Clandestine

"Clandestine" was the much anticipated second full length from Sweden's death metal kings, Entombed. "Left Hand Path" was and still is a 100/100 classic of the genre, and has aged gracefully. This, not so much. But there was a time when I considered it slightly superior, still in the early 2000s. Then I changed my mind, because I have to say there's too much filler here for a real masterpiece. Now, a bit of history: back in 1991, before death n roll reared its ugly head, Entombed was my favorite band. I skipped school to jump on a train and buy the embossed sleeve vinyl version I'm listening to right now (which, by the way, was released by Earache records in 1991, not 1992) loved their first album, and although Dan Seagrave's cover art isn't on the same level of the debut, it's still a piece of art.

The album's opener, "Living Dead" is a kick ass song, with a lot of variation, it's fast, slow, mid tempo, with great, eerie sounding riffs and solos. You can also hear Johnny Dordevic voice (the scream at the beginning), while the "ghost" singer Andersson does a pretty good job here, although Petrov could have done it better, obviously. And this consideration makes me wonder what they were thinking when they fired LG and hired Dordevic. There's some footage of Johnny singing live on YT (Roskilde festival, I think). His aphonic voice reminds me of Louie Carrisalez, former Devastation drummer and Death roadie, when they sent him onstage and forced him to sing. After this mistake, Entombed quickly realized that being the vocalist for a death metal band isn't a thing one can improvise or learn overnight.

The album opens with four great tunes that wouldn't have sounded out of place on the debut, "Blessed Be" especially have that "Revel in Flesh" vibe. At this point, it was clear Entombed had found an almost perfect blend of velocity, melody and variety, death metal, thrash, doom and even crust influences can be heard throughout the tunes. Production here is clearer than on the debut, a bit less powerful but that's never been an issue for me. You can enjoy Andersson's stellar performance on the drums and some cool basslines by Lasse Rosenberg, too. Guitar have that unforgettable Metalzone buzz their former guitarist/bassist Leffe came up with, the one that influenced hundreds of bands and clones.

The first side of the album is therefore almost perfect (It would have been flawless with the killer "Severe Burns" closing it), but I have to say that, from this point on, "Clandestine" is mostly hit and miss. There's a drop in quality right at the end of side A, with the dull "Stranger Aeons", even chosen to represent the album with a videoclip, while "Chaos Breed" opens side B with a massive riff, but is frankly a mess, and the same applies to the closing song, when they sound forced and simply try too hard. The doomy and atmospheric "Crawl" is slightly slower than the one featured on the EP released a couple of months prior, but it's still great, with its unforgettable main riff. I just mentioned the "Crawl" EP, which saw the debut of bass player Lasse (he didn't play on the first album even if you can see him on the Picture Disc version), and a session vocalist, the black metal sounding Orvar Safstrom. It also featured a great song, "Forsaken", which would have been a good fit here. Also, the two B sides from the "Stranger Aeons" EP, "Dusk" especially (recorded during the "Clandestine" sessions), would have been cooler than the couple of fillers they unfortunately choose for the final tracklist.

Apparently, the band was in disarray when recording this album: LG was fired then rehired for the tour, and the band was not so prepared to play some of the stuff (as you can judge from the "Monkey Puss" VHS Alex Hellid simply wasn't a good guitarist, struggling to play most of the riffs). Nicke Andersson is the deus ex machina here, writing most of the stuff and even playing some guitar, but he admitted to having raised the bar a bit too high here.

"Clandestine" is a pretty good and solid album, but with more attention compiling the tracklist it would have been the classic I thought it was at the time. Absolutely not on the level of "Left Hand Path", but years light better than "Wolverine Turd". But that's another story.

After debuting with one of the most legendary albums in metal history, how can a band face their next release? Certainly a difficult if not impossible task, and even so, they came very close to achieving the accomplishment that would have meant making a better album than their debut, Clandestine is a sincere and hard-working attempt to take the musical style they had been developing for years, a step further, the work of mature (though still young) musicians who were looking for perfection in every detail. They follow in the wake of the sound that impregnated the minds of a whole generation in "Left Hand Path" but although the beginning of the album doesn't have such a spectacular start as the debut, the first song, "Living Dead", already leaves present the dynamics of the album, with its thinner production, its constant changes of dynamics in the songs, the sometimes movies samples, the voice of a Nicke Andersson, not as good as Petrov's, but full of energy and a kind of galloping riffs that are the jewel in the crown of this album.

Surely the most remarkable aspect of the album is to be found in the qualities of the members when it comes to playing their instruments, the aforementioned Nicke Andersson gives what is surely his best performance to date, his cadence is simply unbeatable and makes many of the pieces on the album to be totally centred around the drums without this being perteciple. Also the guitar duo Alex Hellid and specially Ulf Cederlund have an otherworldly performance, as the latter is in charge of the rhythm guitars, which to my taste are the most outstanding part of the album if we talk about the instrumentation, while Alex gives the album that, now characteristic, Swedish melodism in his contributions, Ulf creates the whole dark and abrasive atmosphere that involves every track.

And those two adjectives certainly fit the feeling that the album exudes, the songs are very close to that intensity achieved on Left Hand Path (impossible to recreate unfortunately) but to make up for it the songs are much more ambitious in their structure, there are lots of cuts, changes of melody and rhythm, the songs are not as direct as on the debut but work from a more progressive point of view, partly because of what I have already mentioned that the members of Entombed were most likely hungry to demonstrate their greater abilities, but also while doing this review I have noticed that the bass player on this album was Lars Rosenberg, who contributed to the songwriting and knowing his work on the underrated and experimental "Carbonized" makes me think that his influence on the songwriting process was more than anecdotal.

And for all the wonders this album has to offer, it does have some sins, but even if they are minor, like all sinners, they bleed and you can tell it. The album starts off spectacularly and the first four songs are proof of that, each song feels unique and perfectly combines a lot of moments and elements, they feel dark yet fast and energetic, the songwriting is original and memorable, so when it comes to "Stranger Aeons" it feels less special, it has a more direct approach and although it's good its noticeable thrash influence makes it less interesting than the rest of the ones so far, luckily the album recovers and at the same time reaches the peak with "Chaos Breed" an absolutely monolithic song with one of the best guitar segments ever made by a music group, if you've heard it you know perfectly what moment I'm talking about. And after that the songs "Crawl" and "Severe Burns" follow, again they are very good songs, but the first one was written before this album and is not provided with that charisma that the rest of the songs radiate, and the second one is much more direct but it seems more a sample of how the band has already shown their best cards at the beginning of the album and that by now they are incapable of performing the same magical moments as they did before, however "Through the Collonades" with his final segment revives that kind of magical moments. A fitting end to an album that shows in many ways the great form of a band that although they had given it all with their debut, still had more amazing things to show to the music world.

