Review by Ben for Entombed - Wolverine Blues (1993)

Disappointing album that just makes me want to listen to their old stuff.

Wolverine Blues must be the first significant example of the genre death 'n' roll and I can't say I'm a huge fan. Their first two albums were fantastic, pioneering death metal albums that along with a bunch of other bands (such as Unleashed, Carnage and Dismember), kicked off the whole Stockholm sound. Whereas Dismember and Unleashed relentlessly continued on with the sound they'd formed, Entombed decided to take a detour.

Strangely, considering how different the album is to their former work, you can tell it's Entombed straight away. The dirty riffs are still there but they're a lot less ferocious and the leads could be straight out of a 70s "metal" band. The vocals lost a little bit of the death growl and are now more of a grunty shout. But the main difference musically is the drumming. It now resembles plain old rock and roll drumming a lot of the time and I have to say that it takes a lot of the power out of the bands effect.

So obviously Wolverine Blues disappoints me, but I guess it's not terrible. The band know how to write good riffs and there are plenty on this album. Eyemaster, Rotten Soil and the title track get things underway quite well, but then tracks like Full of Hell and Blood Song are quite simplistic and boring. I'm just not left with any real desire to listen to the album again once it finishes. Then again, maybe this sound is just not my thing, so I'll give it a generous three stars.