ENTOMBED UPDATED

(Entombed 1989)

**NOTE** If you have been to this post already please scroll down to where it says UPDATE in yellow there you will find the new goodies I have added to this post if you have not been to this post before the please...Read On....

This band should need no introduction really if you are a follower of my blog you may remember me doing a Death metal top 10 a while back (If not it's HERE ) and i named Entombed's debut "Left Hand Path" as THE #1 definitive death metal album, which I definitely stand by however I am not going to repeat myself here go to that post and read what I had to say about the album there,

Entombed are one of my very favorite metal bands whilst they have had their ups and downs both personnel wise and musically they are the ONLY band from the late 80's heyday of Death Metal that i still truly love and don't just listen to for nostalgia purposes, coupled with the fact that the band almost always push their sound forward with each album whilst still remaining undeniably Entombed (Except for maybe the "Same Difference" album get to that shortly) So i decided that even though i had done this post before that it deserved to be re-done so you can get pretty much every scrap of Entombed available in one place!

Having had a fairly staggering 27 year career since their early years as Nihilist outstripping pretty much every original death metal band from the late 80's and the fact that they have remained great I could do a really massive blurb on this band however I do not intend to, I think that anyone coming across this post is no doubt going to be aware of this band already and anything I have to say would more than likely be repetition of far better written pieces on this awesome band so here's a breakdown of your links and some key points....

Nihilist Demos - OK so it shouldn't be new to anyone that Entombed did actually start life in 1987 as Nihilist they recorded 3 demos before another american band called Nihilist contacted them and asked them to change the name and they did to Entombed which is a far superior name anyway! and whatever happened to the american Nihilist? who the fuck knows! The Nihilist demos created quite a stir on the underground i for one caned them to death when i got my hands on them and as Nihilist these guys pretty much put Sweden on the map as one of the twin capitals of Death metal along with Florida! They did one further demo as Entombed "But Life Goes On" before re- recording almost all the demo tracks for their debut album however their label Threeman records re-released all 3 Nihilist and The Entombed demo plus unissued tracks from the demo sessions all on one handy CD which i have given you here, Left Hand Path -  See top 10 Death Metal albums post linked in 1st paragraph for a more in-depth look at why this is the greatest Death metal album of all time Clandestine - 2nd album and fairly disappointing LG had left the band at this point to be replaced on this album by Nicke Andersson (Drums) and Uffe Cedurlund (Guitar) stepping up to split the vocals between them even though Johnny Dordevic is credited and pictured on the sleeve he did not sing a word on this album! I felt the fucking scorching debut would be a hard act to follow and it was the majority of the album seems mid paced and a little like a band treading water definitely a difficult 2nd album that goes for the 2 EP's that came out with it "Crawl" and "Stranger Aeons" though of the 2 "Stranger Aeons" fares a little better with 2 scorching b-sides one being a re-done version of "Revel In Flesh" from "Left Hand Path"

In the interim between albums Earache released a live album and DVD entitled "Monkey Puss Live In London 1992" it's a pretty decent live set as well LG is back on vocals and the 10 tracks played are culled from the first two albums and it's pretty good to hear LG singing the "Clandestine" tracks however this release was one of those things where the band didn't really approve of it and it was done on a sort of like it or lump it kinda basis as live albums go it's good.