Clandestine is the album by which I measure all metal. Those are lofty words, I know, so let me explain why.

It stands to reason to assume that the very band that first makes us fall in love with a certain type of music will inevitably turn into a kind of blueprint for subsequent expectations. So there is no denying that Entombed share a throne with Dismember and Grave and that in my case, Entombed was the first of these bands I was exposed to. Clandestine was not the first album by Entombed that I heard though, and although many would argue that Left Hand Path is the band's strongest outing to date (and I would absolutely top rate that album as well), Clandestine took it to the next level. If Left Hand Path was the foundation on which hundreds of bands have later built, Clandestine is the Pantheon built upon it.

The first aspect of Clandestine that makes it stand out are the compositions. This album is a riff-fest filled with meticulous detail on all fronts. The drumming is the most imaginative you will ever hear on an album this straightforward, the vocals underline every twist and turn and add flavor and atmosphere beyond delivering text, guitar solos are virtuous and very unconventionally spread out in the songs, some no longer than a few seconds working more like a fill than a proper solo. Within the first minute of the album, we haven't heard the same riff twice without slight variation, and still, unlike modern technical outings, it never feels as though Entombed have crammed to many ideas into too little time and space. The songs unfold organically and remind in structure more of sonatas than standard death metal songs.

The second aspect is the technicality. This is not a technical death metal album, but boy is there loads going on here! The details keep the listener on the edge of the chair throughout the entire trip. The drumming, as stated above, is among the finest ever to be recorded. Nicke Andersson didn't need blast beats to maintain an intensity that is difficult to beat. Popcorn machine drumming is not necessarily more technical than what goes here - each little fill-in jumps at the listener totally unexpectedly, there is not one boring second. Not even in slower parts, like the "break-down" section in "Chaos Breed", does Andersson disappoint - there's a little lifted high-hat here, an extra bass drum beat there, keeping the flow and progression going. Just like the nightmarish waterfall on the album cover, the songs though sinister never grow stale...

The vocals work just as wonderfully as the drums, once again credit to Nicke Andersson (don't know why Petrov didn't sing on this one). He growls, snarls, screams, shrieks through the songs. He tells the text with an almost Shakespearian precision in the accentuations, delivering a performance as varied as any singer has ever managed without blending in straightforward cleans. But the vocals don't stop at reciting. They add rhythm and background as Nicke grunts and growls as pure filler, always tastefully stressing the current atmosphere in the music.

The guitar solos are also a thing to die for here. Much has been said about the Boss HM-2 buzzsaw sound, but there is not one fixed setting for the solos. They brilliantly shiftshape in sound quality to paint a veritable landscape within the tracks. A great example is the solo that begins at 2:07 in Stranger Aeons. The song thus far has been pretty frontally chugging, and the solo directly preceding it follows the immediate mix. But as the new solo begins, it creates a whole new sense of space, despise the fact that the main riff maintains its basic foundation in the mix. It's little tricks like this one that, again, makes Clandestine a never ending well of discovering and innovation that makes most tech death metal bands bleak in comparison, despite the amount of talent and effort that is being spent on the quest for innovation.

The production is, of course, genre defining, super fat and heavy, and virtuously transparent for what we get in weight and density.

There are filler tracks on this CD, but by "filler", I mean they are still of a quality that people would drool over if they were to have been released by, say, Autopsy or any other OSDM band during this era (swearing in church I am). I am talking about the two closing tracks "Severe Burns" and "Through the Collonades". With the onslaught of absolute brilliance that has been showered upon the listener, these two songs symbolically equals the skeleton of torn down city walls, or the remnants of sheds after a tsunami - you can see what has passed and although the brute force has already swept by, you can still make out the impressive force that brought the devastation. They are still great songs, not least the doomy closer with its music box nightmare ambience.

To pick a favorite song is very difficult, the opening troika is flawless, the brilliant, seamless transition between "Living Dead" and "Sinners Bleed" another stroke of genius to die for. But I think the one I played most in my youth must be the galloping "Evilyn". The minute long build up to the solo around the third minute is just epic and gives me goosebumps the way "Scarecrow" by Ministry does.

So basically Entombed helped creating a sound, they fine-tuned it to perfection and then moved on. We met them at an unannounced gig in Stockholm around the time of Same Difference, and my friend had the audacity to ask why they started "playing all that garage rock bullshit". The answer was fair and square: "You know, when you played metal for as long as we have, you want some variation" (I think it was Uffe who said it).

While bands like Grave and Vomitory are going stronger than ever and Dismember are touring the world again, we could until recently be happy about the creative output of L-G Petrov (R.I.P.) and his numerous bands, or for those who liked the rock'n'roll, rejoyce over Nicke Andersson's many projects. But Clandestine was and is, to me, the epitome of Swedeath perfection, and although I don't deem it impossible to construct something similarly complex again in this style, I have yet to hear an old school death metal album to reach this height of artistry and complexity.

What an album! Definitely a worthy follow up to Left Hand Path, now I would not say that it's better at all. This record is too different from Left Hand Path, something about these songs have a darker yet less chaotic tone. Also the vocals are more shouted as a result of LG not being in the band because he was allegedly with Nicke's girlfriend. Nicke does a fantastic job on vocals, and does even better on drums, with this probably being hs finest performance. This album as a whole is Nicke's best work all around because of how much more involved in the music he is. Alex and Uffe do awesome as well, bringing that intense sandpapery Boss HM-2 pedal sound back (something here is a bit different with the sound, i've always been told the mids were turned up) Now that i've introduced you to what the album entails lets review the material contained within!

The album wastes no time in getting started with a fantastic 1-2 combo with the speedy "Living Dead" and the melodic and dark "Sinners Bleed" with it's quiet part with maniacal laughing and a hardly audible voice line, "Death, eternal punishment..." awesomely evil stuff! The speed of Living Dead and one of the most memorable vocal lines and riffs in death metal, "I live while you decay!!!" My favorite part about both of these tracks is their seamless transition to each other. After those songs you have the classic Evilyn with an echo vocal effect. Good fun, great solo on it! Just wait until track 5 and 6 come along though, my friend you are in for a treat, Stranger Aeons and Chaos Breed, the two best tunes on the whole record and some of the most classic tunes of Entombed. Stranger Aeons has some wicked riffs, breakdowns, an awesome vocal part as well as one of the best darkly melodic parts of any song i've ever heard. Then tracks 7-9 close off in a most satisfactory fashion with Crawl being the best of the last triplet of tracks. It clocks in at 6:13 and keeps your attention for that duration, with fantastic solos and great riffs. Through The Collonades is an awesome closer, very well written and very dark and mysterious. The only thing I don't enjoy is the lack of guitar effects that they use to make more variety in guitar solo writing which was something Left Hand Path did fantastically.

