Entombed A.D. - Back to the Front (2014)

It's always a shame when a long standing, relatively successful metal band like Entombed begins to unravel. Soon it gets ugly, the fans have all picked their sides, begrudge the future output by the members and fans from the 'opposition', and suddenly it feels like fucking junior high school instead of heavy metal music. Well, I already graduated from such an institution, and have no desire to return in this life, so whether I approve of the actions and/or statements of this or that member/expatriate of a band, it all comes down to the goddamn music. At the end of the day, I decide whether or not I enjoy a record based on the value of the record itself, not the questionable business ethnics, practices, politics, religion, or history of the roster. So Entombed A.D. might not be the 'real' Entombed, it might not be Clandestine II, it might be frowned upon by some of the founding members of the original band and their followers, but I'll tell you what it IS: a good fucking time. Not the best material they've written by a sizable margin, but if you've ever thrown down and enjoyed their death 'n' roll style circa Wolverine Blues, Morning Star, or Inferno, then this really hits the spot.

No, Back to the Front will not do what it's title might imply and thrust the Swedes back into the death metal spotlight, nor will it reel in those who fell out of touch with them after the first two albums, but these four guys had a collective contribution of about 45 years with Entombed, so if anyone's gonna be able to produce a relatively faithful continuity for what the original had been releasing since what I'd consider their 'slump' era (1997-99), it is this quartet. I realize there was a marginal chance we might have been getting something more akin to a successor for Left Hand Path, and perhaps that is where the other founders of the band might head, but this disc represents their strongest songwriting since 2001 and Morning Star, a blend of death, d-beat, punk, crust and thrashing rhythm guitars which affix their simplicity with reliable hooks and concise structure, but retain a lot of the ugliness of L-G Petrov's vocals and the bruising rhythm tone that they basically pioneered. But beyond just being another memorable punch in the gut, this is actually a fairly musical exhibition which is utterly unafraid to take a few chances, like introducing the strings at the intro to "Pandemic Rage", acoustic guitars, etc. Of course, it's the churning, enormous grooves, and evil winding guitar melodies that probably present the closest mirrors to the band's seminal Earache works, but I still feel like the Swedes haven't given up the idea that they can turn over a few new leaves...

Definitely a little more speed/thrash here in tunes like "The Underminer" or "Waiting for Death" that highlight the massive Slayer influence they've always operated under, but there are certainly a few of the morbid, mid-paced hooks that anchored records as widely spaced as Clandestine and Serpent Saints, although the production here is far more in the wheelhouse of the latter, a tidier mutation of their original, crushing guitar tone which plays well against the melodies and brute nihilism of Petrov's delivery, which sounds nearly as convincing to me here as anywhere else in their canon. The bass is as fat as my cholesterol levels, but somehow still manages to get lost just a little when the rhythm guitars are firing up the kiln, while you can really make out the toms, kicks and modest snare smashing in equal measure for a truly fulfilling, overall body to the sound. One of my favorite tunes on the disc, "Eternal Woe" is this slow, gloomy barbaric thrasher with some nice warped bell sounding strikes to the initial verse beats, subtle and clinical muted guitar lines and a chorus that just blows the roof off a cavern despite its lack of a really mind-boring melody or vocal line. "Digitus Medius" throws a devious, catchy melody right off the bat that probably belonged in the Hypocrisy catalog, and I particularly enjoyed how it returned for the chorus in chord form as the single most amazing riff on the whole disc.

Not all the tunes are equally interesting...for example the lead-in 'singles' that I had heard before getting the album, "Bedlam Attack" and "Vulture and the Traitor" have a few bum chord progressions that don't really excite me, but even these have at least an upswing in quality towards the choruses, and really I can't count a 'bad' track anywhere in the 11. Some might derive more than others from what they've released on prior albums, but there definitely seemed to be an enthusiasm about this material, a stripping down to the bare, brute necessities and then dressing them up with a skirt of the atmospherics, variation and even a sliver of the symphonic that they've encountered on their long road. As if after seven years of uncertainty they'd suddenly re-traced that vision which had begun on the second and third discs and decided to keep evolving it into a marginally more accessible strain, without going all mainstream or excessively 'rock' like the shitty Same Difference. It's just a solid, entirely Entombed experience, and whether you find yourself for or against L-G Petrov and these other, later members meting out the spiritual successor to what they were doing on the last record, give it a listen, it's good cruising music for that pickup with shotgun rack, crushing music for an angry soul. It doesn't do either brand a disservice.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/EntombedAD

Hellcrawler - Wastelands (2011)

Slovenians Hellcrawler perform a brand of hi octane death 'n' roll that I don't experience all that often anymore, which they interestingly balance with a lot of purer death aggression, tapered off with sequences of almost pure punk/hardcore revulsion. Though they'll draw obvious comparisons to groups like Entombed and Disfear that pioneered the possibilities of such a match made in hell, I wouldn't say that they follow those footsteps too closely. There's something duly primitive, dirty and even understated about Wastelands which I found rather enjoyable. It's as if the music itself were dowsed in the same gloom and obscurity of the debut's cover image, and they manage to go really raw in the production without ever sacrificing the listener's ability to comprehend the simplistic, battering riffs.

