Entombed

This band just gets harder and harder to pin down as the years go on; questions loom about record labels, release dates, production sounds and stylistic changes for every album, and Inferno is certainly no exception. This gang of ex-death metal kings are still opting for the more down-to-earth death’n’roll sounds of their last two albums, but Inferno is far from the manic surprise punch of Uprising or even the more mature and metalised Morning Star. Instead, it chills out somewhere in between, spending far too much time in mid-tempo mode and lacking the hooks that make them so damn special. Subsequent listens reveal some gems, but pound for pound this is their least exciting album since the big stylistic shift that came post-Same Difference. It gets boring at times, but this still beats the pants off of most of today's death metal bands, who could stand to learn a thing or two about hooks and humour from these Swedish legends.