This record has fantastic production, which is to be expected from the Morrissound of the east, Sunlight Studios. The drums are bludgeoning and powerfully technical without losing the groove of the music. The guitar work is fantastic on this album, the tone is a bit less sandpapery and as a result they are able to write less chaotic songs and establish darker atmospheres. This album is definitely a top 10 release of 1991, it had a lot of healthy competition with international acts as well local bands. Dismember debuted this year, Death was innovating tech death, and Carcass was crafting medical handbooks hidden as death metal records. Unleashed also debuted this year, a product of the "split" of Nihilist. This album stands out as it was the anticipated follow up to the greatest death metal album of all time, Left Hand Path, people were very excited and had high expectations for Clandestine. This album helped further establish the Swedish sound along with Dismember and Unleashed, who all had strong records that year. Entombed did well, and I believe they did better than anyone else in Sweden. Dismember came the closest of course, who can forget Like an Everflowing Stream?

This album gets a 95, it's a lot different from Left Hand Path, but it definitely is a worthy follow up. Not even the absence of the mighty LG Petrov slowed this band down. This album was one of the most anticipated, if not the most anticipated record of 1991, some were disappointed and some even like this better than the classic debut. I say that this album was the next best thing you could ask in the progression of Entombed from Left Hand Path. Now the album after this on the other hand, was not expected at all, nobody would think Entombed would do what they did, but they did, and I believe it worked. In saying that, i'm also saying that this is the last Entombed album in their classic style, and what a shame they didn't keep writing them like this one. Don't get me wrong, I love the death'n'roll style, but i'd love it if the classic Entombed style was done for a 3rd album and then they changed. Definitely give this a listen if you enjoyed Left Hand Path. More of the same, but with fresh and interesting ideas that will keep you on your toes. Listen to it as soon as possible.

-Nolan

This follow-up from the monumental 'Left Hand Path' has me liking this one more than the predecessor even though some would definitely disagree with me. I just found the songs better done on here as well as the vocals. These guys paved the way for Swedish death metal, the simple sound of the guitars and their unique quality with using a pedal to augment the distinct tone to the sound of it. Other bands from all over Europe and elsewhere have duplicated this sound but these guys are the originators. And LG paved the way for the unique vocal quality to his throat, may he rest in peace (RIP).

Some songs really hit home with me the most being "Stranger Aeons" which is ultimately captivating. The whole album has a lot of pivotal highs and not too many lows. The album seems to go on with songs that are absolutely intriguing and unique. They really ousted the bands of that day (1991) including Pestilence, Suffocation, et al. But their reign didn't last long after that because of Death's 'Human' release whereas Entombed came out with the disappointing 'Wolverine Blues' and 'Uprising' later on. Then of course the band changing to Entombed A.D. which didn't last very long especially with disappointing fans including myself.

Production quality on here was irreplaceable. They did a favor for Entombed and also the band's first release 'Left Hand Path'. I though that the quality was done with precision. The music is the highlight on here and LG's vocals, too. I like everything about this album including its intensity, it's unique quality of riffs, and the overall musicianship. They really worked hard on making this album to be top notch. And they wiped out their competition. It's amazing that this was the origin of the Swedish turn of sound into it's distinct quality of sound with these guys as being pretty much the founds of this whole scene.

I thought that after 'Clandestine' they just changed for the worse and kept going downhill with a lot of bumps in the road. The first two albums will forever be my favorites to this date. I got rid of everything else from them, but I'm always going to remember LG as he is no longer with us. It seemed in pictures that he was declining and developed a rare form of cancer that killed him. His legacy with Entombed and Entombed A.D. will always remain special. Even though (like I said) not everything I liked but 'Left Hand Path' and 'Clandestine' will forever reign true forever. Own it if you don't already! Or at least download it!

In my last review, I took a look at Entombed's debut album "Left Hand Path" as a retrospect on how influential that album was. With that being said, I think it's only fair to also take a look at their next album that came out a year later titled "Clandestine". Now I'll admit that I used to consider this album a let-down. That's not to say that I found it terrible, but since that album came out after arguably one of the best death metal albums of all time, it didn't packed the same punch as LHP and it felt like a major disappointment. While I still don't find "Clandestine" a perfect album like some say, it has since grew on me and I find it right on par with their previous album.

One great thing about the album is the instruments. In "Left Hand Path", the instruments were all distorted and chaotic. "Clandestine", however, focuses more on the technical side. The guitars are less distorted and have more complex riffs, and the drums have less frantic beats and more organized beat patterns. The bass is also less audible, but forms the basis of the tracks okay enough. One example of the instruments being great would be on the first track "Living Dead". The guitars have more of a darker and angry feel than many of the tracks here, and it gives the atmosphere a more furious tone. The drums also have some of the best beat patterns in Entombed's catalog, as each beat has a strong sound in it and gives the track a more technical style. While it is not as brutal as the previous album, "Clandestine" still has some solid instrumentals.

But what makes "Clandestine" different from any other Entombed album is the vocals. Nicke Andersson does the main vocals here instead of Petrov, and this album remains the only one that doesn't feature Petrov. While Andersson's vocals will never reach the same level as Petrov's, they're still good. His voice is deep, but you can still understand what he's saying like in the previous album. He also has this slight growl in the middle of his voice to give it a more bestial effect. A great example of this would be in the track "Evilyn". There, Andersson does more shouts and screams, which are fitting to the more aggressive instruments. The vocals do have a poor moment in the song "Crawl", where the vocals there feel a bit forced and don't have the same aggression as in the rest of the tracks. Regardless, his vocals are still pretty good.

Even the lyrics aren't that bad either. Take the lyrics to "Chaos Breeds" for example, where this verse quotes:

The dawn of the blackest sun of all skies
Mysteries of Khem revealed
Ancient arts of process of pain
No longer concealed

This verse deals with themes of religion and how Khem allows pain to happen. You get a lot of these spiritual themes on this album, and it's pretty cool to see the band take on a different approach to its lyrical themes. These lyrics are also further executed with the instruments bringing in an atmosphere of insanity and Andersson's vocals sounding hateful. While the lyrics on this album aren't as good as in LHP, they take on a different approach, and I can appreciate them for doing that.

Overall, this album is a lot better than my initial reaction to it. While the vocals have a few dull parts, the instruments have some excellent moments, and the lyrics are more diverse. "Clandestine" is a great example of an album that I didn't like at first, but eventually grew to enjoy the more I listened to it. Even if you don't like this album, I recommend that you give it another spin, because you may find something on this album that you'll like.

