Entombed "Inferno/Averno" 2xCD
[Candlelight]
It's about time this thing came out in the US. It's been well over a year since "Inferno" was unleashed elsewhere, I believe, and here it comes as a double-CD affair (adding the "Averno" addendum) with a good number of bonus material tacked on. By now most should know what to expect from Entombed, give or take, and this is basically another slab of their patented death 'n' roll that's not quite as aggressive as "Morning Star" was, while still being a bit more in your face than the rest of the band's post-"Wolverine Blues" material (perhaps a good match against the "Uprising" era). "The Fix is In" could've come straight out of the "Wolverine Blues" days, "Children of the Underworld" is significantly slower and darker with some eerie guitar textures against a core driven by the rhythm section, "Nobodaddy" breaks off some fucking killer trilling riffs that act as a great throwback to the "Clandestine" days amidst the rock fury, "Public Burning" is closer to what I'd call literal death 'n' roll with its Motörhead meets Discharge via Swedish death metal drive, and "Night for Dead" is a killer slow to midpaced closer with lots of dark riffing/backing textures and some of the band's token dissonance being given a facelift - probably my favorite track herein. Among some unexpected tidbits, the vocals during the chorus of "That's When I Became a Satanist" are actually one of the catchiest things the band has done in some time, it's a shame the rest of the track is a little on the bland side; while "Intermission" is a brief instrumental piano segue leading into the furious/death metal-esque "Young & Dead". As for the bonus disc, "When Humanity's Gone" was previously a vinyl-only bonus track, and "There Are Horrors of 1,000 Nightmares" and "Random Guitar" are previously unreleased - all three tracked during the "Inferno" sessions (and "Random Guitar" is fucking awesome - should've been on the record itself). The last two tracks are ever so slightly shorter "video edits", which serve little purpose, aside from the fact that the condensed version is all you'll get for the cover of Stillborn's "Albino Flogged in Black", whereas the complete "Retaliation" appears on the first disc. I have no complaints about the recording. This is a band who's been around the block enough times to know what they want and know how to get it, and they succeed fine. Everything here is ultra dense and warm, with plenty of grit to the guitar tone, natural depth to the percussion, enough of a bass presence to be prominent when it's important, strong vocal placement right in the center of the instrumentation, etc. If I had to cite any minor fault it would be that I feel like a little bit more crispness could be brought out of the instruments, but it sounds fine, so fuck it. The jewel case comes in a nice embossed slip sleeve with metallic silver foil inlays, and the booklet is huge! It looks pretty nice across the board. The layout is simple with minimal photography, lots of bold black and red coloring with basic text, etc. The lyrics are included, even for the bonus disc, etc. I've never had much of an opinion on the band's lyrics as they're pretty straightforward in wording and arrangement, and not all that suggestive of content to me, they're usually just sort of open for interpretation with a track or two that sort of point harder in one direction, and that's fine. "Everyday when I wake up I know I've failed, Something to live for is hard to find, I'd like to think that I know tomorrow, I need to leave it all behind..." The CD-Rom portion has two videos, one for "Retaliation", one for "Albino Flogged in Black", and both are fucking great, shot in surprisingly high quality and looking totally professional. Definitely good stuff. This is a solid set of songs. As with all of the band's more recent outings there are better and worse songs, so it's not always on full throttle, but some 15+ years down the line they can still churn out a keeper, so this is worth the validating listen from longtime fans. (7/10)
Running time - 64:03, Tracks: 18
[Notable tracks: Children of the Underworld, Nobodaddy, Public Burning, Night for Day, Random Guitar, Albino Flogged in Black]
Candlelight Records - http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk

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