Entombed Albums (11)
'Serpent Saints: The Ten Amendments'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 10
Label Threeman
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Serpent Saints is Entombed's first studio album in four long years, yet it's remarkably similar to its predecessor, Inferno (2003), not only in terms of sound but also style, as if it were recorded at the very same session. In fact, all of Entombed's 2000s albums -- Uprising (2000), Morning Star (2002), Inferno (2003), and even the live album Unreal Estate (2005) -- are remarkably similar, unlike the band's 1990s albums, which are a diverse bunch. The consistency of latter-day Entombed is a mixed blessing: on the one hand, it's a welcome consistency, since fans know generally what to expect from each release; on the other hand, fans may also feel less inclined to pick up each successive album, since they're fairly interchangeable on many counts. Thankfully, quality is one of the common features of these latter-day albums. The veteran Swedes, who debuted in 1990 on Earache Records with the death metal landmark Left Hand Path, have a firm command of their talents. Vocalist L.G. Petrov remains snarling and raspy after all these years, and while death metal purists may miss the guttural growling that has become synonymous with this style of music, it's refreshing to actually be able to comprehend word for word the lyrics being sung, all the more so because they're fairly well-written lyrics that are dark and deathly yet not overly serious. The ten songs are credited to all four bandmembers (Petrov, Alex Hellid, Nico Elgstrand, Olle Dahlstedt), and Serpent Saints indeed comes across like a true group effort. Again, it's clear these guys have clearly settled into a comfortable groove. They've developed a style that works well for them; far from innovative, it's nonetheless potent and mighty satisfying for anyone who enjoys straightforward extreme metal free of black metal theatrics, bombast, and pretension. At 41 minutes, Serpent Saints is relatively short, though this too is welcome. Kicking off with a pair of great songs, "Serpent Saints" and "Masters of Death," the latter featuring Killjoy of Necrophagia on secondary vocals, there's little filler here and the band doesn't overextend its stay; they deliver the goods as they have for years, plain and simple. Anyone looking for something new from Entombed on Serpent Saints is sure to be disappointed, while longtime fans looking for more of the goods will be pleased. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
In the early 2000s, phrases like "death metal survivors" and "a death metal institution" were used to describe Entombed. But to death metal purists -- the moshers who insist that Entombed peaked with 1989's Left Hand Path -- the Entombed of the early 2000s had long since left death metal behind. Some of those purists go so far as to accuse Entombed of being a sellout, but then, everyone from Miles Davis to the Clash to Run-D.M.C. was called a sellout by someone or another -- so the term is almost meaningless. What isn't meaningless is the inspired set that Entombed provides on Unreal Estate, which was recorded live at the Royal Opera Hall in Stockholm, Sweden in 2002. The Swedish headbangers are on top of their game on this live album, packing a punch that is both forceful and melodic. While Entombed hasn't exactly turned into easy listening, these inspired performances are generally a lot more musical and intricate than Entombed's early recordings. Unreal Estate can be brutal, but it isn't an exercise in brutality for the sake of brutality -- on this alternative metal-oriented CD, brutality and musicality form an alliance and work together for the greater good. Nonetheless, there are those who will stubbornly maintain that the best Entombed concerts took place in the late '80s and early '90s -- back when Entombed still appealed to the grindcore crowd and specialized in tunes that were ultra-fast and amelodic. But there are plenty of Entombed fans who aren't stuck in the past, and those who appreciate the band's evolution will find this 42-minute disc to be an exciting, if brief, document of the Swedes on-stage in the early 2000s. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
For Inferno, Entombed returned to the freewheeling "death & roll" it invented for 2000's Uprising. And while it moves at a pace somewhere between hardcore and hard rock, L.G. Petrov's lyrics and teeth-baring growl are more brutal than anything the current generation of nu-metal howlers can moan about. Instead of tepid alt-metal jams fronted by complaints about mean parents and high-school astro wedgies, Entombed delivers a monolithic, guitar-heavy set with lyrics that shake you to your very soul. From the raucous "The Fix Is In" (featuring the awesome couplet "I was around/When God was a boy/Now I was the one/Who stole his favorite toy") and "That's When I Became a Satanist," which runs Black Flag through Motörhead and its own death-strewn past (sample lyric: "I was kidding myself/Cuz all I could find was rotten bile"), Entombed proves that its latest musical incarnation is no less dangerous than any of its previous work. Sure, the album relies on verse-chorus-verse structure throughout, and some tracks ("Nobodaddy," "Retaliation") seem like filler. But Inferno's dedication to rock through sheer force of will is hard to deny. After a brief piano intermission, the album's second half drops hard with "Young & Dead," the lock step rhythm of which nods to the band's own past. The lurching "Descent Into Inferno" seems like the lyrical (exploding) heart of the album, while "Public Burning" and "Skeleton of Steel" only pile on more unholy tumult, the latter shifting gears midway through from a churning, slow-moving tank to a double-time blitzkrieg of screaming berserker guitar. Inferno might not please Entombed fans looking for a dedicated return to death metal. And it might not excite those who like more than one dimension in their metal. But Inferno's unvaried attack is still tougher and scarier than 99 percent of metal in the 21st century, making the band as important to the genre now as it was during its late-'80s creative genesis. