ENTOMBED - "INFERNO" (THREEMAN)

 

I have been an Entombed fan, more or less, ever since I discovered their debut, "Left Hand Path". Their musical direction has strayed firmly from the narrow track of death metal, but did yield some pretty good music. Except for the somehow rather atrocious "Same Difference", most of it was definitely worth getting. Their previous effort, "Morning Star", to me was a bit of a classic. Not anything like their first 2 or 3 albums, obviously, but good nonetheless. It is for that reason that I was tempted to buy "Inferno" without listening first. Not just was I tempted, I yielded.

The thing I dislike most about "Inferno" is the mix. It's muddy and too bass-heavy. In fact, the mix made Yngwie Malmsteen's "War to End all Wars" come to mind. It's just painful to listen to, especially when played loud. And metal, as we all know, was not meant to be played softly.

Musically, "Inferno" is actually not half bad. "Retaliation", "Nobodaddy", "Skeleton of Steel" and "Night for Day" are quite cool, "Young & Dead" is almost as good as the stuff on "Morning Star" and "That's When I Became a Satanist" is pretty funny. But the mix makes them a hell of a lot less enjoyable. Some of the other tracks detract from the fun, too. "The Fix is In" is both musically and lyrically too repetitive, "Incinerator" seems too much senseless chromatic riffing and "Intermission", well... "Intermission"is a piano piece, totally unlike Entombed, and it would have helped if the piano had actually been tuned properly. If that is some sort if statement, it's a stupid one.

I found myself so much unable to enjoy the way this album sounded that it went the way of "Same Difference" - Ebay.

RK

 

Written March 2004

 

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