Dimmed of all but a few rays of light and sealed from the sky by eons olden crags overhead our senses register only the call of the utter dark, a blunt yet thundering emanation from below ringing familiar in the temporal lobe as Linneryd, Sweden-based death metal quintet ENTRAILS returns for an eighth full-length album, intending to point back to the raw and unpolished underground locus that’d first inspired their sinister crusade. Presented in singed and shadowy papyrus with the left-hand outstretched ‘Grip of Ancient Evil‘ recalls the old, dead convictions of horror obsessed and melody tinted Swedish death metal. Though the album experience is somewhat overstuffed and features a few mild redundancies on the back half the greater effect is arguably one of the band’s finest releases to date.

Entrails technically formed back in 1990 and were apparently active for four years. There is no readily available documentation of this in terms of recordings (demos, live shows, etc.) but in earlier interviews beyond reformation in 2008 founding guitarist Jimmy Lundqvist suggested they’d tried self-recording a few times back in the day but the band never saw fit (or had the means) to invest in studio time and/or hire an engineer. So, it wasn’t direct nostalgia that’d generated hype around the band in passage from the late 2000’s ’til the early 2010’s but rather a resurgence in popularity for the Boss HM-2 dependent style of Swedish death metal. Every Swedish death metal band that’d formed in the late 80’s/early 90’s had been dug up from the graveyard by ~2010 and the “return” of Entrails was simply riding that wave of perceived authenticity with a couple of mid-paced, semi-melodic but overall substantial demos in 2009. With some well-studied confidence I would suggest that most every band revived around this time had at least one good album in them, usually featuring old material, including this one. The first two LPs from Entrails on F.D.A. Records were kinda generic even for their time but absolutely solid per that lane as they’d cherry-picked the best material from their first two demos. If you prefer those records and their rotten, rugged sounds I believe you’ll be more prone to enjoy the back-to-basics grime of ‘Grip of Ancient Evil‘.

For my own taste Entrail‘s discography is worthy by way of two albums which reflect both the chasmic spiritus of ancient Swedish death and the ugly, distorted path(s) beyond it. First their most classics attuned “refined but not too refined” second album (‘The Tomb Awaits‘, 2011) which was released quickly after the first. It offers an entirely typical treatment of the “Stockholm/Sunlight Studios” sound which ranges from semi-melodic pieces, death n’ roll gallop, and plainest Dismember worship in cadence and exploration. The second choice item is of course ‘Obliteration‘ (2015) an album which’d been the final record to feature the indomitable Jocke Svensson (Birdflesh, Skogen) as frontman/bassist. Set at #19 on my Best of 2015 list for my own taste it is the record which’d found the best path beyond-yet-within the confines of bland tradition, doing something a bit different from the completely overworn HM-2 revival they’d been a part of. Beyond that point their line-up has changed frequently and results have been mixed. The Swedeath zeitgeist persists, though, and this means hitting the eject button enough times should return Entrails back to their roots, as we find on this new album.

Beyond the waterfall assisted, earthen jig of the intro (“Grip of Ancient Evil”) via impressive violinist Thomas von Wachenfeldt we step directly into a harmonized lead and groaning melodic plume akin to peak Excretion as “Untreatable Decay” invokes a rocking circa ’93 spirit, an initially alien but entirely appropriate approach from Entrails. The low-tuned, spongey and distant guitar tone is a properly uglied-up font of thunderous chunking buzz and probably the greatest success of ‘Grip of Ancient Evil‘ as it generates bluntly coughed atmosphere which smothers an otherwise clearly cracking rhythm section. The vocals are over-active and loud from the start, and this will grate upon the skull later on, but to start this opener approximates pre-‘Wolverine Blues‘ era bands like Interment in action. While the experience is awkward stepping-in the grimier sound design applied here immediately grants some immersive, mysterious depth which the leads only emphasize.

The death n’ roll boosted and kinda chugging melodic sprawl of “Skin ’em All” (see also: “Hunt in the Shadows”) channels Disemember‘s circa ’93-’95 ‘tude with some help from the gruff and still ranting approach of (new) vocalist Julian Bellenox. While I’d like to suggest those first two songs are enough to convey what this album is all about there are at least a few surprises and standout moments on the full scrub through, the gist of it is that there are a yet number of entertaining, melody infused songs along their path; The thick of it arrives somewhere nearby the mid-album jog of “Fed to the Dead” a punchier song with something like a “neoclassical” gait to its verse movement, a circular and punkish ‘Uprising‘-era Entombed guitar groove straight from the era of melodeath-thrash n’ roll variants. The solo at the end is kind of cheesy but it fits the moment and the song well enough. Beyond that point the rest of the record is a mixed bag of ideas with maybe one or two too many songs fed into their machine.

“Wings of Death” does well to represent the breadth of Entrails‘ reach on this record, taking some of the “swing” out of their attack along the way while finding a few different things to do with that big, hairy HM-2 guitar sound. The (early days) death n’ roll adjacent hustle may not be the full intent of these folks but songs like “Insane Death” make a great argument for it with one of the more ear-catching guitar melodies served amidst the groaning and roaring chunk of the song. That song paired with closer “Consumed by Insects” ends the album on a solid enough note, tightening back up for the ~5 minute roll through the former. Those two songs in particular help reel ‘Grip of Ancient Evil‘ back into focus as a full listen. Again, there are too many songs cluttering up the second half (I’d have cut “Graveyard Rising” and “Inner Demon”) of ‘Grip of Ancient Evil‘ but most of what hits on this album offers some manner of variety or interest.

A bit of the sluggish, frankly uninteresting songcraft found on the previous album seeps through and the rocking side of the band isn’t going to be for every entrant but overall this album improves upon much of what these folks’ve done in the last decade. If nostalgic inspiration is your only reason to participate I figure the band are right there with you, too, as this experience intentionally invokes the impetus of Entrails‘ interest while cutting back down to their ideation of rotten ‘old school’ Swedish death metal. On some level thier approach reads to me as authentic fandom of the old stuff and I’d found myself keen enough on returning to the album numerous times within the span of about a month first for its sound and then for a few of the major events highlighted. A moderate recommendation.

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