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Despite years of making above average heavy metal in the underground, Entombed never had a chance to break into the mainstream. This most likely reflects on their death metal past, which provided excellent but decidedly uncommercial music. Time will tell, but Morning Star will hopefully be ranked with Slayer's Reign in Blood, Sepultura's Chaos A.D., and Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power as some of the finest thrash metal ever made. Vocalist L.G. Petrov really comes into his own on this album; his vicious roar has never sounded as clear and focused as it does here. And chief songwriters Uffe Cederlund and Jorgen Sandstrom cut away the excess fat and created some truly memorable riffs and lyrics. "Chief Rebel Angel" comes flying out of the gates with a mountain of guitars and a raging Petrov railing against God and praising Lucifer like no one has since Deicide's first album. "Bringer of Light" is a thick, heavy number that shows off the twin guitar assault of Uffe Cederlund and Alex Hellid. "Year One Now" provides a truly classic metal moment as Petrov shrieks, "Kill! Kill! Kill! Die! Die! Die!" with a passion that is rarely displayed in this genre. And the awesome "Mental Twin" closes the album like Godzilla stomping through Tokyo; the deliberate pace and incredible guitar work brings this closer to Black Sabbath territory than they ever have ventured before. The best part of the whole affair is there is not a single boring (or even average) track on the whole album, and Petrov's show-stealing performance really does make this a fantastic death metal album. The band also maintains their high standard of lyric-writing; they may sing about Satan, but they do not take the lame-brained approach of their contemporaries. Entombed really stepped up to the plate; few metal bands can survive longer than ten years and still make excellent albums. Hardcore death metal fans may not always enjoy Entombed's approach to the genre, but this is the true successor to 1994's fan-friendly Wolverine Blues. Any fan of quality underground metal should find this to be a superb effort from an underrated band. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Uprising was intended as a return to form by Entombed, make no mistake, and fortunately it succeeds on all counts. Recorded on a minuscule budget with producer Nico Elgstrand over the course of only 18 days, Uprising was an attempt to recapture the rawness of Entombed's earliest -- and most acclaimed -- work. The second song, "Say It in Slugs," even goes so far as to reprise the guitar riff of "Left Hand Path," the title track of Entombed's 1990 debut album. The band needed a return to form at this point in time. Their previous album, Same Difference (1999), had been a debacle, and while the album before that, To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth (1997), was satisfactory in musical terms, if not quite up to par with its excellent predecessor, Wolverine Blues (1993), it too was a debacle in the sense that its release was long delayed because of label problems. And so it's understandable why Entombed wanted to revisit their roots, not only for the sake of their fan base, but for themselves as well. As aforementioned, Uprising is a return to the rawness of Entombed's early work, when they were performing genuine death metal. Granted, this music isn't exactly death metal, at least not in the way that Left Hand Path (1990) and Clandestine (1991) were -- for one, the vocals aren't growled but rather yelled, and too, the tempos never quite reach the point where they become a breakneck blur of grinding guitar riffs and blastbeat drumming -- but it's awfully close and, regardless, it's brutal. The songwriting is the only drawback on Uprising: whereas the musical performance and production are commendable, some of the songs are indistinct from one another, particularly during the latter-half of the album. One of the highlights, after all, is a cover (Dead Horse's "Scottish Hell"), while another is the aforementioned remake of "Left Hand Path" ("Say It in Slugs"). The departure of drummer Nicke Andersson in 1997 left a major songwriting void in the band; guitarist Uffe Cederlund assumed his position as songwriter, and while his songs are musically remarkable, as is well evident here on Uprising, they lack memorable hooks, which is why so many of these songs sound similar to one another (and perhaps why the guitars are so high in the mix relative to the vocals, which are difficult to decipher as a result). Minor drawbacks aside, Uprising is a strong effort by Entombed to regain their footing after losing it in the wake of Wolverine Blues. It's a step in the right direction, no doubt, even if it doesn't quite measure up to the excellence of the band's early work. [The Threeman Recordings version of the album released in the U.S. contains three bonus tracks -- "Superior," "The Only Words," and "Words" -- recorded in June 2000.] ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
'Monkey Puss: Live in London'
Release Date 9/2/1999
Tracks 10
Label Earache
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Drawing its repertoire from the Left Hand Path and Clandestine albums, Monkey Puss: Live in London was recorded in 1992 at the London Astoria, relatively early in Entombed's career. Not surprisingly, the material from Clandestine tends to outshine the more standard (but seemingly crowd-pleasing) grind-thrash of many of the Left Hand Path songs. The band was just starting to hit its true stride, so although this doesn't include material from the stellar Wolverine Blues, there's a spark and a vitality to the performances, making it clear that the band has found itself. It's not an essential document, but for fans, it's further proof that Entombed was one of the most powerful metal bands of the '90s. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
'Same Difference'
Release Date 11/16/1998
Tracks 17
Label Music For Freaks
See Album Tracklist and Review
'To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth'
Release Date 1/1/1997
Tracks 14
Label Music for Nations
