ALBUM REVIEW: Live Clandestine – Entombed

ENTOMBED have become synonymous with great death metal. With a guitar sound that’s often imitated but rarely perfected, and more great songs and records under their belt than many bands can even dream of, the band have cemented their legacy as a part of death metal royalty since they changed their name from NIHILIST way back in 1989. Since the dissolution of the band and the resultant formation of ENTOMBED A.D back in 2014, the original band have been fairly quiet. But now, ENTOMBED have released a live rendition of their classic 1991 record, Clandestine, probably the band’s best record not named Left Hand Path. It’s a great means by which to celebrate an album so brilliant, and indeed so monumental, to death metal.

After a brief, yet powerful sounding introductory track, the set dives straight into the the vicious and intense Living Dead. The order in which the set list plays out sticks to the original order of the tracks as they appeared on the original Clandestine record, which helps it feel more like you’re listening to the album itself as opposed to having all the stand out tracks like Strange Aeons, Sinners Bleed and Chaos Breeds bunched together at the end of this album. The performance itself is incredibly good, with the band absolutely nailing every note perfectly, and capturing much of the sound that made the album sound so amazing.

Robert Andersson, of MORBUS CHRON fame, does a fantastic job with the vocals, matching the fierce and sludgy gutturals that really work with the bands music. It’s great to hear a man who has been greatly influenced by ENTOMBED and their style of death metal get the chance to sing classic tracks, and he is more than capable of doing a brilliant job, at points even managing to surpass the original vocal deliveries of LG Petrov, especially on tracks like Evilyn and Crawl.

Alex Hellid and Uffe Cederlund, likewise, capture the feel and style of guitar playing almost exactly as it appeared on the album incredibly well, balancing the sort of crushing, dirty, HM-2 heavy sound that the band are famous for with their far slicker hard rock edge, imbuing the music with plenty of swagger in amongst the general aggression of the music. This is most noticeable on tracks such as Blessed Be and the Severe Burns, where the guitar work is completely spot on from the first note to the last, sounding fantastic throughout.

Nicke Andersson, as always, is great on drums throughout the record, playing authoritatively and adding plenty of percussive depth to the sound, not missing a beat at any point. As the final chords of Through The Collonades fade away, and the set is seemingly at an end, ENTOMBED launch into one final track, a rousing rendition of their classic track Left Hand Path which gets a noticeable reaction from the crowd, again capturing the essence of the original version incredibly well, and bringing their set, and indeed this album, to a close with a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

Live Clandestine is a great live record that is a strong reflection of the album that it is celebrating. The performance is, without a doubt, spot on for every single song, without a single slip up present at any point. If there is any criticism to be drawn, it can’t be laid at the bands feet; the sound of the crowd is not particularly loud, which makes it feel as though the venue was half empty, or that aspect of the live sound hasn’t been considered in the mix. Songs this good should be accompanied by roars of appreciation, not what appears to be reserved cheering and polite applause. If nothing else, this album will make you want to revisit an underrated death metal classic, and should, if you’re sane, make you all the more eager to hear a new record to follow up 2007’s Serpent Saints, because the fact that ENTOMBED haven’t recorded a new album for 12 years desperately needs to be rectified.

Rating: 8/10

Live Clandestine is out now via Threeman Recordings. 

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