So that pretty much covers the primitive Death metal years next up was "Wolverine Blues" & the 6 Track "Hollowman" mini album all recorded at the same session and to my mind this and their next album were the ones that propelled Entombed from being a 1st division death metal band and into the collections of every metalhead worth their salt! LG was back fronting the band and "Wolverine Blues" was a beast of an album although opener "Eyemaster" is probably one of the fastest songs Entombed had ever done and would have had most people thinking that these guys were back with another album full of Death Metal you'd be sorely mistaken because "Eyemaster" is the only real death metal song on there the rest of the album is just chock full of supremely heavy mid paced songs with hooks that are extremely memorable and just fucking great! Take one listen to the opening riffs to the title track or "Demon" and you will be in no doubt that these guys are masters of their craft! LG is in fine voice as well sounded as brutal as ever but this time round dunno whether it's the pace of the songs or just a natural progression but you can easily understand the lyrics! It's around this time they got stuck with the "death'n'roll" tag which is one fucking dumbass thing to call a band but i can kinda get it because whilst they retain the heaviness and fire of death metal the pace and riffs and song structures were something completely new at this time! "To Ride Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth" follows a similar path however this time around these guys have firmly got their "new" sound nailed this is a seriously rocking album albeit still with that heavy Entombed sound and as i said this was really where the metal world started to take notice! However with the exception of a few i feel the songs while great are not as memorable this time around of course one listen to "Damn Deal Done" or "Like This With The devil" and you're unlikely to forget them! in 1998 however came what i consider to be the only real "blip" in an otherwise stellar career, after an amazingly successful album like "To Ride..." you'd think with the formula set these guys would continue along the same path? well this was not to be the case "Same Difference" is a pretty weak album peppered with "groove" whilst normally this wouldn't be a bad thing but when I say "Groove" i do not mean the kind of thing that gets your head nodding this album to me is a blatant attempt to dilute the sound and bring the band to a even wider audience and it fails badly LG attempts a sort of half shout/half sing sorta style that doesn't really suit him and there's all sorts of disjointed technicality to the music that whilst maybe shows that the band are talented it just doesn't work I have no idea what the fuck they were trying to do here, I hated this album when i heard it it just seemed like they were trying to fit in with a lot of the weaker more commercial nu metal of the time and it's a dismal fail, even after numerous revisits I still can't get my head round it after the ferocity and originality of the last 2 albums it just falls flat on it's face and is only included here for completions sake.

During 1999 Entombed sneaked out a 10" EP on home of all great stoner music Mans Ruin the "Black Ju-Ju" EP includes 3 covers and one original, this EP didn't really give a hint on whether the band had clawed back any of their previous greatness but it's a decent record and worth a listen So after the terrible "Same Difference" and 2 years since their last album and Nicke Andersson one of the bands primary songwriters had left the band to concentrate on Hellacopters there was rumour of a new album on the way and it was being hailed as "The best thing they had done since "Left Hand Path"  I was skeptical after the last album and losing Nicke I really didn't see how they could pull anything out of the bag and redeem themselves...I was VERY wrong 2000's "Uprising" was a shock to the system the slick overproduced grooviness of "Same Difference" was gone this was an album that was rawly produced loud and fucking nasty! I bought a promo of it from a local 2nd hand shop pre-release and when i got home i was immediately impressed by the sheer loudness of it, this is an album chock full of amps on 11 everything to full and in the red Rock 'n' Roll annihilation with a great grasp on the heavy and deathly this album has song after song of just sheer pummeling and is just bursting with energy THIS is the album that should have came after "To Ride..." Every song is memorable and energetic even the mournful; cover of Dead Horses "Scottish Hell" is a blistering listen, LG is back in fine form and sounds great here as well. What i find strange about this album is it's really like a more deathly version of Hellacopters whether this is what caused Nicke Andersson to leave or that this was like a bit of a fuck you to him or what i dunno but if this wasn't so heavy loud and raw it would just be like some of the modern garage rock type stuff that was around at the time! A thouroughly great listen and a SERIOUS return to form here totally essential! The version i present here is the US version with 3 bonus tracks as well. Post millennium these guys were pretty prolific so next up was "Morning Star" from 2001 and the death metal influences are back with a serious bang this time round the production is toned down and is less raw than "Uprising" but the songs are just as ferocious there's less of the garage rock sound and more deathly riffs as only Entombed can do Just take a listen to "Ensemble of the Restless" it's so fucking fast and intense reminding the crew of young death metal bands that had followed in their wake who did it first and best!!! There's plenty of fat double bass and chugging riffage and "Year One Now" is so much of a Master rip off it's almost funny if they didn't do it so well! Again another stellar album! So int the interim between "Morning Star" and the next new album we have "Sons Of Satan Praise The Lord" Entombed love a cover version and this double album has 27 of them culled from various B-sides/tribute albums etc along with some new covers recorded specifically for this album  but the choice of artists to cover is really a testament to their wide ranging influences from Roky Erikson to Stillborn to Twisted Sister, Jerry's Kids and Bob Dylan along with more expected stuff like great covers of Repulsion and S.O.D. it's a good and varied selection of tunes and is well worth a listen.Then we have live album "Unreal Estate" Live With the Royal Ballet At The Royal Opera House Stockholm 1/3/2002 this was a special performance these guys did and it does exactly what it says on the tin, I'm not a fan of live albums but it would seem this one is done with a bit of flair and involves a ballet! I will leave you to have a listen and make up your own mind however without the visual really it's just a straight up live album! So 2003 and studio album number 8 for Entombed "Inferno" (The version i present here is actually the limited 2 Disc "Inferno/Averno" with an extra disc with 3 bonus tracks and 2 video edits of previously released tracks) at this point i feel maybe Entombed were flagging a little, 3 studio albums in 3 years as well as a live album and a covers compilation I have to say i fell that this album is definitely a "Treading Water" type release whilst it's heavy and deathly the production is really flat and it feels like they used all their "A" material on the last 2 albums it's by no means a terrible album but after bursting out the gate with 2 brilliant albums in 2000 and 2001 maybe they should have taken a break instead of doing this album so soon? I would give it a listen for sure but of all the Entombed albums the 3 I listen to least are "Clandestine" , "Same Difference" and this one, maybe if the production was better it might have fared better but as it stands in all aspects it's just a bit..... Dull.