"Clandestine" was one of the first death metal albums I got into. It is catchy, accessible, and has iconic Dan Seagrave artwork. Every death metal fan needs to know about this album because it is an important part of the genre's history. Being on Earache, this album was a big reason why many people my age got into death metal (i.e., those who discovered the genre in 1992/1993, shortly after the peak). A fifteen-year-old version of me would've proclaimed "Clandestine" to be the best Entombed album (of the three available). "Left Hand Path" was too much for my untrained ear, "Wolverine Blues" wasn't enough.

However, my appetite for this album has waned over the last 25 years. I soon realised that "Left Hand Path" was the best death metal album ever made, and I learnt to appreciate the expressiveness of "Wolverine Blues" too. "Clandestine" is therefore an in-between record. It lacks the same clarity, focus and natural explosiveness of the debut. It also lacks the deliberately antagonistic attitude of the third album. There are some more obvious problems with it too; the production is too clean, the vocals are lame, the songs wander around too much. Nothing here can match the title track from the debut (of course), but there isn't anything that matches the likes of "Supposed to Rot", "Drowned" or "Revel in Flesh" either.

Let's start with Nicke Andersson's vocals (not done by Johnny Đorđević as was claimed on the inlay). These vocals suck. Nicke’s voice has no power, he sounds restrained at best, constipated at worst. The guy is my favourite death metal musician ever, but he fucked things up when he temporarily fired LG Petrov, one of the best vocalists in the genre. Petrov's inimitable power, charisma and ferocity always gave Entombed the nastiness to balance out their sophisticated compositions. The fact that Petrov's talents appear on Comecon's irrelevant "Megatrends in Brutality" rather than on "Clandestine" is a travesty. Thankfully the two parties settled their differences and Petrov would return to Entombed, but not until after this album was recorded.

This debacle indicates deeper problems. Entombed no longer sounded like a unified force. Nicke and Uffe have told of their dissatisfaction for "Clandestine" in interviews. Such things matter. This album sounds like a bunch of songs played by some guys in a studio somewhere. There is no magic. There is none of the rampant, disgusting urgency of the debut. Nicke cites Atheist as an influence on his song-writing here, and there are similarities with "Piece of Time" (compare "Through the Collonades" with "No Truth", for instance). The thing is, Atheist circa 1990/91 was an invincible force of jaw-dropping musical chemistry (old rehearsal videos prove it, go seek). Entombed, by their own admission, were in disarray when they recorded this. The relatively complex and technical songs on "Clandestine" don't suit such internal disunity. Take "Stranger Aeons" (the single) for example, there are many good riffs, but the overall effect is over-cautious, calculated, preoccupied.

Still, a fractious Entombed still beats most other death metal bands. The majority of the songs on “Clandestine” are strong. "Severe Burns" is the most savage and therefore my personal favourite (it is an old one from the Nihilist days). "Blessed Be" is fast and crusty, with some nice vocal evilness (courtesy of the harmoniser). "Crawl" is perhaps the best known, most complex and far-reaching song on the album (though I prefer the earlier version with Orvar Säfström on vocals). Of course, the musicianship is great throughout the album. Nicke was always a beast on the drums, being a proper musician rather than just an athlete (too many of those in death metal). The soloing is great as well, better than on the debut from a melodic standpoint. Entombed were a clear influence on melodic death metal, though seldom credited.

The album was recorded by Tomas Skogsberg at Studio Sunlight, so you know what to expect from the production. This is the famous sound that Entombed popularised, and therefore resembles many other Scandinavian records from the era. I must say that "Clandestine" sounds surprisingly polished, a little safe and accessible for an old school death metal album. The drums sound amazing, but the guitar tone is nothing like as powerful as it should be. This album does not have the same rawness and texture as other Sunlight albums from 1991 (i.e., "Into the Grave" and "Like an Everflowing Stream”). This production is appealing for the uninitiated (like me, aged fifteen), but sounds tepid once you've run the gauntlet of classic Swedish death metal debuts.

"Clandestine" lacks ferocity, atmosphere, and was created by a band in turmoil. Still, this is Entombed, the greatest death metal band ever to grace the Earth. This was an influential record because Entombed were the undisputed kings of Swedish death metal. Other bands watched, and copied, their every move. “Clandestine” is leagues ahead of most death metal records but will never be a classic. In the end, great death metal bands don't play great death metal for long. The genre is inherently restrictive for the most creative musical minds. Nicke and the rest of the band realised the limitations of what they could achieve with death metal and moved on (testing the water with "Hollowman" and diving in with "Wolverine Blues"). This was the right decision, “Clandestine” is proof.

What can I say. 'Clandestine' is hailed by many as the last true great Entombed death metal album. And some folks even consider it better than Left Hand Path. The second category of people are often those born after 1985 (those who weren't even conscious of death metal during the first wave because of them being between 0 and 10 years of age or not even born yet.

I myself am first category. A 45 plus white dude who was around during the first DM wave and still remembering the effect some releases had on the scene and how they are now looked upon in retrospect.

Left Hand Path had made such an impact that it was pretty impossible to even equal that impact with a second album. How was Clandestine received back in 1991? Well, mostly decent to good really. Because first and foremost the dust had already settled after the nuclear impact of Left Hand Path 1,5 years earlier. And in the early days of death metal 1,5 years felt like a century, so much was happening at that time.

Secondly, 6 months before 'Clandestine' Dismember had unleashed the mighty 'Like an Everflowing Stream'. There was a serious contender now. And to be honest, at the end of 1991 we all agreed; in the battle for 1991 Swedish death metal, Dismember came out victoriously with flying colours.

You could say Entombed were wise not to write a Left Hand Path part 2 but the counterargument would be they had lost several bandmembers during their demo period already who, I am sure, have played a role in the evolution of many songs that made it onto the debut album. Nicke Andersson had written most of this album (on 5 songs Cederlund was co-writer.) whereas former bassplayer Leif Cuzner is credited for songwriting on Left Hand Path as well.

Point is, Left Hand Path still had a lot of thrash and especially crustcore/HC based riffs on it and a more straightforward approach on many songs. Clandestine - save a few exceptions - was a far less straightforward album (a lof of doomy parts were just thrown in at random it seems) and somewhat less catchy. No worries the 'punk' is still here. Just listen to 'Blessed Be'. If you claim to love this song but not HC/crust, you're pretty much lying. Because it's really just a hardcore based song with some added metal riffs, moments and a doomy middle section on securely and wisely chosen spots.

One of the best songs here 'Severe Burns', is actually an old Nihilist song. And it has a riff, right after the second chorus that is pure Kreator worship! Seriously. Just go to the 1:28 mark and tell me that one isn't pulled straight from the Terrible Certainty album. It has that Storming With Menace vibe! However just like on 'Blessed' be another doomy middle section is in it and this one is a bit dull. So it tempers the fun a bit.

