I can say with much ease that if there is any record out there that simply must be owned or at least heard in ones lifetime it's Entombed's crushing 1990 classic debut, 'Left Hand Path.' Recorded in December 1989 by Tomas Skogsberg at the then unknown Sunlight Studio, in Stockholm, Sweden, Left Hand Path is quite simply the perfect union of heavy hitting guitar riffs, blazing solos, low guttural vocals, stunning drumming and catchy songs, all of which combined in a absolute demolishing and influential way and not since has any death metal band come close to touching it.
Entombed originally formed in Stockholm around 1987 under the name Nihilist by a couple of kids in their mid-teens who went on to record three demos in the following years before a slight line-up change and taking on the name Entombed in late 1989. It was in fact Nihilist's guitarist Leif "Leffe" Cuzner who defined the style of Swedish death metal by being the first to come up with the "buzzsaw" guitar tone, which was achieved by heavily detuned electric guitars with a maxed out Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal Pedal and the DS-1 Distortion pedal into a Peavey amp. However even as Leif came up with the technique that countless other Swedish bands later on used, both he and bassist Johnny Hedlund were later booted from the band and although Johnny formed Unleashed Leif did not go onto any other bands.
From the opening seconds of, 'Left Hand Path' and the terrifying Celtic Frost-ish intro that greets the listener and the first pummeling riffs and pounding drums its clear immediately that these Swedes were up to something absolutely diabolical on this debut. As the songs continues on in a raging head banging fury it eventually segues into a melodic ending, which is a metalized version of the Phantasm movie theme. Chances are you'll be left completely awestruck with this devastating opening cut, but things just continue onward with more erupting death metal chaos on the songs, 'Drowned' and 'Revel in Flesh' the latter of which is a galloping fist pumping hair flying masterpiece that gets me charged up more so than pretty much any other song out there. However things just keep going with other big highlights being the short but killer, 'Supposed to Rot' & 'But Life Goes on,' which again is death metal mastery and it's chorus lyrics are beyond awesome. 'Bitter Loss' is a lot like Revel in Flesh as its just an absolutely fast, catchy and energizing song with an underlying punk flair that puts me in the mood for even more classic Swedish Death Metal while the final song, 'The Truth Beyond' is the perfect closer to the perfect album.
What a lot of people may not realize is that this IS the album that defined the Swedish Death Metal scene and set it in motion and although somewhat equally great records soon surfaced they still could never hope to top this record. This was also the first record to have that classic Swedish buzz tone on the guitars and, yes, its fucking amazing sounding, but its also important to point out that the nearby Norwegians would soon adept a very similar tone to their black metal music even if fucking bigot assholes like Jan Axel "Cashhammer" Blomberg so boldly claimed Entombed to be shit in interviews.
Curiously somehow this album passed me by in my youth as back then I preferred black metal over death metal and although I've owned this record for a few years now it really didn't fully click with me until reading Daniel Ekeroth's brilliant, 'Swedish Death Metal' book last year. Why it didn't hit home with me initially is a bit beyond me, but I guess it all goes back to my former love of black metal whereas in the past year or so my life has been dedicated in tracking down and owning various classic Swedish Death Metal records as well as just old school death metal in general.
I don't really know what else to say because this is a record to take the words out of your mouth and head and in the end all that's left is the feeling of knowing you've just listened to one of the most monumental metal recordings ever. Absolutely mandatory and beyond description Entombed's, 'Left Hand Path' is death metal perfection.
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