So it would be 3 years before anything would be heard from these guys and they returned in 2006 now down to a 4 piece Uffe Cedurlund having jumped ship to Swedish heavyweight crust titans Disfear and now with only LG and Alex Hellid remaining from the original line up at this point with all the ups and downs and 3 years passing since the dull "Inferno" album that this would maybe now be a band well past it's sell by and maybe on it's last legs? NOPE! What do they do but only what Entombed could do a 5 track EP of slaying brutal death metal! The "When In Sodom" EP Is great, good production,great riffs and songs and sets up nicely for 2007's "Serpent Saints, The Ten Amendments" the last album from Entombed as we know them, as this write up has gotten a bit out of hand all I'm gonna say is is a great, heavy death metal album in the finest Entombed tradition and also "Masters Of Death" is a brilliant tribute to their influences!

So to quickly round up whats left I have also given you the 7" "When In Sodom Revisited" from 2012 with a redone version of "When In Sodom" a new track and a short outro, also you get "Entombed Vs Candlemass" split 7" which has Entombed doing Candlemass's "Black Dwarf" and Candlemass doing Entombed's  "To Ride..." And lastly as a special bonus some of you may be aware that Alex from Entombed is remastering and doing deluxe reissues of 3 Entombed albums however having pledged our money way back in September 2013 I am still waiting for my CD's they are in the works but nowhere near completion however as a thank you for our patience Alex posted up a 40 minute mix of some of the bonuses that will be on these re-issues so you get 40 mins of extras,mixes,alternate versions etc that is your "Pledgers Exclusive" sampler link below tracks are taken from "To Ride..." "Uprising" "Same Difference" Era i also tacked on one of the other extras he gave which is a version of "Clandestine" played with an orchestra so that's in there as well! So unless you pledged money to buy the reissues it's unlikely you will hear them as they are supposed to be exclusive to those reissues and the orchestral "Clandestine" is not slated for release at all so there's one for the diehards!

So there you go folks a comprehensive and as far as I know complete discography of Entombed to date! I don't know what the future holds for them as if you are a fan you may be aware that LG has taken most of the band and formed Entombed A.D. and Alex plans to keep Entombed going so who knows? the Entombed A.D. album "Back to the Front" is out soon so we shall see! In the meantime enjoy one of the best metal bands to grace the planet and certainly one of my favourites!

(Entombed 2006)