The D-beat is of course employed pretty often through the album, as in tunes like "The Molten Faces Tribe", but thankfully it's not used to the exclusion of anything else. They'll burst into some double bass driven brick wall breakdowns, swarthy black rock & roll grooves, even riffs that border more along the thrash genre due to their choppy, muted picking; but I actually found it best when they were just barraging along through the minimalistic but effective hooks in pieces like "Firefly Powerplant". The guitars have a very downtrodden feel to them which evokes images of damaged automotive equipment strewn about an apocalyptic landscape, and I love the little hints of feedback and noise that creep through everywhere (like the intro to "Yet Again the Greed of Man"). The Slovenians aren't afraid to use atmosphere amidst the rocking sections, and this is most evident in shorter pieces like "Demons Within" or "Wastelands" itself. Bass is repulsive, loud as the intake valve at a sewage treatment plant, and the drums keep a good balance of manic fills and steady hammering beats. Vocals are a hoarse, broad growl not entirely unlike the Swedish forefathers of an Entombed or Disfear, though they're not penned out in the most interesting of patterns.

Certainly this style is popular in particular circles, with bands like Tragedy and Trap Them seeing success worldwide through a combination of metal, hardcore, crust, punk and grind fans. Hellcrawler doesn't have as much of a dissonant hardcore spin on what they perform, nor vocals that seem quite so crazy, but they still sound like a pent up, blunt bulldozer rolling over your kneecaps at a moderate speed, and the varied flavors that comprise their foundation are handled well enough. It's a dark, almost opaque record even despite the veritable accessibility of its riffs, which are honestly about 50% great and 50% too familiar, but in the end it wraps things up tightly in about 30 minutes of solid pacing and filthy atmosphere that makes you wanna crash your truck into something living. Decent for a debut, even if the songwriting isn't entirely memorable, and the lyrics help enforce its consistent apocalyptic themes.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hellcrawler/231480043534821

Hearse - Armageddon, Mon Amour (2004)

I can't help but think of how the past four Arch Enemy albums had sounded if Johan Liiva had remained with the band. If his work in Nonexist and Hearse has anything to say, they would have kicked a little more ass than they did. Hearse is basically a death'n'roll band, in the vein of Entombed's Wolverine Blues, but with a few tweaks. Armageddon, Mon Amour is the third album, and a damned fine one if you give it the chance to rock you to the core.

"Mountain of the Solar Eclipse" gives a swift kick to the cylinder with death-tosterone fueled punkish rock riffs, feathered in Liiva's mix of brutal grunts and some offset snarls. The lyrics are very rock'n'roll/rockabilly but with a dash of the metal mystique:

This ain't the stair to heaven for sure,
it just takes you to the devil woman's door.
this might just be the seventh gate,
yes, we're talking oppression, destruction and hate!

"Turncoat" opens with feedback over pounding bass line, then bursts out into some great dual leads and a grinding verse in pure Swedish old school death metal tradition. "Crops of Waste" is a very catchy track with its mix of heavy handed riffs and chorused clean guitars in the verse. "In Love and War" soars in with a majestic melodic hook over bludgeoning chords, then rocking the fuck out. Other favorites for me on this album are "Tools" with its bluesy breakdown riffs and the excellent "Play Without Rules" which sounds like something from Left Hand Path at times, but then includes some spoken word and organs. Raging.

The mix on this album sounds like any other professional Swedish offering: intense and just about perfect. The band really mixes it up, you could consider this a hybrid between Entombed's mid period, Desultory's Swallow the Snake, and Spiritual Beggars' bluesy stoner metal. If you're a fan of Liiva's hoarse vocals or the small death'n'roll sub-category of Swedish death, you should certainly check out Hearse, and this isn't a bad place to start.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (you are nothing but a wheel in our killing machine)

http://www.hearse.se/

Fungus Inc. - Rott and Roll (2008)

This is a death'n'roll band out of Belgium on their debut. In the case of Fungus Inc., they're a little more 'death' than 'roll', with a solid old school influence to most of the riffing.

There is a LOT of groove here, very simple mosh pit style grooves are essentially trying to carry the album, and failing. These are extremely generic grooves, you've heard all of them a thousand times. The majority of the tracks are really boring. Tongue in cheek lyrics to "Don't Fuck with the Elderly", "Cellulite Monologues", "Shepherd Poon Pie", "I Forgot How to Pee" and "Fake Tits and Broken Hips" are not quite enough to entertain me. "Shepherd Poon Pie" and several of the other tracks even have guest vocals from the legendary Martin van Drunen (Pestilence, Hail of Bullets, Asphyx, etc.)

It's simply not enough. I am about as interested in this as I would be watching a ballet. And not a cool ballet with chainsaws, zombies and strippers, mind ye, I'm talking traditional ballet.

Verdict: Fail [4/10] (don't review with the elderly!)

http://www.myspace.com/fungusinc