It's not all gold here. 'Chaos Breed' start with a massive riff but unfortunately suffers from a bland chorus and a rather messy song structure. 'Stranger Aeons' (despite being the song with which the album was promoted with a video) is a rather dul midpaced song. The chorus is okay but the song a bit meandering.

'Crawl' has not withstood the test of time for me and is more meandering than I remembered. A few stand out riffs here and there (which are great) but also parts of the song where I lose interest. Maybe because the 'Säfström version' on the earlier EP (which I actually didn't buy because I didn't like the vocals) had a bit more atmosphere because of the production and suiting intro? Who knows. The Crawl version on Clandestine - despite having much better vocals - somewhat drags the intensity of the album down.

The idea behind 'Through the Collonades' is great, long intro, clean parts. mid paced verses and then tempochanges all over. However a lot of riffs on this song are really, really bland and the song structure is way too chaotic. It's clear they couldn't pull off another epic like the titletrack of the previous album without taking it too far.

So, all in all, an album with a handful of great ideas and songs but as a whole not really that consistent. An issue that would stay with them for their entire career. I don't put this album down because it isn't LHP part 2 but because it is a mixed bag where the briliant is mixed with the snooze. Still, put on your dancing trousers and groove along to Evelyn. (insert dancing Bruce Campbell gif file)

Standouts:
- Living Dead
- Blessed Be
- Severe Burns
- Evilyn

When I look back on my almost 40 years as a consumer of pretty extreme music - it all began with extremely furious tracks like "I Was Made For Lovin You" or "Wheel in the Sky" -, I must confess that I was not immune against the zeitgeist, but I was a victim of circumstances as well. The horrible times began at the latest with hits below the belt such as "Force of Habit" or "When the Storm Comes Down". The music that had chosen me to be its loyal supporter, usually known as thrash metal, had imploded silently. Like an orphan, I was looking for a new musical home and so I discovered Swedish death metal. My constantly eager metal buddy bought the classics "Where No Life Dwells" and "Like an Everflowing Stream", I took care for the equally important "Into the Grave" and "Left Hand Path". All these albums blew me away, but especially the debut of Entombed had a big impact. Therefore, it was clear what had to be done when the advertisement announced the release of "Clandestine". The integration of this work into my collection opened the next chapter of my short existence as a death metal follower.

"Clandestine" did not disappoint me, although it did not hold über-hits like the title track of the debut. Nevertheless, the second output also offered some deadly weapons. The electrifying first guitar tones of "Chaos Breed" opened the gates to a new classic, full of low-tuned chords, weird melody lines, frenetic rhythms and an almost unforgettable chorus which crowned this wild ride through the still fresh death metal galaxy. Entombed did not lack good ideas when it came to memorable sequences. I never forgot the final line of the closer "and through the collonades I walk"; a sentence that seemed to reflect the essence of an entire life. Nicke Andersson's vociferous vocals were actually nothing special, but he avoided the grunts-only-approach. Instead, he provided some animalistic screams and mirrored the raw power of the non-conform style very well. By the way, "Through the Collonades" also belonged to the very remarkable tunes, because it combines a relatively soft beginning with a gloomy intermezzo and a fiery ending. All parts flow harmonically into each other as long as it is not forbidden to speak of harmonies in the context of death metal. On the other hand, there are rather stoically marching songs like "Crawl" that do not surprise with a big number of breaks, No problem at all, because especially this piece impresses with a quite intensive atmosphere, not only during the ghostly outro.

The album does not score with a brilliant production, but the coarse sound underlines the basic atmosphere of the material. Additionally, it lends the nearly 43 minutes a somewhat monolithic appearance. Despite the slightly increased variety, "Clandestine" spreads the vibes of the sub genre in every second and it was considered as a worthy successor of the groundbreaking first full-length. The German Rock Hard Magazine gave 9.5/10 and I do not remember any overly critical statements concerning "Clandestine" which scored with the excellent artwork as well. Nevertheless, I don't have euphoric feelings when it comes to the evaluation of the musical content. Times have changed since 1991 and in my humble opinion, death metal has remained the more or less ugly stepbrother of thrash or black metal, although there exist some fantastic albums of that style. Songs like "Living Dead" or "Stranger Aeons" are still goods tunes, even 28 years after its publication. I am therefore not too generous when giving this album the rating you see in the headline. But I am not sure whether this work would have reached the same status if it had been released by a previously less known formation. Ingenious moments don't emerge and so I am listening to a strong, but not otherworldly collection of death metal pieces. Genre fans can laugh about my perspective or ignore my rating, inter alia due to the fact that I turned my back on many death metal bands as the churches in Norway began to burn. And today I am back on track in terms of thrash. I understand everybody who blames me for my fickleness, but I beg to differ. For me, it just seems as if the cycle is complete.

If you’ve not yet heard of Entombed, go and download Left Hand Path, have a quick think about it (in the context of its 1990 release date), and then come back here. For those who already know the direction that these Swedes took after ceasing to be called Nihilist, the positioning of Clandestine between the game-changing “buzzsaw D-beat Swedeath” debut and “death ‘n’ roll” third album Wolverine Blues has often led to it being played down as an evolutionary step for the band. However, despite cleaving much closer to Left Hand Path in a stylistic sense, the new line-up that returned 16 months later (Lars Rosenberg was in on bass and Lars-Göran Petrov was out on vocals) had certainly moved on from their frantic, riff-obsessed sound. Fans of the one should definitely appreciate the other, but Clandestine is a more varied, more atmospheric, and more accessible album than its predecessor, if barely half as seminal.

Perhaps those three shifts can be put down mostly to the same change: pace. Left Hand Path exhibited death metal largely divorced from thrash, though still focused on hammering through riffs at quite a speed, making the band’s velocity seem even quicker by virtue of Nicke Andersson’s particular penchant for avoiding blastbeats, instead taking influence from hardcore and that punky scramble known as D-beat after its creators Discharge. Second time around, some of that chaotic scramble was dialled back in order to profit from the prodigious heft of Entombed’s guitar tone, a flexible concrete grinder that sounds simply monolithic when played at mid-pace and backed up by the similarly heavy bass. Andersson still abstains from blasting anywhere near as much as American peers like Cannibal Corpse or Death, though hearing ‘Chaos Breed’ kick off with exactly that style only emphasizes more the chugging that follows in accompaniment with a second, low-pitched guitar melody. As such, the listener is slammed around in a slightly more expected way compared to the chaotic techniques and structures of Left Hand Path.

