Entombed
Morning star

THE REVIEW

When I think of Entombed, the first image that comes to mind is a small live music venue on the outskirts of any provincial European city, packed to the brim. Outside, it's winter, and the fog barely outlines the shapes of the few who haven't managed to find shelter inside. The atmosphere inside is incendiary, and five black-clad Swedes pour their souls into playing ROCK. Yes, rock, because twenty years after their first official album, that "Left Hand Path" which shook the global death scene and sanctioned the birth of the Swedish-Scandinavian movement, Entombed have never become the rockstars they deserve to be, on par with Slayer and Metallica, but they have remained to this day affable and approachable people, aware of having at the very least paved the way for Scandinavian death metal and later revolutionized that sound by infusing it with rock and blues, and in 1993 with "Wolverine Blues," they opened new doors to a new sound that would gain followers. In short, always ahead in every sense.

"Morning Star" represents exactly the album of their career, the one made with years of experience under their belts and concerts in front of large audiences, perhaps supporting big names, but also in front of a few loyal fans, playing on a small stage with sweat dripping from their brows, visible to the naked eye.

It was released in 2001, after two somewhat underwhelming works like the mediocre "Same Difference," released after the departure of drummer Nicke Andersson, who became the frontman of the Hellacopters, and after "Uprising," which tried to reestablish the connection with the group's early Death period. What emerges is perhaps their most balanced and perfect album to represent their entire career. An album that positions itself exactly between their two key albums and undoubtedly represents their creative pinnacle and rebirth. Where the Thrash metal of Slayer's "Season in the Abyss" period, represented by Chief Rebel Angel, I for an Eye meets the hardcore of Ensemble Of the Restless and Young Man Nihilist and the death'n'roll of Out of Heaven meets the Sabbathian doom of the slower parts. In short, from Cederlund's guitar, the main composer of the group, twelve shards emerge that are as predictable—the trademark is as always—as they are wild, for the eagerness and desire to show that the group of the past is still there. Petrov's voice, as usual, is perfectly raw, and the guitar work by Cederlund and Hellid has nothing to envy of the best axe-twins in the Metal scene. All the songs are worth the album, no fillers, from the killer groove of Bringer Of Light to the more modernist and subdued Mental Twin.

Entombed will release the Sabbathian "Inferno" (2003) and the last "Serpent Saints" released in 2007. Unfortunately, too many lineup changes have somewhat undermined the group's image, but they continue to take the stage as if those twenty years of career have yet to pass. Honor, therefore, to a group that has never hidden its desire to modernize a genre like Death metal, incorporating massive doses of rock without ever selling out, but always remaining credible and honest.

Meanwhile, the small peripheral venue is about to close, it's the dead of night, Entombed are signing the last autographs and drinking the last beers with the few fans still in the venue. The tour bus awaits them...