Nihilist Demos - Mediafire

Left Hand Path - Mediafire

Clandestine - Mediafire

Crawl EP - Mediafire

Stranger Aeons EP - Mediafire

Wolverine Blues - Mediafire

Hollowman Mini LP - Mediafire

Monkey Puss Live 1992 - Mediafire

To Ride Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth - Mediafire

Same Difference - Mediafire

Black Juju EP - Mediafire

Uprising (U.S. Edition 3 Bonus Tracks) - Mediafire

Morning Star - Mediafire

Sons Of Satan Praise The Lord - Mediafire

Unreal Estate (Live 2002) - Mediafire

Inferno/Averno - Mediafire

When In Sodom EP - Mediafire

Serpent Saints The Ten Amendments - Mediafire

Entombed/Candlemass Split - Mediafire

When In Sodom Revisited 7" - Mediafire

Pledgers Exclusive Sampler - Mediafire

**UPDATE**

So As Promised here's your update I apologise for taking so long!! So as I mentioned above  back in September 2013 Alex from Entombed launched a Pledge Campaign for Reissues of 3 Entombed Deluxe Packaged,Remastered Editions of "To Ride..." , "Same Difference" & "Uprising" all of which were to be exclusive to people who pledged ONLY and each album to be expanded with a bonus disc with demos,outtakes etc. This seemed like too good a thing to miss especially being a massive fan of Entombed as I am! However things did not go to plan and it took almost 18 months from when I pledged my money to seeing the actual CD's land on my doormat in early 2015! So as these were a pledgers exclusive and these CD's cannot be bought NEW elsewhere and to my knowledge sold out and it's almost a year since the finished products were released i figured I would share them with you! So below please find links to the 3 albums that were remastered and expanded now normally I would break these down for you however as i have a lot of posts to do today and I already talked about these albums in their original forms above I figured I'd make this short, so underneath each link to the albums you will find another link which will take you directly to the immense discogs page for each release where you will find ALL the details of what the bonus materials are where they were recorded and basically everything you need to know about the material. All of this below is taken straight from my discs at 320kbps and the digital bonus disc of "To Ride" is a straight copy of the 320kbps download so all is in sparkling quality, Here You Go, Enjoy....

UPDATED EXPANDED VERSIONS

To Ride..... 

(Deluxe Expanded Edition) - Mediafire

Tracklisting & Details - Discogs

(Note - this link will take you to the discogs page for the "To Ride..." 50 track digital version tracklist because it was released as a deluxe double disc set but due to the wealth of material from this era of Entombed a further digital "Disc" was given as a download to Pledgers. On this page tracks 1- 14 represent Disc 1 tracks 15 - 38 Represent Disc 2 and tracks 39 - 50 The Digital Bonus Disc)

Same Difference

(Deluxe Expanded Edition) - Mediafire

Tracklisting & Details - Discogs

Uprising (Remastered & Expanded) - Mediafire

Tracklisting & Details - Discogs

So as you may or may not know there has been some serious problems in the Entombed camp around 2013/14 They had an album in the can their first for some 6 years however there were some serious internal disputes and Alex Hellid the only remaining member of the band who had never left and been a mainstay since Nihilist left the band what remained of Entombed was L.G. and a bunch of guys who had played on NO Entombed recordings prior to 2006. You'd think that would be the final nail in the coffin if you lost your main songwriter and original guitarist and were left with a bunch of guys who are essentially bit players then you'd think it would be time to call it a day but nope L.G. is one stubborn S.O.B. Alex having retained the rights to the name Entombed, L.G. added A.D. to the name, all of Alex's contributions to the album were stripped away, and Entombed A.D. were born! So in 2014 the much anticipated new Entombed album now the debut for Entombed A.D. was released. Now personally if it was me after Alex left I would have gone back to the bunker with the band and I would not have left till I had an album of all Killer no Filler SEARING death metal that would firmly annihilate anyone who questioned that this band were carrying on Entombed's MIGHTY legacy, Unfortunately "Back To The Front" is definitely NOT that album! What you get are 11 songs of fairly pedestrian, mediocre, plodding Death Metal there's no spark, fire or even a decent fast pace to ANY of the songs presented here even when the songs speed up the pace is fairly slow for Death Metal there's not even any of the sorta "Death 'N' Roll" type thing going on here what you have is the sound of band on their last legs with no fresh ideas or anything really killer to offer! POersonally I think once they had trashed all of Alex's contributions they quickly put together some songs to make up this album! The sounds are there good gnarly guitar tone and L.G.'s vocals are up to their usual high standard but musically it's just boring and dull sorry E.A.D. but without a single remaining original member (that plays an Instrument) I'm afraid you're fucked! I could go on and maybe I'm being too hard on them? All I can tell you is i was REALLY excited for this album but it just fell flat on it's face so much so that I didn't buy it and I didn't even bother to try and source a 320kbps download (This one here is at 192) I have given it only for completions sake and for the curious as far as being part of Entombed's STELLAR back catlogue well I consider it a separate band! I'll leave you to make up your own mind...

Entombed A.D. - Mediafire

Well that's it I doubt I will have to Update this again unless Alex decides to do another pledge campaign for more remastered/deluxe Entombed albums!! I had heard rumours that Nicke Andersson, Uffe Cederlund and "Clandestine" era vocalist Johnny Dordevic were going to reform the REAL Entombed along with Alex but I have yet to hear anything further and maybe it was just rumour so in the meantime go ahead and Gorge yourself on the discography of in my opinion one of the best Death Metal bands that ever walked the Earth! Cheers