Generally speaking, the songwriting shown on songs like ‘Chaos Breed’ and ‘Evilyn’ feels a lot more consonant than ‘Revel in Flesh’ or ‘The Truth Beyond’. Pace and direction change frequently, fairly often with few warning signs (see ‘Blessed Be’ suddenly stop and restart a third of the way through), yet a certain degree of planning reassures the listener that the music won’t come off the rails – all the musicians are on the same page. Owing to their regularity, the steadier guitar grooves are a cause rather than a symptom of this: the listener knows that something crushing and mid-paced will show up sooner or later in every song, whereas Alex Hellid has more opportunity to show his quality as a lead guitarist than the bursts of shredding he was forced to resort to for brief moments of songs on Left Hand Path. As a result, Clandestine is made up of nine wonderfully constructed compositions, it’s just that none of them savage the listener in the same way as previously with ‘But Life Goes On’ or the decisive impact of ‘Supposed to Rot’. Therefore, getting death metal fans onboard is a cinch, but keeping them on their toes during the entire 44 minutes isn’t guaranteed.

Factors that marked ‘Left Hand Path’ out on its mother album were the epic and atmospheric qualities developed by that long opener, properties that Entombed delivered in larger measures on ‘Sinners Bleed’, ‘Crawl’, and ‘Through the Collonades’. The latter song especially shows the growth of the band in this regard, entering with eerie clean guitars and ghostly bass fills that alternate with a couple of crushing slow verses, the piece picking up after the second minute into another familiar groove and eventually more aggressive sections. Slow moments in death metal have always lent themselves to atmosphere, so the variety of pace found in other places – along with Hellid’s higher profile on lead guitar – exploit the tendency of the quartet to crush ominously through passages of particular songs, sometimes using other effects (samples and a scattering of creepy keyboards) to crank up the nastiness. ‘Sinners Bleed’ profits from the intricacy of some of its riffs to maintain atmosphere without slowing, plus adding a feedback-laden bridge replete with tortured screams; however, ‘Crawl’ surely takes the biscuit as the pinnacle of Entombed’s advancement in sound, wedding avalanching riffing to unnerving scales and a desperate sense of melody, all the while as the structure squirms and twists like a nightmare serpent wriggling through the morbid impossibility of a mental dead end.

Despite some predictability pertaining to the formula of Entombed’s style on Clandestine, the songs do not settle into repetition or mindless bouts of riffing. For the year, many aspects of the release were also blueprint material for the still-emerging Stockholm death metal scene, though it could be argued that more bands have attempted to emulate Left Hand Path due to the higher levels of aggression on that earlier effort. Personally speaking (yes, I’ve been here all this time), I actually prefer this style owing to the slightly more enveloping atmosphere and my own preference for slower, more crushing material, yet I wouldn’t say outright that this is the better of the two. I’ll instead end on a cop-out and say that, since we have both Entombed’s early masterworks to choose from, we should be glad for the choice and not take sides too decisively. And, just like with the opening riff from ‘Evilyn’, I’m sure you’ll nod your head pretty violently at that.

Let's get right down to it, the review title says it all. Now, it happens I grow 39 years old right today and I'm such a nostalgic mood; I'm picking up old records from my extremely wide collection and I can't help noticing this work is very inferior to its forerunner "Left hand path", it's something as clear as the light of the sun if only you listen to them the former close to this one I'm speaking of.

That Entombed created a way of playing out of anything I guess it is something given as an axiom. Did any band play something similar to them in those early days? I can't recall any name..., and once they reached the highest point of quality with their first release,we should have expected a lower one in their follow-up releases. Can anyone write and play only masterpieces? No band ever did, let's be honest. But we should have had something more interesting to listen to rather than this tired "Clandestine", basically similar in the guitar sounds and compositive approach to the previous one and yet lacking the freshness and the surprise effect we had appreciated so much back in 1990.

Bass and drums still create the powerfull wall of sound we would expect to find in a swedish death metal album, guitars buzz and crush the whole thing out of the stereo, but believe me, after a long time (20 years... oh my god) it is truly impossible to avoid noticing the compositions lack of variety, they lack of the gift of inspiration and they give the unpleasant impression that all these riffs have been rehearsed after having been sunk in oblivion then resurrected because there was anything better to work with.

Nicke Andersson's vocals are nearly terrible. Are them death metal? Nowhere near L.G. Petrov's ones, they paved the way for what would have come later, a progressive and inexorable detaching from their death metal roots until their music turned up to be some rock and roll played with heavily distorted guitars and over-exposed drums and bass.

So, what we have got here is a fourty minutes of something still pretending to be death metal but already preferring to be something else, better if more attractive for a wider listening public. We're speaking of times when records still used to sell a load of copies... The catchy melodies of which all the songs are imbibed will enchant someone disaccustomed to what is real death metal and will surely let him think this album is very good and I'm talking crap since 30 minutes or something, but if you just scratch out the surface you'll find nothing less than an album which disappointed me 20 years ago and I have never rehabilitated: much show and very little behind it. 65 is even too much, but it gets this because... well... what they've done later is so terrible that even "Clandestine" rises up above the horizon. After all these years I ripened the opinion Entombed had a shot alone with "Left hand path" and then fell down into a soft but unavoidable decay.

One of the dangers of producing an astoundingly awesome debut album is the amount of expectations you carry into the followup: how do you possibly improve upon perfection, in this case the Left Hand Path? The answer is that you probably can't, so try and write the best songs you can and let the legacy speak for itself. In the case of Entombed, the style and sound on the debut were so fresh in the minds of an emerging genre of metal fans that it would have been foolish to let the reins loose. Clandestine is honestly pretty close in tone to its masterful predecessor, but there are a few minor differences. It's more accessible simply through its predilection towards building monumental grooves that had a massive appeal across the metal boundary (and into the emerging mosh scene, which I call a scene because a great many people were brought into extreme metal because of their attraction to the physical side of the concert experience...blame "Raining Blood").

Clandestine also had a little more of a rock injection, something the band would continue to flesh out for the remainder of their career, but here it is in its infancy, hanging at the very edge of perception, and cycling fresh blood through the band's rotted death metal heart. The guitar tone and oppressive atmosphere of Left Hand Path is retained here, but cleaned up ever so slightly. Lars-Goran Petrov had left the band in 1991 due to some personal problems (he would return), so the band had been trying a few new vocalists. Orvar Säfström of Nirvana 2002 fronted the Crawl EP, and Johnny Dordevic of Carnage was supposedly going to do the vocals here, but it was drummer Nicke Andersson's vocals which made the cut, not a huge surprise, since the man was also responsible for much of the songwriting.

