Search - Entombed :: Wolverine Blues

A death 'n' roll classic

cosmokane31 | San Francisco, CA United States | 05/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Blending the heaviness of death metal with the swagger of rock `n' roll, this album establishes the "death `n' roll" blueprint for future Entombed albums. To put it bluntly, this album crushes. Black Sabbath is a strong influence on the bluesy, midtempo grooves here. The production is perfect; the drums are punchy and resonant, and the guitars are heavy, yet clear. Sick wah-wah leads and guttural vocals round out this fearsome package. The songs are concise, and the arrangements are effective, and best of all, the album comes packaged with a comic featuring everyone's favorite X-Man, Wolverine."

Not Your Father's Death Metal

horizonaut | Atlanta, GA | 12/21/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album was probably the experimental peak for Entombed. Though lacking the furious speed of their previous masterpieces, "Left Hand Path" and "Clandestine", "Wolverine Blues" brings in a slower, more developed sound that actually serves to highten the impact of the bands strengths rather than weaken them, sounding like a Black Sabbath meets Sepultura mish mash.
LG's vocals only sound more menacing when you can understand what he's saying, and the guitar work, while much slower paced than in previous efforts, does a much better job of showcasing the masterful fretwork that this band is known for. Lyricly, the songs presented in this selection display a maturity and depth not evident in "Clandestine" or LHP. "Heavens Die" and "Hollowman" in particular look just as good on paper as they sound in your stereo.
Unfortunatley, even Entombed can serve up the occaisional floater. "Blood Song" is just awful. Yuck. Hopefully, the guys will leave the vampire songs to Type O Negative in the future. LG sounds whiney, the lyrics are ridiculous, and the song seems to go on forever.
If you just can't live without a good neck-snapping tune, "Eyemaster", "Rotten Soil", and "Out of Hand" fill the bill nicely, being the three fastest songs on the disc and more closley resembling the bands earlier work.
Bottom line: If you're a deathmetal purist, in the vein of Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse, this isn't for you. If you enjoy slower paced, but equally heavy "sludge" metal, this album is a real winner, and definatley one of my all time favorites. If not for the incredibly awful "Blood Song", this would be five star effort."

Classic

Analog | Planet Earth | 06/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've read some quite unintelligent reviews about this album on here. I won't mention any names, but it seems like a few people missed out on one of the best metal albums ever released by dismissing it because the lyrics weren't "hard core" enough. For a band from Sweden (I'm assuming English is a second language here) these lyrics are some of the best I have ever heard. Aside from the occasional usage of foul language, the lyrical songwriting is very intelligent in songs like Contempt, Hollowman and Out of Hand. This is not typical satan metal or gore metal with lyrics about evoking the devil or ripping people's limbs off, these lyrics actually have substance. As far as the music goes, this is perfection. There are no land speed guitar record riffs, no beat your head against the wall blasting drums and no incoherent glass gargling vocals. There are lots of chugging guitars, crunchy riffs and some exquisite drum work. Petrov's vocals are tough, but not cheesy. This album, along with both Swansong and Heartwork by Carcass, and Wickerman's self titled debut, are about the only albums that have this same kind of groove. Thats unfortunate because this is a formula that really works well, and in the overcrowded genre of death metal, this is a breath of fresh air. Granted this album is almost 13 years old, it still sounds fresh."