd never recommend any of these versions over the studio work, as they lack a little of the subtlety and mood found in their proper forms. The drums also feel as if they might fall off track during at least a few of the songs, but quickly fixed so it's not a major distraction.

As for the material appearing on the live, it's exactly 50/50 between the two albums, which makes sense; Clandestine was the album being touted and toured upon when the recording was taken, but the band's buzz was still fresh on the ears and most fans were probably still getting into Left Hand Path. We've got "Living Dead", "Stranger Aeons", "Crawl", "Sinners Bleed", and "Evilyn", all good choices from Clandestine; and "Drowned", "Revel in Flesh", "But Life Goes On", "The Truth Beyond" and "Left Hand Path" from the debut. Some of the older material sounds a little careless here, in particular "Revel in Flesh" which sounded slightly downtrodden and out of tune, even moreso than it should with the down-tuning. The opening riff to "Evilyn" also sounds pretty weak here, losing a little of the pumping mute sensation that makes it so great on the studio version. A few of the songs do sound adequate, like "Crawl" and "Left Hand Path".

Monkey Puss (stupid title, by the way) is the sort of bootleg that probably should have remained a bootleg. It's great to capture Entombed in their raw, live environment, and much of the tone here is loyal, the guitars crunchy, and the bass throbbing, but there is no benefit to hearing this over the studio side, and having caught one of their performances since, I can say that the band has certainly improved in leaps and bounds. In other words, this was pretty much bound for the bargain bins; it's like a weak little smear of Zima in your vodka & tonic, quickly absorbed and distilled by the superior quality of everything else. Very easily forgotten or ignored.

Verdict: Fail [4/10]

http://www.entombed.org/

Entombed - Entombed (1997)

After the band's departure from Earache, to make the most of their own Threeman Recordings imprint (and a distribution deal with Music for Nations), the original label would offer two more of the 'important' releases in their discography, the first being this self-titled compilation in 1997. Many labels use compilations as a cash grab to reprint material they've already released and at the same time fill out contractual obligations with artist they have worked with, and the motivation for this could have fallen in that realm. Fortunately, Entombed is a pretty useful collection of rarities that many of the band's fans might have skipped over, or remained blissfully inattentive of, in particular the EPs and singles that have been culled to flesh out this album.

First is the Out of Hand EP, which was released in 7", 12" and CD formats in 1994, with the title track appearing as the final track on the CD version of Wolverine Blues the year before. This consists of "Out of Hand", a steady rocker which doesn't quite live up to the rest of the material from that album, but nonetheless builds to a pretty raging thrash rhythm close to the climax. Also included (here and on the EP) were two cover tracks. One of KISS' "God of Thunder", which is a cool choice for the Swedes, but aside from having the harsher lyrics and punchier guitar tone, it's not all that great, and I'd choose the original any day. "Black Breath" is a better rendition, from the seminal grind gods Repulsion, given a nice thick treatment due to the guitars, but void of surprises.

Next, the Stranger Aeons EP, which features an album track from the Clandestine album ("Stranger Aeons" itself), an unreleased number known as "Dusk", and an older Nihilist track known as "Shreds of Flesh" which also appeared on the first Entombed demo But Life Goes On in 1989. I've already covered the EP in its own review, and though I question the need to have the title track here, at least it's an act of completion, and it is good to have the other tracks, despite their boxier-than-usual sound quality. The Crawl EP follows, with "Crawl" from Clandestine, "Bitter Loss" from Left Hand Path, and the non-album track "Forsaken", all with the vocals of Orvar Säfström, which are passable, but not quite as strong as the Petrov's "Bitter Loss" or Nicke Anderssons take on "Bitter Loss". So "Forsaken" is really the best value of these if you don't own the original EP.

Following the three EPs comes the cover of Texas psychedelic rocker's Rory Erickson's "Night of the Vampire", which originally appeared on a split with Ohio's New Bomb Turks. It's a moody take on the classic, with a nice Danzig-spin on the vocals and the thick, grinded up edge of the guitars delivering a crushing force above the melodies (which are sadly, a little understated in the mix). The Full of Hell EP is represented here with "State of Emergency", a cover taken from the debut of Irish punk heroes Stiff Little Fingers. I've only heard the original once or twice, but the riffs don't seem to impress me any more in Entombed's capable fingers as the original digits. The compilation closes with a take on Unsane's "Vandal X" which at the time was unique to this release, and it's the best of the covers found on Entombed, even if brief...of course if you stay tuned though a few minutes of silence, you're in for an added 'treat' at the very end of the CD.

There's nothing all that impressive about the material here, but it's handy to have all in one location, and that is the only reason I'd really recommend owning this to the Entombed fan with the cash to burn. It could truly have benefited from some unreleased originals (like the Hollowman EP did), or even the inclusion of Hollowman itself, but contract stipulations with Columbia probably forbade that. This comp also loses a little of its value due to the covers all being reprinted on the Sons of Satan Praise the Lord compilation, but that was released years after this and who could have known. It's likely a lot cheaper to pick this up at a record shop than the four EPs and the split where its contents originated, just keep in mind that nothing here is nearly as good as the first three albums, and it's little more than a well organized curiosity.

Highlights: having more money left over to buy an Entombed t-shirt or perhaps a bootleg lighter with their logo on it.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

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