Nicke Andersson : Drums, Guitar
Uffe Cederlund : Guitar, Tambourine
Alex Hellid : Guitar
Lars Rosenberg : Bass
Entombed's latest is enormously beefy, with more than enough monster-riff momentum to trample the fences between classic metal and grindcore. Much like Sepultura's stylistically subtle but earth-shaking metamorphosis, Sweden's Entombed has swung all its cannons to point in one direction, and the results are too big and bloodthirsty to fit any of the categories into which metal has splintered. There's just a tinge of swing in the down-to-business crunch of guitar chords, and while Lars Goran-Petrov carries on with the sort of implacable, hell-hound-with-a-headcold vocals favored by those pledged to grind, he's at the helm of the songs, not grunting behind. With guitars permanently set on riff, the songs flow on a continuous wave of pugilism, rather than wasting time with alterna-metal choppy time signatures or moody atmospheres. Equally unrelenting is the production, by the band and Tomas Skogsberg, which brings out both bottom-heaviness and bristling treble without making the album sound too megabucks. Nothing, be it a silly cover or a pseudo-classical guitar instrumental, gets in the way of Wolverine Blues' massive barrage (highlights include "Hollowman" "Eyemaster" and "Rotten Soil"). Its consistent ferocity raises it seismographically above almost every other metal record we've heard in the past 12 months. Once the ninth and last song on the CD is over, you'll feel as though your eardrums have deflated.
|