August 2020 Feature Release - The Horde Edition

It's now August which of course means that we'll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we're asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. Ben & I look forward to hearing your thoughts & opinions.

This month's feature release for The Horde is 1993's controversial "Wolverine Blues" album from Swedish death metal gods Entombed. It saw the band taking a significant creative risk by diluting their classic death metal sound with more of a rocky groove & a stronger focus on catchy song-writing. In doing so they managed to create an all new & fairly niche subgenre in "death 'n' roll". How did you feel the first time you heard this album & have those feelings stuck with you to this day? We're keen to get the gossip on this one.

https://metal.academy/releases/695

Here's my review of "Wolverine Blues" which says everything I need to say on the topic:

https://metal.academy/reviews/14613/695

3.5/5

I am a melo-death fan first and foremost in this clan, so take my opinion with a grain of salt everyone.

Here's an honest question for my like minded metal-head friends: after the initial shock of this albums creating a new genre called "death 'n' roll", what else is there to this album? This album is a mashup of straightforward rock grooves, and crunchy distorted death metal, usually included with deep howls. And while I might appreciate the effort, it does not resonate at all. To me, this album sounds like what Pantera might have resembled if they had driven more into darker subsections of the heavy metal landscape. There are a lot of influences from hardcore/crust punk as well, but at least many of those albums bothered to have a tune. Outside of "Full of Hell", I can't recall anything here. As an introduction to the style, I can only hope that this isn't the best this subgenre has to offer.

4/10

I get where you're coming from here saxy. I felt pretty similar when I first encountered "Wolverine Blues" but time & familiarity saw the hooks digging their teeth in as this was a much catchier version of Entombed than we'd heard previously. In saying that though, if you don't like this record then you're unlikely to enjoy the death 'n' roll subgenre in general as it's definitely the best example I've come across.

I recently revisited this album and this time around it stayed in my stream although just how many visits it will get is an uknown if honest.  It is certainly full of hooks that probably helped it retain a fingerhold in my library but it is big step away from the Left Hand Paths of this world that it is unlikely to leave me with any overarching desire to reach for it with any regularity.