"Living Dead" tears straight from the grave like the titular risen corpse, given a new lease on brains and mayhem, the caustic guitar salvo derived straight from the grinding morass of Left Hand Path. The album's first massive breakdown occurs right at about a minute here, a chunky thrashing rhythm glazed in some samples for effect, and it's not difficult to visualize the violence this kind of riff could cause at a concert. But oh, it is only the first of several. "Sinners Bleed" starts at a rolling tank pace ala Bolt Thrower before the great pause at around 1:00 where the keyboard strike builds sufficient b-horror flick tension and the guitars get to rocking out (the first real trace of the band's groove rock imperative). But perhaps the very best part of this track is the grinding rhythm at around 2:30, thick like a thousand fists beating your door down, as the creatures attached to them seek your blood for sustenance. "Evilyn" kicks directly into another of the album's most memorable moments, a snappy thrash/death rhythm which bounces along, teasing in that 'you can't touch this' manner in which yours truly may have felt about Skeletor's co-conspiratorial concubine in the 80s. The song includes a creepy, repetitious acoustic guitar dowsed in chorus while the rhythm transforms into a morose, mortuary blues. Also, I'd be remiss to not mention the necro-smutty lyrics, which I love:

'She's gone down below
but I'm no longer at her side
and I'm drunk with the love
of the dead who is my bride'

"Blessed Be" grinds off with a choppy d-beat energy pulsing through its veins, mad splatters of confused leads weave through its depths. A wall of chords at 2:30 announces a tempo change towards a dirge-like doom rhythm smothered in multi-tracked vocals, and then another lead offsets a punk thrust to the climax death riffing. Not my favorite track on the album, but for Clandestine, even the lesser offering like this is pretty damned good. "Stranger Aeons" begins like an otherworldly lurch into darkness, before it becomes the most insane rocking mosh-off festival Entombed have ever written, with a Slayer-like feel to its descending guitar fill, and then another bruising mid-paced chugger rhythm cut through by a very catchy sub-riff. Oh, but wait, at 1:50 it offers yet ANOTHER insane breakdown, and if anyone on the dance floor was left uninjured, well, that status was about to change before the wild leads scathed off into a bog of reeking corpses. It's an undeniably excellent tune, regardless of how many steak headed mosh posses you had to shake off your back in the live setting. "Chaos Breed" is more of a surge of catchy rock rhythms basted in the band's punishing tone, blasted apart by a savage deathgrind cannon, but here the band pulls out yet another big breakdown, this time with a more direct influence from "Raining Blood".

"Crawl" is essentially the same track we heard from the teaser EP, only with the vocals transmitted through Nicke Andersson's testorone choked throat and a brighter, bloodier tone that matches the remainder of the album. It's network of creepy corridor-like rhythms sounds as lurid and inviting today as it did in 1992, and it's no joke why it was chosen as the advance peek at Clandestine's content. To follow this, the fist fighting mosh pattern that initiates "Severed Burns", soon to morph into eerie spikes of doom in the pre-verse, and then the grinding force of the verse itself. Dominant and crushing, but it's also one of my least favorites on this effort, which is saying quite a lot for the album. The final, track "Through the Colonnades", suffers no such distinction; a carefully crafted journey through haunting, clean tones offset by a flowing river of sanguine bass and background fuzz, a mounting horror that eventually caves in to the bands fierce rocking outbursts.

So in terms of following up Left Hand Path, this felt like a crisis inverted. In fact, while I don't find the album quite so flawless in comparison, it does have a more dynamic range created through the big breakdowns and carnal rock infusion. Plus, it would be a lie to say it didn't possess that same, morbid atmosphere that is so rarely found outside of the late 80s/early 90s European death metal scene, and truly, the band's first two albums are a clear demonstration of just how much they were one of its dominant forces. How many bands have come along in the past 20 years to ape the sound of Entombed? Countless fucking numbers. It's so commonplace to bite off Nihilist/Entombed (and a few of their less successful peers like Dismember) that it's almost come full circle...with a lot of hipster grind/d-beat fans thinking their favorite bands of today are somehow original.

Left Hand Path remains the better of these two monstrous offerings to my own ears, but even I have to admit that Clandestine has probably a larger influence on both metal and hardcore music, and those bands who would later join the two. Whether that has been a positive in the long run might be up for debate, but in 1991, this album could only be considered a titan of its time.

Highlights: the many stars you'll discover as this album continues to plant its undead foot in your face. But will you be alive long enough to name them?

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

As the album title implies, there's nothing so “clandestine” or secretive about this release because this is considered a classic among the old school death metal realm. Am I the only one though that finds this album to be a little overrated for its own good? Don't get me wrong, this is a milestone for death metal, but it isn't the king of the crop if ya know what I mean because this whole album isn't pure death metal in my mind.

Indeed this is old school with its very raw, sloppy production. Everything about this album is a mess, and that's a good thing in Entombed's case! The guitars are super-duper down-tuned with a very raw sound with a lot of drive/distortion left in the guitar riffs. The bass is no different - it's very groovy sounding and contributes to the guitars. The drums are just everywhere on this album! It's a bloody hell hole for the drum sound with its ill-tempo rhythm. As for the vocals, the crown for the sloppiest goes to that with it's deep-screaming style of singing. In short, the production is a mess. If I wouldn't have known any better, I would mistake this album for a distorted hard rock album or sludgy punk-rock.

You want riffs eh? In the death metal realm, this is considered a riffing monster as you can hear in such a track like "Living Dead" with it's thrashy intro and punk attitude throughout the song. This demonstrates how messy the album is, with the vocalist not singing at the same pace with the music (funny but true, or at least I feel like that.)

"Sinners Bleed" is definitely the track to listen to on Clandestine because it's probably the catchiest and best shows what Entombed are about (when they're not messy or sloppy.) Riffs will knock you senseless in this song, be warned!

On to the more "hard-rockish" side of Entombed, the song "Evilyn" surely shows that side of them. This track is "death'n roll" as people would say, and I'm assuming that this was the dawn of Entombed going down the hard-rock lane with this album.

Anyway, "Blessed Be" starts with a cool guitar riff echoing, then progressively becomes very punk-rockish. My o-my this album is just full of diversity.

Back to death metal now - "Stranger Aeons" has written all over it death metal, old school style, with its monstrous double-bassing opener and a scream.

Wouldn't you know it that on this track "Chaos Breed" it's a return back to thrash metal! As I said, this is a very diverse sounding album, and this track has an almost metalcorish breakdown in the near-middle of the song (the dawn of the genre "metalcore?!" Lol, could be.)

The longest track on the album, "Crawl," will leave you crawling (excuse the corny metaphor use, but I couldn't think of anything better to say!) It's death metal mixed with thrash metal basically, but this track can be a little boring.

