Entombed
Left Hand Path (FDR Remaster)

Perhaps, starting with this album, European, and in particular, Swedish death metal began to be considered a serious alternative to its overseas brother. "Left Hand Path" with its clanking primordial impressiveness truly destroyed the Florida monopoly on masterpieces of the genre. Which it is, without a shadow of a doubt. And without it, I consider it obligatory to note that a real acquaintance with the debut of Entombed does not happen right away - only after the wave of admiration for the power of the "sunlight" sound subsides, through the monolith of guitars and vocals you begin to truly absorb this material particle by particle. The lion's share of the frantic energy of this work is "electrified" by a real punk unbridledness, very far from its related grindcore frenzy, but amazingly harmoniously composed of drilling riffs and thrashy double solo parts. And the extreme side of the album is just as harmoniously "extinguished" by its atmospheric half - the one that creates a feeling of something inevitable and devilishly dangerous when listening (the best example is the keyboard part in the title song), which makes herds of goosebumps mercilessly trample the skin from fear and admiration at the same time. Probably, it is precisely due to the feeling of dampness and chaos, neighboring, by the way, with excellent technique and mature musical thought, that "Left Hand Path" very easily sinks into the heart, and over time the strength of the emotions it generates does not weaken at all, truly enlivening the rather expressive cover of the album: transferring yourself into its world, the question arises - is it worth going further?..

Entombed, the founder of Swedish death metal. Although it is different from the death metal from Florida in the US and the melodic death metal that will spread in Sweden, their existence is valuable in itself.