Entombed

Album number nine finds Swedish death metal originators Entombed back on the right page. After a tumultuous stint in the late ’90s and the early portion of this decade that found them confused and lacking direction, although this did culminate in the brilliant 2000 effort Uprising, the latter half of this decade is looking incredibly fortuitous for them. Stepping back into their traditional sound and attack, Serpent Saints is a raging, relentless bout of turmoil with vocalist L.G. Petrov bellowing a gritty, ungodly guttural howl. The overall pacing is patient while still energetic and thunderous, with detuned rhythms propelling the songs forward like the redlining engine of a muscle car seconds before it bursts into flames. Sagging in the middle ever so slightly, songs such as "Warfare Plague Famine Death” and "In The Blood” meander at a doom-y mid-tempo without saying much but even these moments are astronomically superior to most of 2003’s Inferno. Dropping the choppy rock and falling back into the chop-heavy death metal, Serpent Saints is a solid foot back onto the left hand path.