"Severe Burns" is yet another so-so track as compared to "Crawl." It's more groove-ish death metal for your ears.

"Through The Collonades" is the last monster track that starts off with a slow, soft guitar opening. Wow, Entombed is playing a ballad? Wrong, chunky riffs break through a minute later and thrash till death!

Overall, this album is a must have for death-heads of all kinds. There's so much diversity in the sound on this album, which makes it all the more enjoyable to listen to. This beats hearing someone doing cookie-monster growls over demonic death metal riffs with blistering blast beats (can you say Cannibal Corpse?!) Underrated? Not really, but overrated? Yes indeed it's overrated to be called one of the best in death metal. Though, it is all around metal with tons of riffs to offer and sloppy moshable tunes. It'll take time for you to appreciate Entombed, but give it time and the album will grow on you clandestinely...

Ear Catchers: Mostly all of them, especially Sinners Bleed.

I got this CD, listened to it a few times and thought: “Damn, this is overrated”. But I decided to search for more reviews on it, and they all kept on saying: “Clandestine is a masterpiece of european death metal”. So I decided to listen to it with more care. It should be a revealing listening experience, so I got my headphones, waited everyone to go out (so the people woudn’t take my attention away). After all, I pressed “play”.

The listening revealed me an aspect that was unnoticed in the first listens: The scary, terror-movie-like atmosphere. The guitarists and the vocalists are responsible for this. They bust out some heavy death riffs (and because of their characteristic guitar tone, there’s a built-in sense of evilness on them. You don’t believe? Go listen to Morbid Angel’s “Lord of All Fevers and Plages”), for example, the first one in “Chaos Breed”. There are also plenty of haunting guitar lines and solos (0:48 at “Sinners Bleed” and the last part of “Evilyn” respectively). Nicke Andersson can be credited by his evil lyrics and growly vocal delivery. His vocals sound like a much more extreme version of Max Cavalera. He abuses the traditional “UUUUURRRGGHHH!” of death metal, and sometimes he seems to be giving orders (“Stranger Aeons”) and even dialoging with the backing vocalist (“Crawl”). The backing vocalist also provides some ultra tortured screams (2:50 to 3:30 at “Sinners Bleed” and the middle part at Evilyn). To complement, there is some keyboard usage (don’t worry, the keyboard lines won’t last more than 2 or 3 seconds).

The music is pretty good. The guitars have that trademark buzzssaw sound (courtesy of Sunlight Studios), and there are some great riffs, of the death metal and thrash variations. This album seems to be in the death/thrash border. I might even say it’s a bit more thrash than DM (45% DM and 55% thrash. Harsher thrash, but still thrash). Most riffs are great, but there are some noteworthy: The first one at “Evilyn”, the majority at “Sinners Bleed”, the DM riff at the start of “Crawl”, 2:08 at “Blessed Be” (very good) and my favorite riff on the CD, “Severe Burns” at 1:29. Morbid Saint has a similar riff but I forgot in which song. Don’t ask me if it’s a ripoff!
The lead guitar has some good solos, nothing special, though the one at “Chaos Breed” is pretty good. The slower solos have some melody.

The drumming isn’t Flo Mounier or Proscriptor-style but it does work ok. It’s just snare-bass plus some long fills. These are nailed at the right moments, avoiding overloading (like Morbid Angel’s “Covenant”). I wish I could listen to more double-bass here. Blasting is absent, but I’m sure it wouldn’t go well here (meh, they don’t go well anywhere). Once in a blue moon the drummer screws up, but hey, let’s not get nitpicky. As for the bass, I think it could be used as another ambience tool, just like Cryptopsy’s “Phobophile”, after the piano intro or some songs on Marduk’s “Dark Endless”. Obviously, it’s buried under the buzzsaw guitars.

The songs are great. I’d choose as highlights “Living Dead”, which is my favorite song here because of its mindless agression, “Sinners Bleed” and “Evilyn”. But every other song has its great moments, even the Evilyn/Sinners Bleed cross called “Stranger Aeons”. The weakest song here is the last one, due the lack of good riffs (though the intro is decent).

After listening to it, I understood why this is so praised. Entombed laid the ground for many bands from Sweden, including DM-era Marduk and what those Gothenburg bands have that can be called “heavy”. It really deserves all the praise and must be owned.

One of my favorite Swedish Death Metal bands is Entombed, they were one of the first Death Metal bands I've ever heard. There are many arguements over Entombed, some fans split between old Entombed (Left Hand Path) and Newer Entombed (Wolverine Blues).

I enjoy both Entombed styles, but I'd much rather listen to Clandestine than "Wolverine Blues" or "To Ride..", you get what I'm saying? Not that those two albums are horrible, but they simply do not compare to the classic swedish death metal style of early Entombed.

1991 was a good year for Sweden. Clandestine came out and fellow Swedes Dismember and Grave brought out their masterpieces "Like An Everflowing Stream" and "Into The Grave" but this album really stood out from the rest.

Clandestine is the definition of a classic death metal album. Startin' off with "Living Dead" and blastin' straight after that is the monster "Sinners Bleed", which I've actualy passed out headbanging to, goin to "Evilyn" and "Blessed Be" this fucken album does NOT SLOW DOWN!

The guitars rule this album and they will chew you up and spit your ass out like you had "Skoal" tattooed on your fucken head. The sound is death metal, but the riffs range from thrashy to groovy with that familiar rock and roll vibe and that Swedish tone shared with Dismember and Grave.. Its not as strong as it is in later albums but its there in Clandestine.

I cant find a single fucken bad thing about this album, and thats damn good. I can replay this 666 times and I'll still be headbanging and throwing up the horns the whole time. I cannot get tired of this album.

My highest reccomendation, if for some Christian reason you've never heard this album, it's a must get. Fans of Dismember, Grave, and Seance will really love this album. And if you think Entombed started with Wolverine Blues, you're in for one big ass fucken surprise.

==Originaly on Morbid Metal (I co-own and write)==

This is my first review so be gentle :)

I was surprised to see that no one else had reviewed this death metal classic. For my money this is the finest death metal release to date. Awesome riffs that are accentuated by a monstrous tone, a heavy atmosphere and interesting songs make this masterpeice one of my favorite albums ever.

Like I said the guitars dominate on this album. The tone is godly and the riffs alternate between thrashy and groovy dishing up a variety of sound that makes this disc so replayable. Lots of "rock and roll" undertones are found throughout this album which may detract some death metal purists but to me it justs adds to the kickassity of the offering.

Top tracks would be Sinners Bleed, Evilyn, and Severe Burns.

If you like death metal seved up with some nice groove check this out. Fans of Dismember Autopsy and Slayer should take notice of this record.