Twenty-Eight years ago, in 1991, cutting edge extreme music was being forged. An abundance of many angry teenagers was looking for expression, disregarding what anybody thought and blended together with a myriad of emotions and feelings, differing musical tastes, genres were smashed together and influences created a fledgling and raw style of heavy music. This became the driving force which is now recognised as death metal.
Unquestionably one of the pioneers of death metal as we know and recognise it today is Stockholm’s Entombed.
Hearing their debut Left Hand Path [1990] during my final year at high school blew my mind. Left Hand Path delved deeply into the recesses of my soul and changed my future listening behaviour significantly. It was angry, dirty, chaotic, calming and importantly unforgettable. Much to the delight of the salivating masses who had become transfixed by the mud drenched, groove laden, sound and style of this new brutal band hailing from Sweden, one year later we were gifted one of the most significant and important death metal albums to ever be released – Clandestine!
Opening with “Living Dead”, here was a song that would absolutely define the sound and style on who Entombed were and how we would forever recognise them. A formula of instant crushing guitars and blast beats, accompanied by blood curdling vocals, then a killer groove that adds spice and integrity to songwriting prowess then unsuspectingly a heavy hitting Black Sabbath inspired slow rock/blues interlude takes the listener by surprise before returning back to that sonic extremity that forged Entombed. In all its death metal grandeur, Clandestine had made its mark and branded a well earned ownership on an important heavy metal brand and the rest is history!
Fast forward Twenty Eight years later and a classic is rejuvenated and given new life courtesy of Live Clandestine.
Featuring the three original founding members Alex Hellid and Uffe Cederlund on guitars and Nicke Andersson on drums, Live Clandestine also features the incredibly worthy vocals of Robert Andersson and Edvin Aftonfalk on bass.
Live Clandestine is far from regurgitating Entombed’s past, it is about more about significantly regrouping people who want nothing more than a reimagining and rejuvenation of themselves as an important band, who have been through a mire of shit and dedicated their lives to constantly evolving and challenging themselves in a world of seemingly forgettable heavy music. Alex, Uffe and Nicke, Robert and Edvin, through Live Clandestine, have proven themselves as godfathers of death metal and wear that title proudly.
Clearly wanting to bring the classic Entombed sound of old into the 2020’s Live Clandestine is like hearing and rediscovering an old friend.
The production on Live Clandestine allows us to finally hear the finite intricacies that were so important in the sound, song writing, musicianship and stamp that would define Entombed and all that they represented.
“Sinners Bleed”, “Evilyn”, “Blessed Be”, “Stranger Aeons” and all the tracks that precede them are made more brutal and killer thanks to the perseverance, time and passion that Alex, Nicke and Uffe, rounded out and complemented perfectly by Robert and Edvin, all of whom devoted themselves to overcoming the many setbacks and difficulties that forced them to cease their desires, artistic value and integrity, gratefully regrasping the reins as pioneers and guardians of the state of true death metal.
Live Clandestine will be released on May 17th via Threeman Recordings
Pre-orders can be found here and you can check out the first audio taste of Entombed’s – Live Clandestine courtesy of “Sinners Bleed” below
