Entombed - "Serpent Saints – The Ten Amendments" 2007

Tracks:
1. Serpent Saints
2. Masters of Death
3. Thy Kingdom Coma
4. Amok
5. Warfare Plague Famine Death
6. In the Blood
7. The Dead, The Dying, and the Dying to be Dead
8. Ministry
9. When in Sodom
10. The Ten Commandments

Band:
L-G Petrov (V)
Nico Elgstrand (B)
Olle Dahlstedt (D)
Alex Hellid (G)

Discography:
When In Sodom (EP 2006)
Inferno (2003)
Morning Star (2001)
Uprising (2000)
Same Difference (1998)
Wreckage (1997)
To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth (1997)
Entombed (1997)
Hollowman (EP 1993)
Wolverine Blues (1993)
Clandestine (1991)
Left Hand Path (1990)

Links:
entombed.org
myspace
threeman

I don’t know how big Entombed are outside Scandinavia and Sweden, but here they are more or less common knowledge. Not that so many have heard them, but almost evereyone’s heard of them thanks to their trust-worthy fans that during the hard years of hard rock walked around dressed in clothes with their name on it and also they’ve been nominated for as much as four grammys in Sweden – not something that many hard rock bands can brag with. Beside this, the members are frequally seen in other death acts from Sweden – to miss the Existence of Entombed in Sweden is almost impossible.

Now, as I said, outside I don’t know, but I guess it’s different, perhaps a name only known to the closest fans of raw death? So to those who do not know, is there any reason to start listening to them? Yes and no, is my answer. It all depends on your musical preference. If you like rock ´n’ roll with grunt vocals, without complocations or oddities, neither demanding melodies or rhythm – well, then I think it’s worth your attention. However, for you that prefer a good singer, music with melodies, people playing their instruments, tempo, beat or musical creativity – You ought to turn some place else.

Entombed are not made for everyone and however misguiding the album title is, this album is not epic at all! There is no appealing intro that sets up your interest. There are no choirs or other, symphonic elements. It’s straight on, simple death metal – just like always from these guys. You bet that the vocals comes from a muffled, grating voice, the guitars are som simple that putting together an IKEA furniture seems like building a bomb (not saying they doesn’t do that anyway) and beat, tempo and melodies are so minimally varied that it just seem like the same kind of chewing all the way. Also, the production is muffled and anything but clean and embellishing for the instruments. It’s more like porridge.

I’m not saying it’s like this all the way. As I said, it’s rock ´n’ roll with grunt vocals, meaning they have that rolling from those simple bands of the 70’s. If you’ve heard Motörhead you’ll understand what I’m saying. Also, short, short parts with keyboard can be heard, as well as short parts where the guitarist doesn’t only play rhythm guitar. But funnier than that it never gets. Put a boring, annoying grunting about satan and anti-christish things, and you have Entombed.

The old fans will not be disappointed. It’s like the earlier albums, raw death – nothing extra. Fans of that genre will probably also like this. People that doesn’t like simple, raw death; screaming or rock ´n’ metal – you probably should approach this carefully. There are glips of hope but they are too few and doesn’t last long enough – overall you better like a dark, messy production to be appealed by this, otherwise it’s not enough with plus. But then again, earlier fans will be crossing seas and mountains to get their hand over this piece of candy. This is Entombed when being Entombed to the maximum!

And yeah, forgot to mention. I said no choirs, but actually, when you listen to the ninth song When in Sodom, you can hear some if you listen closely. But that’s all folks’!

official website