Entrails – Obliteration

The Bare Minimum

“Dethmetal and nothing [expletive deleted] else,” is what band Entrails purports to bring us with every concert, album, single, and what have you. Since 1990, this Swedish Dethmetal paragon has been doing just that with two demos, three full-length albums and a couple of splits. Yet on this, the review of their newest album, Obliteration, where will we find ourselves? Definitely old-school, Obliteration does not disappoint. It is the epitome of what the band headlines themselves as, “Dethmetal and nothing else.” 

Obliteration is adequately sludgy, murky, buzzy, and drum kick ridden. The singer and bass player, Jocke Svensson, who has impeccable enunciation skills and equally superb growling, deserves commendation. On the song “Midnight Coffin” his voice shines through particularly, inciting an awesome chant back of the title during the chorus. It is a little disconcerting within the mix that the bass is inaudible, but dropping it in favor of vocals is a good way to go.

The guitars are fantastic, so driving at times, you don’t even notice the buzz that remains throughout the whole album. In fact, you do not even care. The album keeps you busy with its speed, dense rhythms and overall rage. Given these things, the band seems to have a great deal of fun with this album, even taking the time to work in “The Funeral March” by Frederick Chopin into one song, “The Epitome of Death.”

While this album is good, it is nothing spectacular. It doesn’t aim to bring anything more than the genre to the table and succeed. It’s all sort of tired, limp wristed, and typical, which is regrettable to say for how much adrenaline it throws at you. It is as if someone asked the band to make a fourth album and they said “Well, ok, but don’t expect anything special.” If you are expecting an album that will knock your socks off, this is not it. However, you will damn sure enjoy the wait for the next album that does.