Entombed – Power Of Metal.dk

Entombed – Live Clandestine

Thomas Nielsen — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 19:11:43 +0000

What would be a more appropriate timing than getting some words jotted down on virtual paper about the new ENTOMBED release from Threeman Records than now? I’m waiting for my flight back to Denmark here at Arlanda Airport outside Stockholm after two days in the beautiful and right now sunny capital of Sweden. I’m wondering how grim and brutal music can come out of a place like this, but, hey, stranger things have happened.

The year was 1991, a truckload of amazing albums were released and the young me sucked in just about anything metal that he could get his hands on. The list of bands who released fantastic pieces of music that year included Bolt-Thrower, Cathedral, Atheist, Bathory, Death, Armored Saint, Fear of God, Gamma Ray, Dark Angel, Heathen, Infectious Grooves, Metal Church, Metallica, Morbid Angel, Overkill, Ozzy, Paradise Lost, Prong, Savatage, Sepultura, Suffocation, Type O, Voivod and last, but certainly not least, Entombed.

Entombed’s first outing, Left Hand Path, had offered a new take on death metal when it was unleashed in 1990. The characteristic buzzsaw guitar sound was born and would inspire numerous bands out there (Dismember being the most famous of these – since Entombed drummer played the guitars on their debut from 1991, Like An Ever-Flowing Stream, I suppose it wasn’t a pure coincidence that they struck the same chord). No wonder producer Tomas Skogsberg became the man of the day at the time – something special was definitely created.

The sophomore album, Clandestine, for me stands out as one of the best metal albums to come out of Sweden ever (which is no small feat when you talk about a country with bands like Candlemass, Bathory, In Flames, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy and many, many more). The song ‘Stranger Aeons’ remains one of my all-time favourite songs.

The irony, you could say, is that this, their best album, is the one Entombed album LG Petrov didn’t contribute to. On the album, Carnage singer Johnny Dordevic is credited as the vocalist, but it was in fact drummer Nicke Andersson who did the vocal duties. And a great job he did. I always preferred his vocal style to LG’s, but don’t tell LG, because he’s also doing a fab job and he’s one of the coolest blokes in metal.

The recording that’ll come out on Nuclear Blast in three weeks’ time is a live recording from 2016 that was made as a celebration of the 25^th anniversary of the album. Why it comes so late, I don’t know. Things are apparently still a mess between Alex Hellid and Petrov who’ve been in a legal battle over the Entombed name for ages now. Which seems a bit ridiculous.

Petrov is recording and touring with Entombed A.D., whereas this live recording was made by Nicke, Alex, Uffe Cederlund, Nicke’s half-brother, Edvin Aftonfalck on the bass and his former Morbus Chron band mate Robert Andersson on vocals.

This is supposedly the first time the album has been played in full live, and it’s interesting to hear how it aged in the live setting. I’ve seen Entombed live a few times now, and I’ve always loved the energy of LG in particular, but impressed by their musical skills I’ve never been. The Clandestine songs I’ve heard live never quite had the same crunch and power live as they have on the studio recording and neither Hellid nor Cederlund are flawless players. This live album basically confirms this.

Additionally, the sound quality of the recording isn’t super clear from the outset, which to me is surprising. This was recorded in a theatre, and one should think with the best possible conditions for an amazing sound and mix. It isn’t.

Bottomline is that this recording is relevant for the nostalgics and the collectors among us, and not so much those who are looking for great live albums to expand their horizon. If you missed Clandestine for some odd reason, I’d advise you to order the original studio album from your nearest webstore as soon as possible because it’s still a blinding album.

Burning Hatred – Carnage

Reinier de Vries — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 12:14:44 +0000

If you would like some history about Burning Hatred, I advise you to click on the band’s name above. I am going to immediately talk about the new album Carnage! This is not a completely new release. This album was previously released on cd by Vic Records and Murder Records in April of 2016. Now it will also be available on cassette through Morbid Skull Records. I guess there are still some fans that are into cassettes as well as cds, digital downloads, or vinyl. One thing hasn’t changed, and that is the music. I was not aware of the album in 2016, so I picked it up now.

Burning Hatred play Swedish style old school death metal combined with Dutch death metal influences. It’s of mix of old Entombed, Carnage, and Grave with some Sinister, Bolt Thrower, and Asphyx. The combination of fast pieces, groovy rhythms, and slower doom passages are a trade mark of the band. Of course, the deep guttural vocals are there as well. I like bands playing this style, but this album isn’t special and good enough to put Burning Hatred in my list of favorites. The songs are too average and there is too little variation, which makes some tracks sound a bit similar.

All in all, Carnage isn’t a bad album, but it’s also not an album that sticks out.

Entrails – World Inferno

Reinier de Vries — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 16:59:53 +0000

Entrails was formed in 1990, around he same time as bands such as Entombed, Grave and Dismember. Strangely enough, they never recorded a demo and then went on hiatus. In 2008, the band was resurrected by Jimmy Lundqvist. Since then, they have released albums on a rather regular basis.

For some reason, I am a huge fan of the Swedish death metal sound. The low tuned riffs in combination with the typical, sometimes almost danceable, groovy rhythms is something you can wake me up for. The first albums of Entombed, Dismember, Unleashed, Cancer, Carnage, and Grave are blue prints for this genre. On the new album, World Inferno, Entrails just does what those bands did on their first album(s). There are no new elements, or anything you wouldn’t expect. For me that is the power of this new release. There is no need to mention a particular song, they are all good and the way old school Swedish death metal should sound like.

Perhaps some will say that it is just old wine in new bottles, but better good old wine in new bottles than new bad wine in old ones!