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Following the towering Wolverine Blues, Entombed left Earache to sign with EastWest, where they recorded one album. It was never released and the band was unceremoniously dropped, leaving them to move to the indie Music for Nations, where they released To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth. The band may be battered and scarred, but they're not worn out, as the guitar-driven record proves. If anything, the turmoil has added depth to their music, making the best moments of To Ride cut deeper than before. Musically, not much has changed, though the band has turned up the gain on their guitars a bit and plays with less discipline than they did on Wolverine Blues. This regression back towards the onslaught of their debut album, Left Hand Path, brings an added sense of brutality to their sound; unfortunately, it also detracts from any hint of well-thought out songwriting, making the group sound sloppy. Where Wolverine Blues, and to a lesser degree Clandestine, found the group both disciplined and brutal, To Ride finds them being just brutal. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Entombed, one of the premier death metal bands of the early '90s, boldly ventured into new musical territory with Wolverine Blues, the band's third excellent album in a row. Wolverine Blues is such a departure from past efforts, in fact, it's debatable whether this music even qualifies as death metal, given its standard rock characteristics: comprehensible vocals, steady tempos, and verse-chorus-verse songwriting. None of these characteristics is associated with death metal, and indeed, purists might perceive Entombed's development on Wolverine Blues as an abandonment of the very principles that won the band such underground acclaim in the first place. Some purists might even go so far as to consider the album a sellout. Most reasonable listeners, however -- including even the most impassioned death metal purists -- will likely find much to appreciate on Wolverine Blues. It's that impressive. For sure, Entombed's previous albums, Left Hand Path (1990) and Clandestine (1991), were excellent, among the finest death metal efforts of their time, but their stylistic trappings were well evident. The growled vocals, breakneck tempo shifts, and amorphous song structures, to cite a few key characteristics, were fairly inaccessible to the type of mainstream metal listener who would consider Metallica or Pantera extreme. Wolverine Blues, on the other hand, is that rare album brutal enough for the death metal crowd yet at the same time accessible enough for the metal mainstream. For instance, the vocals of Lars-Göran Petrov are mostly comprehensible; however, they're delivered with such ferocity, they're as powerful as, if not more so than, the most guttural death-growl. Likewise, the guitars of Uffe Cederlund and Alex Hellid riff along at a steady tempo, but they're so heavy, they cut like a buzzsaw (as on "Heavens Die") and pummel away like a jackhammer ("Demon"). Along with the drumming of Nicke Andersson, which is hard-hitting yet never to the point of blastbeat, it's the songwriting of Wolverine Blues that is most removed from the confines of death metal. These are especially distinctive songs by Entombed, every single one each unique in its own way and graced with a memorable hook, particularly the album standouts "Wolverine Blues," "Hollowman," and "Out of Hand." Clearly, a lot can be made of Entombed's bold venture into new musical territory with Wolverine Blues, and you can bet metalheads will debate the album's stylistic merits for years to come. What's beyond argument, though, is that Wolverine Blues is the third impressive effort in a row by one of the best metal bands of the early '90s, and as impressive as the past two albums were, this one is by far the most inviting and most deserving of widespread recognition. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Entombed's second album, Clandestine, is cut from the same cloth as its predecessor, the epochal Left Hand Path (1990). Released during the formative period of death metal -- that is, the early '90s, when American bands like Obituary, British bands like Carcass, and Swedish bands like Entombed were all flourishing creatively thanks to supportive labels like Earache and a multiplying international fan base -- both Left Hand Path and Clandestine set the stage for successive generations of death-rooted Scandinavian metal bands. Entombed's most distinguishing characteristics during period, their buzzsaw guitar riffs and varied tempos, are showcased well on Clandestine. The intertwined dual-guitar assault of Uffe Cederlund and Alex Hellid is downright brutal; the intermittent lead guitar breaks do serve as brief moments of respite, granted, though their tone of eeriness is more foreboding than it is actually relieving. The two singles released from Clandestine ("Crawl" and "Stranger Aeons") are indeed the standouts, boasting monster riffs that are perhaps the most memorable moments of the album. Despite the similarity between Left Hand Path and Clandestine, there is a couple key differences. For one, vocalist Lars-Göran Petrov is missing in action here, though, to be fair, he's not necessarily missed. That's because drummer/songwriter Nicke Andersson takes over for him, and does such an impressive job, it's easy to mistake him for a full-time death-growler. In fact, the liner notes of Clandestine falsely credit Johnny Dordevic for vocals (technically, he was a member of the band at the time of the album's release, just not at the time of the album's recording sessions). Secondly, the production of Clandestine -- always a crucial aspect of music this overpowering -- is a notch or two better than that of Left Hand Path. Tomas Skogsberg produced both albums, as he did all of Entombed's early recordings, but he got a more cutting sound this go-round, with the guitars particularly standing out, along with the multi-tracked vocals. Too, the songwriting here is more distinctive than on Left Hand Path, which was comprised largely of reworked Nihilist (i.e., the band's pre-Entombed moniker) material. Everything considered, Clandestine might be a better album than Left Hand Path -- for sure, some fans favor it -- if not as historically significant nor as raw-sounding as that monumental debut. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
