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Class 6(66)
Entombed: Left hand path
09/12/11 || BamaHammer
Introduction
Rarely does a band come along with as much impact on a scene as Entombed imposed on the world of death metal in 1990. When Nihilist disbanded only to be resurrected in almost their entirety (minus bass player and apparent douche extraordinaire, Johnny Hedlund), little did the death metal world know what was about to occur.
The American school of death metal had already quickly assumed its ultimate sound, destined to continue in the mould of elite bands like Death, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, and even second-tier noisemakers like Massacre. However, roughly at the same time these bands were creating their legacy, Entombed was across the pond defining the sound and an era.
Entombed created the sound of classic Swedish death metal, and while “Left Hand Path” is certainly not as good as it ever got, it’s damn good. In my meaningless opinion, there is no better metal than classic Swedish death. It’s quite simply perfect.
Songwriting
9. Death metal rarely gets as good as the opener, “Left Hand Path.” It’s got everything. It’s got the non-musical short introduction, the pounding bass drum being mirrored by the plodding bass guitar part, at least a handful of classic riffs, killer leads, a synth-driven bridge, and a slow, doomy outro with guitar solos that fit the song and the atmosphere like a glove.
For the time, this was some of the best death metal the world had ever heard, and it’s held up wonderfully over the past two decades. Most of the tracks on the album are actually classics now, and the opening riff of “Abnormally Deceased” should be the fucken blueprint for all other classic death metal riffs.
Production
8. It was recorded and mixed at Sunlight Studios in Stockholm in 1989. Just by knowing that, you already know what the production sounds like. The guitars sound like buzz saws made of bass, midrange, and a thousand angry hornets. The toms are sharp and lifeless. The vocals are aggressive raspy. The one surprise is that the bass sound is noticeably present, cutting through the mix a few times to add that much-needed extra dimension of heaviness.
Guitars
9. Believe it or not, this is the album that spawned thousands of clones. The loud, throaty, detuned, bass-heavy distortion that defined essentially the entire early ’90s Swedish death metal scene from Dismember to Unleashed is in full force on this album, courtesy of the legendary Boss HM-2 distortion pedal. Show me any respectable metal guitarist who says he has not tried emulate that glorious buzz-saw tone at least once through his rig, and I’ll show you a liar.
In any case, the guitars are extremely distorted and muddy but yet clearly distinguishable, which was a staple of the death metal of that era. The riffs are catchy as hell and the leads range from simple and memorable to impossible-to-reproduce early death metal wankery. Nonetheless, the performance stands as a seminal achievement in metal history.
Vocals
9,5. It’s fucken L-G Petrov. What more could you want? His growls and howls are nothing short of legendary on this record, sounding truly evil and torturous. Along with David Vincent’s performance on Morbid Angel’s Altars of Madness across the pond, Petrov set the standard for a decade of death metal growls. Even the goofy yell at the end of “Revel in Flesh” and forced clean vocals in “Bitter Loss” are awesome.
Bass
8. And that’s on a scale from 0 to “Saltrubbed Eyes,” so 8 is pretty fucken good. It’s got a good snarl and a good thunderous rumble, especially in loud speakers, but it has just always seemed to be missing a little extra punch to send it over the top, especially since it has a tendency to disappear from time to time inexplicably.
Drums
4. Honestly, the drums on this album just seem brash and amateurish. There isn’t a single moment when I’m even remotely blown away while listening to it, but I think that actually adds to some of the charm of the overall sound of the record. Nicke Andersson is definitely not on the same level of brutality and groove with Tobias Gustafsson or anything (then again, who is). In fact, he’s not even good, but he does keep the beat for one of the best death metal records ever recorded, and for that, I commend him.
Lyrics
6. I can only find lyrics for three songs, and I really don’t give nearly enough of a shit to try to decipher the rest. The ones you can understand are your standard anti-christian-meets-gore lyrical fare that we’ve all heard a thousand times before.
Cover art
9,5. This still stands as one of my favorite album covers of all time and one of many classic textbook examples of Dan Seagrave’s prowess. It just fits the album so perfectly. You’re walking alone along a random chasm in a dark, dreary forest. Ahead you see what looks to be a bridge, apparently, made of roots or some shit, but as you try to decipher where it leads, you suddenly notice a large, menacing, lone gravestone…that is taking a piss on the sidewalk. Classic.
Logo
9. Seeing as this band was formed by members of Nihilist so they wouldn’t have to fire super-douche bassist, Johnny Hedlund, the Entombed logo makes a striking resemblance to the Nihilist logo. Either way, Entombed sports one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable logos in the death metal world. It’s sharp and angular while retaining 100% of it’s legibility. Fucken classic. The rusty blood color that’s accented with tombstone-piss yellow really makes for a nice touch on the album cover too.
Booklet
2. There sure as shit aren’t any lyrics in it. You get a nice extended section titled “Thanks and Hi there!” Yes, really. Oh, and a black-and-white picture of the band standing near a large cross in the ground. Whatever.
Overall and ending rant
This is the album that kick-started a revolution. What I’ve come know and love as Swedish death metal owes a great deal of gratitude and tribute to this album for defining the sound of an era and making the scene the best in entire metal world. Is it the best slab of death metal to emerge from Sweden during the past two decades? Hell no. It’s not even the best album to come out of Stockholm. But this album does deserve a ton of credit and infinite respect for its effect on the scene.
- Information
- Released: 1990
- Label: Earache Records
- Website: www.entombed.org
- Band
- Lars-Göran Petrov: vocals
- Ulf “Uffe” Cederlund: guitars, bass
- Alex Hellid: guitars
- Nicke Andersson: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Left Hand Path
- 02. Drowned
- 03. Revel in Flesh
- 04. When Life Has Ceased
- 05. Supposed to Rot
- 06. But Life Goes On
- 07. Bitter Loss
- 08. Morbid Devourment
- 09. Abnormally Deceased
- 10. The Truth Beyond
